Trading African Art at Sotheby's: A Story Told by Lions or Hunters?

Oksana A. Morgunova-Petrunko ()
Additional contact information
Oksana A. Morgunova-Petrunko: RUDN University

A chapter in Africa and the Formation of the New System of International Relations—Vol. II, 2023, pp 121-127 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The dynamics of the art market in Africa show both the social changes that are associated with the new appreciation of Africa, African heritage and African roots, and the financial prospects for the art market on the continent. The chapter traces the history of auction sales of African art internationally and discusses the postcolonial perspective some socio-cultural changes in the perception of the art of the continent worldwide. Auction sales show that African art (both contemporary and traditional) represents a growing segment of the global art market, but Western auction houses remain the only channel of promoting this art internationally; artists living outside of the continent lead the price chart while their African roots serve as some competitive advantage. The chapter poses the question to what extent impressive postcolonial changers in African art appreciation signify the decolonisation in the artistic production on the continent.

Keywords: Africa; Arts; Emerging market; International auctions; International trade; Modern and contemporary art; Postcolonial; Sotheby's; Transnationalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:aaechp:978-3-031-34041-3_8

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031340413

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-34041-3_8

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().