Market Report

What we’re hearing from galleries and auction houses across the country.

Schoelkopf Gallery owner, Andrew Schoelkopf and managing director, Alana Ricca pose together inside the gallery.

Andrew Schoelkopf
Owner
Alana Ricca
Managing Director
Schoelkopf Gallery
The market is in generally strong shape, though there are always shifts between different categories. Some segments are thriving, while others are experiencing weaker performance. This ebb and flow is to be expected in times of significant cultural and market change. We’re fortunate to be advising a private collection that is selling notable works, in collaboration with Christie’s. The American Sublime auction held in late January saw nearly all works sell. This was the first major auction or private sale for 19th-century American art in quite some time, and the results were particularly revealing. While prices are somewhat lower than they were in previous years, we identified a market floor around 2018 or 2019, and we’re now seeing a recovery from that low point. In our gallery, most of the buyers of 19th-century works are new clients, many of whom are drawn to the category for both its value proposition and the aesthetic quality of works that are becoming increasingly available.

American modernism is performing particularly well, especially as it continues to expand in the international market. More United States buyers are starting to realize the significant imbalance between abstract expressionism, post-war and contemporary works compared to American art created before 1950. This trend has been gaining momentum for nearly a decade, and we expect it to continue, particularly at the high end of the market.

Through our research program, led by our director of research Erin Cecil and Kelsey Gallagher (with the support of our summer interns), we identify artists whose scholarship and market value don’t yet align with their contemporary peers. We then invest in both research and acquisitions to raise awareness about these artists. Some of our recent ‘target artists’ include: Felrath Hines, an important African American artist who worked with the Spiral Group in the 1960s. Virginia Berresford, a marvelous modernist whose works we recently featured at the Art Dealers Association of America Art Show on Women of modernism; and Henrietta Shore, a key figure in California modernism. We’re preparing another exhibition of Hines’ works from the 1960s, and although we were only able to find eight pieces by Berresford, we sold out her work during the fair. —

Schoelkopf Gallery
390 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10013, www.schoelkopfgallery.com