Browsing: African Art

african art

The art of investment: The rise of African art

Africa
  • To maintain any sort of forward trajectory – to ensure our art remains highly valued locally and internationally – it is of vital importance that we, as the private sector, continue to support the collectors and the artists who are helping to grow interest in the sector.

A diversified portfolio is one of the key metrics of investment success. The greater this diversity, the more likely it will outperform the market, and the savviest investors are often looking for new opportunities: the rising stars among new asset classes.

Investment in art is certainly not a new concept, but what makes it unique is that it often has low correlation with other major asset classes, meaning lower overall price volatility. It’s the sure bet, sometimes with incredible escalating value, especially for those opting to invest in blue-chip artists renowned artists whose work demands high prices in the art market.

However, not …

Renaissance: African art investments soar to new heights in 2022

Investing
  • According to Statista, Africa contributed a sum of US$13 B in 2018 to the global art market which is predicted to rise to US$15B by 2023
  • African art has become the subject of bidding wars, with high sales of artworks pertinently at globally renowned auction houses such as Bonhams, Piasa, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Strauss and Philips
  • International African sales in the first half of 2019 by Christie’s, Bonhams, Sotheby’s, Phillips, Piasa, Strauss and ArtHouse Nigeria; generated a total of US$25.3 M
  • The major roadblocks to accessing arts education in Africa are the lack of sufficient learning institutions and enough trainers

Demand for African art has been firmly taking root, perpetuating the newly found global prominence and recording a meteoric rise that is projected to continue growing exponentially in 2022.
Consequently, this market boom has been rapidly driving colossal investments from both indigenous and international investors, rushing to tap into the fairly

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Of untold African stories: The dilemma of the African writer

Industry and Trade

Despite the wealth and abundance of African stories, writers continue to encounter numerous obstacles, such as the diminishing of advances or the complete lack thereof, which discourage the writers, who want to pursue it on a full-time basis. Racism has greatly asphyxiated this budding industry, with priority being given to white as opposed to black writers.

Data from the New York Bestseller list, from 24 December 2017 to 8 June 2020, indicated that 69% of the bestseller titles, were from white authors, whilst 9%, from black. A social media campaign tagged #PublishingPaidMe created on June 6 2020, by urban fantasy writer L.L. Mckinney, as part of the ongoing conversations on racism in the US; revealed the disparity in book advances, between black and white authors, with the latter being paid more.  …

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