Emerging Market: Turkey

August 2010

Before China became an important contemporary-art power, the 1987 inception of the Istanbul Biennial first caused the Western art world to look farther east than Switzerland’s Art Basel for cutting-edge Post War art. In the decades since, the nation has progressed economically and its cultural ambitions have followed suit. Now, Turkey stands to be one of the most exciting emerging contemporary art markets of the next decade.

Economic analysts have indicated that since Turkey’s economic crisis in 2002 Turkish investors have allocated more money into tangible assets like art and gold. Auction houses  have confirmed this trend, reporting that over the past five years, Turkish collectors have been increasingly acquiring international contemporary art, Impressionist works, antique furniture, jewellery, 19^th century Orientalist paintings as well as Old Masters.

In March 2009, Sotheby’s held its first London sale of Turkish contemporary art which grossed £1.3 million. In April 2010, the second London auction nearly doubled that figure, earning £2.4 million and fetching 16 artist-record prices. The sale combined lots from younger and lesser expensive artists as well as the great talent of the 1950s and 1960s coming out of Turkey. Taner Ceylan’s 1881 (From the Lost Painting Series) (lot 7) surpassed the previous auction record by more than £50,000 and doubled its pre-sale high estimate of £45,000 to fetch £121,250. The main highlight of the auction was the sale of Fahrelnissa Zeid’s 1954 untitled painting, which received applause from the auction audience when after a seven minute bidding war it fetched $1.01 million. The noteworthy occasion sale marked the first time a Turkish artist has broken the $1 million barrier. In addition, the sale gave Zeid the long overdue positioning in the international art market. As a talented painter, Zeid, exhibited with the Parisian avant-guarde but up until this sale she never received recognition due to her status as a Turkish woman married to a Jordanian living in Paris.

While Turkish artists are making their mark, the number of Turkish collectors is also significantly growing. There was strong Turkish presence at this year’s edition of the prestigious Art Basel, with two hundred Turkish art enthusiasts and serious collectors travelling attending the fair. Reports of serious art collectors hit the international press in 2006 when a number of high-profile Turkish business leaders and art collectors moved to establish private museums to house their personal collections. The trend was first set by Rahmi Koç, chairman ofKoç Holding, Turkey’s largest conglomerate, who opened the Rahmi M. Koç Museum in 1994. Since then many prominent collectors and philanthropists have founded private museums including the six year old Istanbul Modern which is currently showing works by Hussein Chalayan, one of the leading names of contemporary art and fashion.

With Turkey’s growing economy and strong private support for Turkish arts Turkey’s strong cultural development will undoubtedly encourage the development of offshore museums and galleries, strengthening the force of this emerging and already exciting market. 

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