Print Market Grows, Changes

Art Business News, July, 2001 by Julie Keller, Mike Pilla

Art Business News' survey of 500 galleries reveals trends in the world of published art

The 2001 Art Business News Perspectives on Printing (POP) Survey, an in-depth survey of the sale of prints at more than 500 galleries nationwide, has uncovered a variety of revealing trends about the market.

The survey has been on hiatus since 1998, but in the interim, several significant trends have emerged. In general, galleries are carrying more limited- and open-edition prints, and the number of galleries carrying open-edition prints has increased. As in the 1998 survey, galleries continue to sell lithographs more than any other type of print. However, the industry is feeling the impact of giclee printing, which is the leading type of print galleries have added to their mix of art offerings.

Landscapes remain the top-selling subject for galleries, and realism remains the top-selling style, outpacing the next-best seller, Impressionism, by a two-to-one ratio. Another trend that has emerged is a dip in the number of artists carried by galleries. The survey also reports growth in inventory other than prints, such as originals, sculpture and photography, at galleries.

Sales Volumes Change, Galleries Grow

The 1998 survey revealed a large number of smaller galleries with sales volumes under $100,000. This year, the survey reports a range of mid-size and larger galleries as well as smaller ones.

Within this context, the typical gallery in this year's survey posted an average sales volume of $323,000 in 2000. Galleries in the South and Mountain/Pacific regions posted above-average sales volumes ($450,000 and $388,200, respectively) while those in the rest of the country posted below-average sales volumes that ranged from $312,000 in the Midwest to $292,500 in the South Atlantic states and $246,300 in the New England/Mid-Atlantic states.

Survey results showed that 2000 was a year of growth for half of the galleries, which reported sales increases that typically ranged from six to 10 percent, or 11 to 20 percent over their 1999 sales volumes.

Regionally, a variety of sales volume trends emerged, including:

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

* The regional proportions of galleries reporting sales increases were as follows: New England/Mid-Atlantic-59 percent; Mountain/Pacific-58 percent; Midwest-50 percent; South Atlantic-41 percent; South-37 percent.

* The regional proportions of galleries reporting sales decreases were as follows: South-25 percent; South Atlantic-24 percent; New England/Mid-Atlantic-22 percent; Mountain/Pacific-16 percent; Midwest-16 percent.

The overall growth in sales prompted an increase in print purchasing for one-third of the galleries from 1999 to 2000. One-third of the galleries surveyed did not change their print purchases from one year to the next. One out of five galleries decreased print purchases.

Sales Volume

                            2000   1998

Base (100%)                  463    426

Up to $100,000               27%    44%
$100,000 to $250,000         20%    29%
$250,000 or more             19%    20%
  [$250,000 to $500,000      12%    13%]
  [$500,000 to $1 million     6%     6%]
  [$1 to $2 million           3%     1%]
  [$2 million or more         1%    .2%]
Declined response            32%     7%

The Print Mix is Changing

Nearly every gallery surveyed carries limited-edition prints (95 percent, up from 88 percent in 1998), and 83 percent of galleries surveyed also carry open-edition prints. This number is an increase from 1998, when 63 percent of galleries carried open-edition prints. Each sale of a limited-edition print generates a gross profit of 49 percent (down down from 63 percent in 1998). Each sale of an open-edition print generates a gross profit of 47 percent (down from 62 percent in 1998).

As the 1998 survey found, galleries continue to sell lithographs more than any other type of print. Posters and giclees are the second and third top-selling prints, followed by serigraphs/silkscreens and etchings. Overall, a net of 47 percent of the surveyed galleries added one or more types of prints to their inventories over the past year or two. For the most part, these top five types of prints are sold most extensively by galleries in the New England/Mid-Atlantic states and by galleries with sales volumes of $100,000 to $250,000.

TOP SELLING

Types of Prints

1. Lithographs

2. Posters

3. Giclees

4. Serigraphs/silkscreens

5. Etchings

6. Monoprints

7. Engravings

8. Woodcuts
Prints Added

              Past   Past Two
              Year    Years

Base (100%)   463      463

Giclees       24%      17%
Serigraphs     5%       6%
Lithographs    6%       3%
Posters        3%       5%
Monoprints     3%       3%
Etchings       3%       3%

Another significant change from the 1998 survey involves the number of print artists carried by galleries. All of the surveyed galleries carry the work of an average of 38 different print artists. Specifically, one-quarter of the galleries carry fewer than five artists' work; 18 percent carry five to 10 artists, 14 percent carry 11 to 20 artists, 27 percent carry 21 to 100 artists and 11 percent carry more than 100 artists.