Ice Age in the Korean Art Auction Market: Transaction Volume Down 44% From 2022

The Korean art auction market shrank significantly in the first half of 2023, reports show. The Korea Art Price Appraise Association said in a report titled “First Half of the Year 2023 Settlement of the Domestic Art Auction Market” that the total market transaction amount in the first half of the year was about USD 62.32 million (KRW 81.1 billion). The figure is down 44% from the same period last year ($111.11 million, KRW 144.6 billion) and is lower than the pre-pandemic levels in 2019 ($63.47 million, KRW 82.6 billion).

The winning bid rate also fell significantly from the previous five years to 52%. In the first half of 2018 to 2022, the winning bid rate was around 65%. So far in 2023, the number of works submitted was 14,851, down from 15,766 in the same period last year. In particular, the decline in the winning bid rate was greater than the decline in the number of works submitted. Total entries were down 915 from the same period last year, but the number of successful bids was 7,724, down 2,572 from 10,296 in 2022.

This contraction in the Korean art auction market coincides with the poor performance of blue-chip artists. Lee Ufan (about $5.54 million, winning bid rate 54%) ranked first in the first half of the year for the fourth consecutive year, but both the total and winning bid rate for the artist’s works fell from last year (about $15.39 million, 75.5%). This is a sign of the contraction of the Korean art market. Following Lee Ufan, the top-selling artists of 2023 have been Kim Whan-ki (about $3.18 million, 62.1%), Yoo Young-kuk (about $2.9 million, 91.7%), Seo Bo Park (about $2.87 million, 58.8%), and Yayoi Kusama (about $2.63 million, 57.8%). Kusama has been at the top of the list of foreign artists for five consecutive years, proving to be the best-selling overseas artist in the Korean art market.

Among the top 20 highest prices, five works by Lee Ufan, three by Seo Bo Park, and two by Kim Whan-ki/Yoo Young-kuk were included. Lee Ufan remained the top-priced artist but had a 50% range winning bid rate, while Yoo Young-kuk had a 90% range winning bid rate. Interestingly, Young Ju Joung, who ranked 19th in total successful bids, sold all 11 works, showing a 100% successful bid rate.

The highest bid so far this year was for the blue-and-white porcelain Ojoryongmunho jar, which was sold for about $5.5 million (KRW 7 billion) in May and marked a new milestone in the history of ancient Korean art auctions. The work, which was sold at My Art Auction, a Korean antique auction company, is a large 56cm white porcelain jar and is considered a national treasure. Until now, the top winning bid in Korea has been for works by overseas artists, but the possibility of expanding the market in the antique sector is now being discussed.

Looking at specific auction companies, K Auction topped the list with revenues of about $23.16 million (KRW 30.1 billion) during the first half of the year. The figure is down from about $40.48 million (KRW 52.6 billion) last year. Seoul Auction followed with about $22 million (KRW 28.6 billion). However, the winning bid rate of K Auction is only 42.3% (58.9% for Seoul Auction), so the dependence rate on expensive works is high.

Young-seok Kim, chairman of the Korea Art Price Appraise Association, said, “It is a result of realizing how much the Korean art market is currently shrinking. As an unexpected result, [with the] Joseon Dynasty white porcelain topping the list, it is urgent to improve the Korean art market so that more diverse artists can be recognized.”

Meanwhile, the survey is the result of analyzing online and offline auctions conducted between January and June this year by nine auction companies (K Auction, Seoul Auction, My Art Auction, Art Day Auction, I Auction, Rise Art, A-Auction, Kan Auction, and Total Art Auction). However, the Seoul Auction Zero Base was excluded, and evening sales were included.