Print market changes, reacts to tough year; Art Business News' survey of 414 gallery owners reveals trends in the world of published art - Special report: reprinted from July 2002 Art Business News

Art Business News, Oct 15, 2002 by Julie Keller

EVALUATION BY TMR Market Research Analysis

The 2002 version of the Art Business News Perspectives on Printing (POP) Survey, an in-depth analysis of the sale of prints at 414 galleries nationwide, has uncovered a variety of trends.

The survey reports on gallery sales in 2001, a year marred by economic and national crises due to the events of Sept. 11 and an economic recession that had been building strength before the terrorist attacks. While a significant number of galleries did report a drop in sales compared to the previous year, a surprising number of galleries were able to report a static change. And when it comes to print purchasing, the majority of galleries said they did not change their purchase volume from 2000 to 2001.

As for art offerings, trends noted in previous years continued. Lithographs remain the top-selling type of print, however giclees have edged out serigraphs/silkscreens for position No. 2. Landscapes lead by a large margin as the top-selling subject, edging out florals by nearly two to one, and realism remains the top-selling style. Compared to 2000, galleries have actually added more print artists to the mix, carrying an average of 45 artists (up from 38 in 2000). The survey also reported that a significant number of print galleries do indeed carry inventory other than prints, like originals, sculpture and photography.

Sales Volumes

In both the 2000 and the 2001 surveys, the respondent bases of surveyed galleries were evenly representative of small, mid-sized and larger galleries. In 2000, the largest faction was the small galleries (sales volumes less than $100,000), while in the 2001 survey, the plurality of galleries had sales volume of $250,000 or more (See the Sales Volume chart below).

Within this context, the typical gallery in this year's survey posted an average sales volume of $371,635 in 2001. Galleries in the New England/Mid-Atlantic states posted above-average sales volumes ($411,000), and galleries in the Midwest posted sales volumes exactly at the overall average ($371,000), while those in the rest of the country posted below-average sales volumes that ranged from $309,000 in the South Atlantic states to $348,000 in the South and $351,000 in the Mountain/Pacific region.

The survey showed less growth in 2001 than 2000, which is likely the result of the tumultuous year. However, it is encouraging that it was a year of growth for two-fifths (40 percent) of the galleries, which typically saw sales increases of "more than 20 percent" (34 percent) or "six to 10 percent" (28 percent) over their 2000 sales volumes. On the other hand, 27 percent of the galleries reported a typical drop in sales of "more than 20 percent" (42 percent) and 30 percent of the galleries reported static sales that did not change from one year to the next.

Regionally, a variety of sales volume trends emerged:

* Galleries in the New England/Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic regions were more likely to have sales increases than galleries in other parts of the country, and galleries in the South were most likely to have lost sales dollars.

* The regional proportions of galleries reporting sales increases were as follows: South Atlantic-47 percent; New England/Mid-Atlantic-43 percent; Midwest-41 percent; Mountain/Pacific-36 percent; South-26 percent.

* The regional proportions of galleries reporting sales decreases were as follows: South-44 percent; South Atlantic-27 percent; Mountain/Pacific-27 percent; New England/Mid-Atlantic-24 percent; Midwest-23 percent.

In spite of the changes in sales volume, the survey results showed that two-fifths of galleries (41 percent) did not change their print purchasing behavior from 2000. Compared to 2000, one-third (35 percent) of the galleries increased their print purchases in 2001. On the other hand, one out of five galleries (19 percent) decreased their print purchases from 2000 to 2001.

Evaluating the Print Mix

As in the 1998 and 2000 surveys, galleries continue to sell lithographs more than any other type of print. This year, 69 percent of the galleries reported selling this type of print. However, the impact of giclees is becoming quite apparent.

Giclees have edged out serigraphs/silkscreens to become the second top-selling type of print--65 percent of galleries sell giclees, and 55 percent sell serigraphs/silkscreens. Next are posters (46 percent) then etchings (35 percent). All other remaining types of prints are sold by less than 30 percent of all the surveyed galleries.

Overall, a net of 24 percent of the surveyed galleries added one or more types of prints to their inventories over the past year or two (down significantly from 47 percent in 2000). Specifically, 16 percent added prints in the past year, and 10 percent added in the past two years. (See Prints Added chart on page 28.)

For the most part, these top 5 types of prints are sold most extensively by galleries in the New England/Mid-Atlantic states and by galleries with sales volumes of $500,000 or more.

A change from the 2000 survey involves the number of prints artists galleries carried. All of the surveyed galleries carry the work of an average of 45 different print artists (up from 38 in 2000). Specifically, one-fifth of the galleries carry fewer than five artists' work (20 percent); 14 percent carry five to 10 artists; 16 percent carry 11 to 20 artists; 31 percent carry 21 to 100 artists; and 18 percent carry more than 100 artists.