During the art market crash of 2008 prices of contemporary, modern and Impressionist artwork tumbled about 30% at auction. The art market's crash threatened a remake the art world. I found Velthius’ “Accounting for Taste” assessment of the art market crash in 2008 the most intriguing. Velthius presents various statistics to explain that because the market was being so pumped with money that the crash was inevitable with or without the financial crash.
Velthuis explains that when the so much money was being put into the market that there was an “erosion of egalitarian values.” He shows that art value grew so much faster than salaries the art market only became available to elite and wealthy patrons.
Velthuis explains “symbolic capital” where dealers tweak their brands to show they are not only interested in making money but that they care about their artists and believe in the art. This concept is helpful to reinvigorate buyer-dealer relationships.
Velthuis also concludes that the market will always fluctuate. He claims the “wait list” disappeared during the 90's crash, and that dealers had price they works much lower in order to sell.
As for predictions about the market, Velthuis makes comparisons to the financial market. Velthuis rules out that the art market does not coincide with the rest of the economy and that fluctuating art prices are not nor will never be reliant on the financial market. Velthuis proves that the market is flexible, and leaves the reader questioning what state the art market works better in- is a market crash a good thing in which art works become more accessible to the rest of society or should only millionaires partake in the market?
Great article from the WSJ during the crash. The predictions of what would happen were quite interesting. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122713503996042291.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122713503996042291.htmlAlso, a really interesting video about lessons learned from the 2008 crash http://vimeo.com/28831341