Masters hold strong in uncertain art market

Well the art market in China is still growing and the country continues to attract foreign auction giants. But while sales of older pieces are booming, very little is being done to help younger artists develop in this cut-throat industry.

This Chinese brush painting called Red Lotus sold for one million yuan at auction in Shanghai on Friday.

The work is only 30 years old, but is one of the last paintings by Zhang Daqian, one of the best known and prodigious Chinese artists of the twentieth century. Red Lotus took in more than half of the money spent at Friday's auction, which included 500 works of art.

Hua Yizhong, bidder, said, "I prefer to buy artworks of masters, like Zhang Daqian and Xu Beihong, since their taste in art is higher, and prices of their works are good."

Lu Weizhong, bidder, said, "When we consider investing in an artwork, we mainly consider the popularity of the works, and how much its value may grow in the future."

Three years ago, another of Zhang Daqian's works called Love, Aachensee Lake, became the first Chinese artwork to sell for more than 100 million yuan in China. A year earlier, an 11th Century scroll by calligrapher Huang Tingjian, became the most expensive Chinese artwork ever when it sold for 436.8 million yuan during an auction in Europe.

China's art market has now surpassed Europe's and America's to become the largest in the world. That has attract a lot of attention, with British auction house Christie's set to hold its first auction in Shanghai in September. But small auction houses in the city say that sale is no threat to them.

Sun Jinhua, manager of Shanghai Haitong Auction company, said, "Of course we will not compete with Chritie's, as our sizes are not at the same level. But China's Poly auction and Guardian auction will face challenges."

Analysts say the number of small auction companies in China doubled over the past five years, and they have been selling artworks for between one thousand and several million yuan a piece. But one analyst at Friday's sale said investors are interested in old Chinese works, but contemporary Chinese artists still lack good avenues to promote their works.

Li Mingxing, collector, said, "Western artworks usually start to develop from galleries, where people gradually know the artist. But here in China, galleries are less developed, while auction companies grow a lot. Few of our galleries help artists develop their works, instead they only sell artworks for a profit."

China's ministry of culture said art sales in the country were worth more than 2 trillion yuan in 2011, accounting for about 40 percent of the global market.