Each year, UBS and the economist Clare McAndrew publish a report that looks at the world’s global art market. For the first time, to go alongside it, McAndrew has also published a second report devoted to the role that cities across the U.S. play in the global art market.
According to McAndrew, the U.S. accounted for nearly half of all art sales in 2021—around some $28 billion, per her previous 2022 art market report. The new report reveals that the top five U.S. cities are New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Miami. These cities will likely come as no surprise to close watchers of the art world here, as they are all hubs for major museums, galleries, art fairs, and artists.
“This research allowed us to look at the structure and make up of US art institutions in some of the country’s key art hubs, looking beyond sales and financial metrics to consider how their choices, risk preferences and behaviors can affect the careers of new artists,” McAndrew said in a statement.
In collaboration with Wondeur AI, McAndrew analyzed the exhibition history of some 4,150 art institutions anywhere in the country that actively presented, between 2017 and 2021, the work of artists born after 1900. Drawing on its 250,000-person database, Wondeur AI then grouped those artists by career stage, from “star” to “emerging.”
Despite accounting for 4 percent of what’s in Wondeur AI’s database, “star” artists were the subject of 47 percent of institutional shows and 23 percent of commercial gallery shows, the report said. Meanwhile, “emerging” artists made up 84 percent of the database, but only 17 percent of institutional shows and 36 percent of gallery shows.
As part of its findings, the report relies on two metrics (between 0 and 100) developed by Wondeur AI. The first is “risk appetite,” or an institution’s “willingness to show new Emerging artists before other institutions,” with a higher score indicating a greater willingness to do so. The second is “performance,” which attempts to map whether an artist continued to have solo shows after one particularly important exhibition, essentially launching their careers to greater heights. (All artists evaluated in this part of the report only began exhibiting in 2010 or later.)
The report found that gender parity still has not been achieved in these cities, with shows by women accounting for between 30 and 45 percent of shows in each urban center surveyed.
Take a look below at the specific data for each city.
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New York
Image Credit: NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx 2022 via AP Images New York remains the leading art capital in the U.S., having held that title since the postwar era. According to the report, New York has the largest share of art institutions in the country, accounting for 26 percent. Institutions in the city mounted 36 percent of all exhibitions staged countrywide between 2017 and 2021. Meanwhile, New York accounts for 37 percent of the nation’s galleries and 16 percent of its nonprofits.
Nearly a third of the offerings by the city’s galleries were for “star” artists, while a quarter was for “emerging” ones. A similar trend was seen in the city’s museums when it came to “stars,” although just 14 percent of shows were reportedly for “emerging” artists. Between 2017 and 2021, 39 percent of shows at New York galleries and 41 percent of shows at its museums were of women artists.
New York’s risk appetite score was 82 for galleries and 70 for museums. The city’s performance score was 21 for galleries and 36 for museums. Galleries had the best risk appetite score for male and female artists, with a score of 83 for both. New York museums had the best risk appetite score for male artists (73) and the second-best for women artists (65).
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Los Angeles
Image Credit: Kirby Lee via AP Images Since the ’60s, Los Angeles has long been a city known for nurturing various experimental practices, with the city’s artists nurtured by its cluster of its important art schools, which have in turn attracted some of the country’s best artists as professors. Locals have always seen Los Angeles as a key art center, but internationally, the city’s profile has grown over the past several years through the arrival of blue-chip galleries, the opening of new private museums, and the advent of an edition of the Frieze art fair.
Still, Los Angeles reportedly only has 7 percent of the country’s art institutions. Museums and foundations in the city mounted 8 percent of all exhibitions staged between 2017 and 2021. When broken down between commercial galleries and nonprofits, L.A. accounts for 10 percent of the nation’s galleries and 5 percent of its nonprofits.
Los Angeles galleries showed 29 percent of “star” artists compared with 23 percent of “emerging” artists, while the city’s museums showed 50 percent of “star” artists and 21 percent of “emerging” artists. Between 2017 and 2021, 38 percent of shows at L.A. galleries and 36 percent of shows at its museums were of women artists.
L.A.’s risk appetite was 70 for both its museums and galleries. The city’s performance score for galleries was 30 and for museums was 33.
Women artists fared best in L.A. Commercial galleries received a performance score of 26 in that regard, and museums received a 50. And compared to other cities, male artists also fared better in L.A. galleries, with a performance score of 34. L.A. museums had the best risk appetite score for women artists, at 67, and the second-best score for male artists, at 72.
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San Francisco
Image Credit: Michael Ho Wai Lee / SOPA Images/Sipa USA, via AP Images Culture has long played a role in San Francisco since the city’s earliest days, and it has continued to be bolstered over the years by key institutions like SFMOMA, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the San Francisco Art Institute, and by notable galleries like Berggruen, Fraenkel, Jessica Silverman, and Jenkins Johnson.
San Francisco has 4 percent of art institutions in the U.S., and institutions in the city mounted 4 percent of all exhibitions staged between 2017 and 2021. When broken down between commercial galleries and nonprofits, San Francisco accounts for 5 percent of the nation’s galleries and 3 percent of its nonprofits.
San Francisco galleries showed 29 percent of “star” artists compared with 39 percent of “emerging” artists, while the city’s museums showed 56 percent of “star” artists and 19 percent of “emerging” artists. Between 2017 and 2021, 36 percent of shows at the city’s galleries and 42 percent of shows at its museums were of women artists.
San Francisco’s risk appetite was 74 for its galleries and 61 for its museums. The city’s performance score was 16 for galleries and 16 for museums.
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Chicago
Home to the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the country’s most esteemed museums, the Windy City has long been a focal point for the arts, particularly in the Midwest. Chicago has 3 percent of the U.S.’s art institutions, and institutions in the city mounted 4 percent of all exhibitions staged between 2017 and 2021. When broken down between commercial galleries and nonprofits, Chicago accounts for 4 percent of the nation’s galleries and 3 percent of its nonprofits.
Chicago galleries showed 16 percent of “star” artists compared with 39 percent of “emerging” artists, while the city’s museums showed 48 percent of “star” artists and 24 percent of “emerging” artists. Between 2017 and 2021, 43 percent of shows at Chicago galleries and 40 percent of shows at its museums were of women artists.
Chicago’s risk appetite was 74 for galleries and 48 for museums. The city’s performance score was 23 for galleries and 34 for museums.
When looking at gender breakdowns, Chicago museums had the best performance score for male artists (53) and the worst for women artists (12). Chicago galleries and museums also had the worst risk appetite scores for women artists, at 68 and 33, respectively.
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Miami
Image Credit: AP Photo/Lynne Sladky Over the past two decades, Miami’s star has risen, thanks in part to Art Basel taking up residence in the nearby Miami Beach. Meanwhile, museums have produced strong programming, and more and more galleries have begun to open throughout Southern Florida.
Miami had just 2 percent of the country’s art institutions, and institutions in the city (tied with San Francisco and Chicago) mounted 4 percent of all exhibitions staged between 2017 and 2021. The city accounts for 3 percent of the nation’s galleries and 2 percent of its nonprofits.
Galleries there showed 10 percent of “star” artists compared with 29 percent of “emerging” artists. Sixty-one percent of their offerings went to “established” artists. The city’s museums showed 61 percent of “star” artists and 39 percent of “emerging” artists. Between 2017 and 2021, 28 percent of shows at Miami galleries and 36 percent of shows at its museums were of women artists.
Miami’s risk appetite score was 74 for galleries and 48 for museums. The city’s performance score was 17 for galleries and 33 for museums.
In commercial galleries, women artists fared the worst in Miami, with a performance score of 13; Miami museums had the second-lowest performance score in that regard, at 14. But one key finding for Miami is that it’s “the only city where Emerging female artists where more likely to be exhibited for the first time over their male peers in both the museum and commercial gallery sector.”