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Rising dollar threatens to end boom in Aboriginal art

By Brett Thomas

1 February 2004 - The booming international market for Aboriginal art is set for a slump this year as a result of the high-flying Australian dollar.

Traditional Aboriginal work has been the big success story of the Australian art market in recent times, with record sales of $7.5 million at Sotheby's annual Aboriginal art auction last July.

Sotheby's estimated that more than 50 per cent of the buyers were wealthy collectors from the US or Europe, with nine of the top 10 most expensive paintings going offshore.

However, the art market is prepared for a dip this year as some overseas buyers shy away from price rises caused by the spiralling dollar. "There are minimal buyers of Australian art overseas, with the notable exception of Aboriginal art, where there is a lot of international interest," said Paul Sumner, chief executive of auction house Lawson Menzies.

"The rise in the dollar isn't going to help the international trade in Aboriginal art."

Alison Harper, editor of the subscription-only Australian Art Market Report, also predicted tougher times ahead.

"It [the rising dollar] will affect the annual Sotheby's auction," she said.

Sotheby's director of Aboriginal art Tim Klingender said the auction house was bracing for a flow-on effect from the rising dollar when it held this year's auction in July, but was confident the top end of the market would stay firm.

Last year, many artists recorded personal-best prices, with an untitled painting by the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye selling for $509,300 against an estimate of $150,000-$200,000.

"People who buy Aboriginal art internationally tend to be collecting it rather than investing in it," Mr Klingender said.

"They are very wealthy individuals, they're among the top percentage of wealthy art buyers in the world, so that sort of money [the rising dollar] is neither here nor there.

"This year, that big shift in the dollar is likely to have an effect on the lesser-valued works, paintings in the $5000 to $20,000 range. It will effect some people; those with a strict budget for art purchases may buy something a little less expensive."

The Aboriginal art market posted its most significant rise in the mid to late 1990s. An Australia Council report in 1998 recorded that auction sales had almost tripled from $1.4 million to $3.8 million from 1996 to 1997 alone.

However, there is continued concern that while dealers, galleries and investors have benefited from the boom, many of the artists - based in traditional communities in remote areas - are still living in poverty.

Source: The Sun-Herald

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