The last two decades have seen huge growth in the 20th century and contemporary art market globally; indeed 17 of the 20 highest prices paid for sculptures at auction have been for mid-century works, some of which are record-breaking figures.
According to an Artprice global art market report, 20th century art accounted for 80% of total global auction turnover from Fine Art in the first half of 2018 alone.
Cheffins regular Art & Design auctions which specialise in 20th century sculpture, artworks and furniture have illustrated significant price uplifts in recent years. For sculpture in particular, we have seen that milennials are keen to purchase statement pieces rather than form collections - the appeal of something three dimensional is often more alluring than a flat canvas. This has been aided further by the increasing accessibility to the auction market through online bidding.
Sculpture, whether it's bronze, stone, aluminium or wood, comes in all shapes and sizes and there are examples across variable price brackets. Prices can be lowered by the fact that sculptures are often produced in mulitiples, rather than one-off pieces, which can make these works more accessible than paintings.
20th century sculpture sees a major change in the approach of artists where the subject is no longer the principal focus, but instead it's the material and the form; this has proved a tantalising option for a range of buyers at auction.
The Art & Design sale at Cheffins has a number of fascinating 20th century sculptures on offer, including examples by well-known names such as William Pye, Michael Ayrton, Rudolph Belling and Oswald Herzog.
The Art & Design Sale takes place on 9th May from 11am at Cheffins, Clifton House, 1-2 Clifton Road, Cambridge, CB1 7EA.