How can the world’s emerging markets, with newly acquired wealth, develop contemporary art which is both ‘modern’ and reflects their long cultural traditions and complex histories?

As well as providing a survey of emerging art markets throughout the world, A New Art from Emerging Markets published by Lund Humphries in association with Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Iain Robertson, Head of Art Business Studies at Sotheby’s Institute of Art – London, looks at how value in non-Western contemporary art is constructed largely by external political events and economic factors rather than aesthetic considerations. The book also considers whether it is better to let a new art market grow organically, driven by commercial imperatives, or for the government to step in to construct a cultural and economic infrastructure within which an art market can be placed.

For over a hundred years, the Western market for international contemporary art has held sway. But today, that system and the art that it has validated are being questioned by the increasingly sceptical ethno-cultures of China, South-East Asia, India, the Middle East and Central Asia. In its place increasingly confident Chinese, Iranian, Arab and Indian patrons are making judgements of taste based on their understanding and appreciation of their own traditions.

This new book sets out to show that fundamental economic and political forces have combined with a revival in ancient beliefs to change our world and drive a paradigm shift in cultural perception and value.

An ideological shift

In place of the international market there is ample evidence of self-sustaining national markets operating systems that not only differ from those of the mainstream market, but have different ambitions. The art that is a product of this change in thinking is also very different in character from international contemporary art.

This new art from emerging markets, which is supported as much by an ideological shift as by an economic and political rise, is forcing the international cultural scene to address not fragmentation so much as polarisation.

The emerging market societies are choosing to re-examine and reinvigorate their past, which has led them to question the purpose of globalisation and the application to their civilisations of an international cultural standard. Their assessment of this developing cultural accord will determine, ultimately, the fate of international contemporary art.

Written accessibly and engagingly for general readers as well as art professionals and investors, this new book presents a fascinating overview of the historical context, cultural traditions and current political and economic factors affecting the market for contemporary art in these regions. It offers the collector, investor, speculator, observer and culturally interested individual a unique insight into where the new markets are and how they are likely to develop.

• Offers a critique of new and emerging markets for contemporary art which can inform future collecting and investment decisions.
• A fascinating study of how value in non- Western contemporary art is constructed largely by external political events and economic factors.
• Specific case studies examine the emerging and emerged markets of China, South-East Asia, Japan, the Middle East, India and Iran.