A scheme offering art lovers interest-free loans to buy original works has helped generate sales worth £10m.

The Arts Council England’s Own Art programme offers loans of up to £2,000 to be paid back over 10 months.

The council said 12,500 loans had been taken out since the scheme was launched five years ago and it has helped artists earn £6.5m.

About 80% of {...}

Christie’s International, the world’s leading art business, today announced 2008 art sales totals of £2.8 billion/$5.1 billion. The results reflect an 11% decrease in £ (19% decrease in $) over 2007 sales against the difficult global economic backdrop. The results were achieved through more than 600 sales in 14 saleroom locations worldwide and include auction premiums as well as private sales of £267.6 {...}

Consolidated sales for Sotheby’s for 2008 were $5.3 billion. Auction sales were $4.9 billion. Sotheby’s sold the top lot of the year, Bacon’s Triptych 1976 ( $86.3 million). The world record price for Contemporary Art, Bacon’s Triptych 1976, was set at Sotheby’s in 2008. Sotheby’s sold the top lot of the autumn season, Malevich’s Suprematist Composition ($60 million). Sotheby’s sold the top Contemporary {...}

A further £1m is to be given to a £50m art gallery which opened two years late and nearly £12m over budget.
The Public in West Bromwich, which opened in June, has yet to take paying customers as an interactive gallery, its main feature, is not ready.
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Dealers are pinning their hopes on next week’s Art Basel Miami fair, which they say could be critical in determining just how severe the fall in the art market will be. Over 200 galleries will be showing their best work, hoping to draw collectors from around the world. It’s expected, however, that one key clientele base, the hedge fund manager, could be particularly missed.
Felix Salmon( WHO ?) even notes things are so hard-up at galleries, some are even considering cutting {...}

He is one of the world’s richest artists, who defied the credit crunch in September by auctioning a whole collection for £111m. But even Damien Hirst may not be immune to the economic climate - many of the workers who produce his works found themselves out of a job this week.
More Here (via Guardian)

In at Number One …
Jeff Koons born 1955 in Pennsylvania, incorporates kitsch imagery. Sold £69.4m in the past year.

2 Jean-Michel Basquiat, born 1960 in Brooklyn, New York, was a graffiti artist who died in 1988. Sold £54.3m.
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