Only 10 paintings sold?

The 159th Annual International Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society has finished at the Salmagundi Club. Some statistics - one jumped out to me (in red):

• 3,300 visitors 
• during the exhibition which ran for 3.5 weeks from April 7 – May 1
• $54,000 in awards, and 
• ONLY 10 PAINTINGS SOLD! 
• That means 
• only 0.003% of the visitors wanted to buy a painting!
• only c.6% of artists sold a painting

Facebook Post by AWS

You can find the names of the exhibited artists here (both AWS members and those selected from the open entry.)

These are the Award Winners. Paintings selected for awards can be viewed here.

Thirty-nine awards totaling over $54,000 were selected this year by the 159th Exhibiton Jury of Awards.

The only images online are those of award winners. They do not contain any details about size, materials or price.

Critique 

When art societies were first formed, the major reason was to share the costs of exhibitions of artwork so that artists could get their artwork in front of more people and stand a better chance of selling it.

It wasn't about showing off. It was about financing the artist to make money to enable them to continue being an artist. That's still - or should be - one of the primary reasons why artists exhibit today.

If an annual international exhibition by the one of the oldest and most prestigious watercolour societies in America can only sell 10 paintings then something they are doing is wrong!

AWS Facebook Page

Context

First, by way of comparison I'm going to highlight the number and percentage of sales of artwork exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours last three annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries (a large gallery supporting national societies of artists in the centre of London - accessible to fans, tourists and people walking up the Mall to/from Buckingham Palace)

As you can see, the RI have significantly more sales both in terms of actual paintings and percentage sold.

Royal Institute of Watercolour Sales in last three years

 

So why doesn't the American Watercolor Society achieve similar sales?

I'm going to reflect on some of the reasons why I think their sales performance is very poor.

AWS Context re Sales

This is the International Prospectus (for the 2027 exhibition) which explains how the AWS exhibition is run.

This is what it says about sales

• All paintings will be considered for sale at the price set forth by the artist unless marked NFS (Not for Sale) or 0 (zero). Prices may not be changed or withdrawn once accepted into the exhibition. 
• Any painting sold in the New York Exhibition or Traveling Exhibition is subject to a 35% commission. 
• The cost of shipping is borne by the buyer of the work

Display of artwork: catalogue and online

There is no catalogue. Hence no accessible record of 

• how many artists
• who painted what, size materials and 
• how they priced their work.

The artwork is NOT displayed for sale online (unlike the RI Exhibitions at the Mall)

People buying art now buy a lot of art online. By not having an online exhibition, the AWS is reducing the scope for sales. 

It's easy to put a catalogue online eg see the RI Catalogues 

• Buy the catalogue 
• read the e-catalogue

Very many art societies now use Issuu for their exhibition e-catalogues

Buyers like to see a visible price - they don't like to ask. Anybody telling you otherwise is just living in the past and/or being snooty!

A display via a YouTube video shows us what it looks like but says nothing about:

• name of artist
• price of painting
• whether it is for sale

Number for sale

There is no information on the website about:

• number in exhibition
• number for sale
• numbers per price range

Very many artists have not got a clue about pricing art. (Which is why I have a huge section on How to price your art on my Art Business Info for Artists website) 

I've been doing exhibition metrics for national art societies that exhibit at the Mall Galleries for a number of years. This involves 

• reflecting on how the number of sales vary by price range. 
• As a result of which I have made very strong recommendations to those applying for exhibitions who read this blog re how they should price their art - based on REAL SALES!

Price is completely academic unless it converts into a sale. Artists often 

• price far too high and 
• don't adjust for when the economy changes which often means 
• adjusting size of works for sale rather than changing what you sell art for 
• i.e. make your art more affordable by offering more smaller works

Location:

The Exhibition was on view at the Salmagundi Club in both 

• the main (Skylight) Gallery and 
• the lower (Rockwell) Gallery 

Could it be that only aficionados of the AWS visit the exhibition? That they miss out on foot traffic because they are showing in a club?

A plus point is that the annual exhibition is always free to exhibit.

A minus point is that the exhibition is only open afternoons for six days a week, 1-6 pm Tuesday – Friday and 1-5 pm. (so misses out on half the lunchtime traffic)

Style of Art

I've observed a number of times in the last 20 years of writing this blog that the style of art favoured by Americans is very different to that preferred by UK and European audiences.

On the whole American artists seem to believe Americans want:

• realistic and hyperrealistic art - lots and lots of tiny detail
• bright colours
• large paintings - because they have larger homes

For me, it means that 

• artists painting for this exhibition seem to indulge in what one might call "look at me I'm a very accomplished artist" types of painting - and choose subjects which enable them to show off how accomplished they are.
• many of the artists are:
• rather too much about the technical and 
• not enough about the emotional and the soul and what moves the artist. (and believe me I'm very very far from being an emotional diva!)
• there rather too many very obvious "painting from photographs" 
• there is not enough painting from life or from imagination.

Interestingly the Awards reveal that the selectors agree with me. I had few issues with paintings which received awards.

However, what I saw in the Video were an awful lot of very boring amateurish paintings of inane subjects which wouldn't get hung by art galleries in the UK. Some actually generated a "Yikes" comment!

While there is undoubtedly an appetite for "American Taste", it does mean that the more impressionistic and expressionistic figurative art gets a lower profile. Which is a pity. 

Maybe if there was a more eclectic mix of styles in the exhibition the AWS would find out what buyers really like?

Maybe there needs to be a more explicit "we like paintings like this" and NOT paintings like this?

I think that both need to happen if the AWS are to achieve more sales for their exhibiting artists - and more international status for their society.

There again - if they had a more eclectic mix then maybe more international artists would apply? I spotted only two award-winning artists I know who live/exhibit regularly in the UK

A Change of Emphasis

Maybe the AWS could put more effort into 

• generating funds to make the art in the exhibition more accessible to those who like buying art and 
• spending less on prizes and awards.

Awards belong to the era when winning an award gets you an art gallery. 

These days art galleries stuggle to survive - unless they are e-savvy - and artists do not need art galleries to sell art online!

I guarantee more artists would rather have a good chance of selling their art rather than have a tiny chance of winning an award. 

Particularly when you take the costs of exhibiting and transport into account.

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