Online. Offline. Far East. Middle East. Though measurement of the art sector is notoriously tricky, partly relying as it does on sample rather than full dealer data, art market reports proliferated in 2017. The month of March proved the high season.
The ‘defection’ of economist Dr Clare McAndrew from the TEFAF organisation to Art Basel provided an insight into the world of art market number crunching.
In 2017 her annual report (released at the Art Basel Hong Kong fair in March) was compared with a similar document unfurled the previous week at the opening of the Maastricht fair by local university professor Rachel Pownall.