The last big event before everything closes for the summer was a set of auctions in London last month.
The London sales have been generating increasing interest. The weak dollar and the presence of rich Russian collectors has seen London strengthen in relation to the world's biggest market, which remains New York. As predicted, US collectors consigned works while Russians turned out to buy.
But the question remains how long can the art market grow while recession looms? As has happened at art fairs, which have seen high prices for "museum quality" works but wobbles in the middle, warning signs were there.
Phillips de Pury's contemporary sale on 29 June ended up with one third of lots unsold, with one heavily marketed work, a Franz Gertsch portrait of Patti Smith (estimated at up to £2m) attracting no bids at all.
Later in the week though, Christie's and Sotheby's sold £86m and £95m worth of contemporary art respectively, with much discussion centring on Christie's sale of a magenta "balloon" sculpture, from the Celebration series, by US artist Jeff Koons.
It was given a public preview in St James' Square and sold for almost £13m. But it was rumoured to have been guaranteed for £12.5m - a practice in which an auction house "guarantees" to pay the seller an agreed amount, with any profit split between the parties.
So did the Koons make Christie's a profit? With the cost of shipping, securing and conserving it, several commentators thought not, raising the odd possibility that while the market remains up, profits in the salerooms could well be feeling the crunch.
Jane Morris is an arts journalist and editor
The London sales have been generating increasing interest. The weak dollar and the presence of rich Russian collectors has seen London strengthen in relation to the world's biggest market, which remains New York. As predicted, US collectors consigned works while Russians turned out to buy.
But the question remains how long can the art market grow while recession looms? As has happened at art fairs, which have seen high prices for "museum quality" works but wobbles in the middle, warning signs were there.
Phillips de Pury's contemporary sale on 29 June ended up with one third of lots unsold, with one heavily marketed work, a Franz Gertsch portrait of Patti Smith (estimated at up to £2m) attracting no bids at all.
Later in the week though, Christie's and Sotheby's sold £86m and £95m worth of contemporary art respectively, with much discussion centring on Christie's sale of a magenta "balloon" sculpture, from the Celebration series, by US artist Jeff Koons.
It was given a public preview in St James' Square and sold for almost £13m. But it was rumoured to have been guaranteed for £12.5m - a practice in which an auction house "guarantees" to pay the seller an agreed amount, with any profit split between the parties.
So did the Koons make Christie's a profit? With the cost of shipping, securing and conserving it, several commentators thought not, raising the odd possibility that while the market remains up, profits in the salerooms could well be feeling the crunch.
Jane Morris is an arts journalist and editor
