This is all about
how to sell the art that gets selected for an open exhibition by a national
art society.
One of the ways in which artists can promote their art is by being selected
for an open exhibition by a national art society.
However, they help their profiles enormously and enhance their case for
membership of a national art society if they can also demonstrate that their
artwork is not only good enough to exhibit - but it also sells!
I personally find it very frustrating every time I visit an exhibition is to
see good art which is overpriced - and which I know will not sell.
None of what I say applies to any artist who is not dependent on their artwork
selling to have a normal life. If you have independent means, you can price
however you like.
By way of contrast,
what I say is crucial to the understanding of those artists who "need to
know" how to achieve sales i.e. study the marketplace, what's on offer and
what the price competition looks like.
UPDATE 31 December 2024: This post has now been UPDATED with reference to artists who sold more than one artwork - providing summary details of the type of art and prices of sold artwork.
Why artists get prices for their art wrong
Artists are very invested in their art. They often price in an unsound way
which reflects motivations which have nothing whatsoever to do with selling
art.
The reasons for getting the price wrong are:
-
thinking too much about the hours and effort put into a painting and not
enough about whether that's marketable
-
not visiting an annual open exhibition in advance of submitting an entry
-
not observing the prices of the work which has sold - when your research
can be done online
-
not looking at last year's exhibition online - and noting the price bands
where there are few sales
-
not reading this blog! I've been banging on and on about the need to
tailor prices to the marketplace for specific art galleries.
-
specifically in relation to the FBA Societies at the Mall Galleries
-
specifically in relation to pricing just below and not just above
important threshold prices i.e. the level at which people start thinking
"No" rather than "Yes"
Bottom line, your art is only worth an "inflated price" if you can
find somewhere where it will sell at that price. Otherwise it's just numbers
on a label and a painting which will be returned to you unsold.
I can by the way spot all the artists who have been reading this blog and
have adjusted their prices and are now selling again
after a fairly rough marketplace in recent times. :)
While writing this post, I also noticed an awful lot of artists who used to sell well on a regular basis who are no longer doing so. Time maybe to review their strategy for getting their artwork sold?
2024 Annual Exhibition Sales Metrics by FBA Societies
Below you will find charts of sales at the 2024 annual exhibitions of the
art societies who belong to the Federation of British Artists based at the
Mall Galleries
i.e.
- Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
- Royal Institute of Oil Painters
- Royal Society of British Artists
- New English Art Club
- Royal Society of Portrait Painters
- Pastel Society
- Royal Society of Marine Artists
- Society of Wildlife Artists
Each chart is the exact same size - which helps make each comparable with
the others.
However the numbers of sales by members/associate members and those selected
via the open entry are
- identified by price range in which they sold
-
with a coloured column each for
member artists and
open entry artists
-
with an additional total column for
all sales in each price range
UPDATE 31.12.24.:
I'm also adding in - under each chart - the names of artists who sold
well (as in 2 or more sales) in the 2024 exhibitions. It is possible to identify the TYPE of art which can sells well. Of which
more in the future....
Who are the buyers at the Mall Galleries?
I started characterising buyers at the Mall Galleries as being
essentially "middle class, middle aged and middle income" some years ago.
-
They typically like buying artwork priced at less than £1,500 - and they
like it even more if it is priced at less than a £1,000.
-
You should bear this in mind as you review the charts and commentary
below and as you check the profiles of the price ranges of artwork sold
in the charts below
Essentially annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries are about
affordable art for most of those who visit, view and buy art.
Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
They exhibited 450 artworks and sold 87 paintings (19%).
- members sold 47
- open entrants sold 40
- The top priced painting was £3,250
No open artist sold a painting for more than £1,000.
There were a LOT of sales priced under £1000 with specific hot prices
such as £650 and £450. Interestingly
- open artists dominated the below £500 category
- members dominated the £501-£1000 category
Unsurprisingly, watercolours are considered to be more affordable artwork -
so long as artists produce suitable sizes and prices for them to be
considered affordable. When they do, they sell like hot cakes!
|
Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
Annual
Exhibition Sales Metrics - number sold by price range and type of
artist |
Artists who did well include:
- Member: Matthew Phinn RI RSMA - 2 x landscape paintings @ £1,700 and £550
-
Member: Paul Talbot-Greaves RI - all landscape paintings 2 x £400 and 3 x £750
- Member: Hannah Woodman RI - two watercolour and gouache landscape paintings @£3,250 and £1,950
- Member: Geoffrey Wynne RI - all landscape paintings priced under £2000, sold 4 including 3 at £850
-
Open Entry:
Miranda Brookes - sold two landscapes at £650 each
-
Open Entry:
Sandra Doyle
- sold two botanical art paintings (£750 and £425), which she could have
sold again and again!
- Open Entry: Julia Groves - 2 x flower paintings @ £870 each
- Open Entry: Kate Osbourne - sold 2 x watercolour and gouache paintings about allotments @ £395 each
- Open Entry: Jian Yuan Ong - sold 2 @£400
Note the theme re subject matter?
Royal Institute of Oil Painters
