A Framework for Identifying Factors That Influence Fine Art Valuations From Artist to Consumers

While the fine arts are a multi-billion dollar business, marketing academicians have largely neglected the visual fine arts market. This is unfortunate because the expressive nature of fine art works provides an opportunity to extend marketing exchange theory further into the realm of symbolic and social values. This paper draws on marketing concepts, anecdotal evidence from art history, insights from art economics and aesthetics, and sociological perspectives related to social construction of reality, to develop a framework from which to view market valuations of fine art. Consideration is given to the artist, to visual fine art works as products, to the industry and its intermediaries and facilitators including galleries, dealers, collectors, curators, and critics, to purchasers of art as consumers with diverse purchasing motivations, and to aspects of fine arts pricing. A model is presented to summarize key potential influences on visual fine art market valuations and suggestions are made for directions of future formal research in this area.