High-net-worth (HNW) women outpaced men’s spending on art in the first half of 2023, following a trend of the past two years. Women collectors spent a median of $72,500 compared with $$59,400 by men, according to The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023 released today.
However, HNW men reported higher average spending with values driven up by a few extravagant male spenders, including twice as many men shelling out $1 million in each period, the survey found.
Still, spending by women continues to grow in value, already reaching a higher level than in 2022.
The survey of HNW collectors is primarily based on survey data gathered and analyzed directly by Arts Economics (a research and consulting firm focused exclusively on the art economy founded in 2005 by Dr. Clare McAndrew, a cultural economist specializing in the arts, antiques and collectibles markets) in collaboration with UBS.
This year’s survey is the largest to date, with participation from 2,828 HNW collectors from 11 key regions around the world.
Woman takes photo of awrtwork
The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023
Despite the surge in women collectors, HNW indivfudal’s collections continue to be dominated by works by male artists, with a ratio of 61% men to 39% women, with the share of works by women in collections decreased by 3% year-on-year to 39% in 2023.. However, collectors who spend more than $10 million each year tended to have both a higher share of works by women in their collections (54%), and their proportion of spending also increased from 46% in 2021 to 55% in 2023. This may indicate that some of the spending at the very highest levels was on women artists, even if only by very few top collectors.
“Wider studies have shown that female artists are still underrepresented in exhibitions and sales, both in the dealer and auction sectors. Despite being over-(represented) or equally represented at many art schools, there is still well-documented evidence of inequality in terms of career longevity and commercial success. However, some research has found that due to the seemingly more rigorous quality filters and other issues faced by women in their careers as artists, while the number of their works reaching the market is less, the minority that do so sell at a premium rather than a discount for artists at similar levels,” McAndrew wrote.
“This is an important issue to explore as it implies that some of the biases women face relate to institutions and other aspects of their career paths rather than simply the market itself, with the issue still being the lack of progress in commercial careers rather than only a gender discount for female versus male artists once they are on the market,” McAndrew added.
Woman looks at artwork
The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023
A considerable plunge last year in the share of collectors most commonly focused on buying works of art priced at over $1 million may be. After tumbling from 12% in 2021 to 4% in 2022, spending at a higher price in the first half of 2023 was 9%.
Despite this year’s rebound, levels were below those of 2021 and previous years, suggesting possible buyer caution and fewer high-end collectors following the strong post-COVID-19 jump in sales.
The average allocation to art in the wealth portfolios of HNW collectors dwindled to 19% in 2023, from a peak of 24% in 2022, another sign of caution amid bolstered focus on more liquid financial assets or less willingness to make discretionary purchases. Nonetheless, the size of the HNW portfolio allocation to art rose positively with collector wealth, ranging from an average of 15% for those with wealth of less than $5 million to nearly 30% for ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) collectors with wealth of more than $50 million.
