Auction house Artmark reaches EUR 5.5 million turnover in 2010 and 68 percent market share

The financial turmoil has been auspicious for the art market in Romania, where it reached EUR 8.3 million in 2010 and a 224 percent growth compared to 2009. Artmark, an auction house founded in 2008, registered a 5.5 million turnover last year and is currently market leader among its competitors. The auction house’s market share has increased from 48 percent in 2009 to 68 percent in 2010.

Currently, art seems to be one of the most profitable areas of investment in Romania, superior to gold or real estate, for example, as Manuela Plapcianu, Artmark CEO emphasized during the press conference. Last year, the auction house reached a new record for the most expensive art piece ever sold on the Romanian market, through Nicolae Grigorescu’s “Pastorita” (“The Shepherdess”), sold for EUR 175,000. What’s more, nine of the year’s bestsellers have been dealt by the auction house, which reached a 80.5 percent adjudication rate in 2010. A 100 percent adjudication rate was reached during the 12+1 Impressionist and Postimpressionist Masterpieces auction held last autumn.

Artmark also reintroduced two Romanian masterpieces in the museum circuit: Nicolae Grigorescu’s “Carul cu Boi” (“Bullock Cart”), which now may be found in the Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu and Nicolae Tonitza’s “Golgota”, now on display in Ploiesti, in the Ion Ionescu-Quintus museum.

On what concerns future plans, Armark intends to help develop an art investment fund, extend its portfolio to contemporary and decorative art and consolidate the Artmark art index, launched in 2009, audit it and turn it into a market measurement tool.

Other auction houses on the local market are: Alis, Goldart, Monavissa, Araart and Quadro. Two new players will enter the market this year, one of which might be located outside Bucharest, and their appearance will “increase the market’s value”, as stated Artmark officials stated.