THE ART ADVISORY
ALEXIA WALKER: Undervalued African art offers promising investment value
African buyers purchase African art, and it's an entrant market, compared to Europe, the US and China, writes Alexia Walker
This is a good time for African art. Never before has the focus on modern and contemporary African art been so sustained, so intense. In the past few years, the African art market has grown steadily with no sign of abating, internationally and locally. Global attention, in particular, has been remarkable. When asked what the market trends are in contemporary African art, we have to admit that we are quite excited by the direction things have taken. The secondary market — the resale market as opposed to the primary market, in which a gallery sells an artist’s work for the first time — has gone from strength to strength. As there are no verified figures for the primary market, we cannot comment on it so readily. The British auction house Bonhams launched its annual African art auction, Africa Now, in 2007. The auction focuses on modern and contemporary art from the continent. Bonhams now runs this sale biannually and in 2014, it added the South African sale to its calendar, increasing...
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