经济学人下载:网售艺术品 点击亚马逊

Business
商业报道

Selling art online
网售艺术品

Enter Amazon
点击亚马逊

The internet giant's fine-art venture is unlikely to sell many masterpieces
互联网巨头的艺术冒险，看样子卖不出几件珍宝

WITH a mouse click you can add Norman Rockwell's Willie Gillis: Package from Home to your Amazon shopping cart.
只需轻轻点击鼠标，你便可以把诺曼·洛克威尔的名画《威利·吉利斯：从家打包》加入你的亚马逊亚马逊购物车。

But you will need boldness and a bulging bank account to proceed to checkout: it costs 4.85m.
但是，你还需要足够的胆量和充足的资金去结算：该画价值485万美元。

The oil painting went on sale in August, when Amazon splashily announced that it would add fine art to earth's biggest selection of consumables.
八月，这幅油画开始在网上销售，当时亚马逊高调宣布将会向其 世界上最齐全的消费品中加入美术作品。

But it will not be easy to sell art alongside books and barbecues.
但是，销售书籍和烤肉架容易，卖美术作品就难了。

Amazon's arty initiative is not revolutionary.
亚马逊销售美术作品的点子并非首创，

Hundreds of dealers already sell art online, swarming into every niche and bristling with gimmicks.
成千上万的经销商已经在网上买美术作品了，其势头可谓无孔不入，赚足了噱头。

Sedition sells digital works, some by famous artists.
还有炒作销售数码作品者，其中部分出自名家之手，

Artsy figures out buyers' tastes from their browsing activity.
而那些伪艺术家则从买家的浏览记录中揣摩其需求。

Artnet, the self-proclaimed market leader, auctioned 15m-worth of art last year and provides online exhibition space to 1,700 galleries.
去年，自称行业领跑者的Artnet拍卖出了价值1500万美元的美术作品，在其网站上陈列了1700个画廊。

Christie's and Sotheby's, the best-known auction houses, have long accepted online bids as an extension of their traditional sales.
最负盛名的两家拍卖行佳士得、苏富比早已将网上招标作为其传统销售的延伸部分。

So far, all this has made little impression.
迄今为止，效果并不理想。

Online art sales were 870m in 2012, less than 2% of the 56 billion global art market, according to a report published by Hiscox, an insurer.
希思可保险公司的报告显示，2012年网上艺术品销售成交额仅为8.7亿美元，不到全球美术作品市场成交总额560亿的2%。

Assuming that art will progress online at the same rate as luxury goods, the report predicts that sales will more than double to 2.1 billion by 2017.
该报告预测假设网上销售艺术品的增长速度同奢侈品一样，到2017年其销售总额将会翻一番达到21亿美元。

Even then, online's share will still be modest.
即便那时，网上艺术品销售总额仍是微不足道。

Pure online art sales, in which anyone can buy and deals are struck on a website, happen mainly on the blurry boundaries between art, craft and mass production.
纯粹网上所销售的是一些介于美术作品、手工艺品及其他批量生产的艺术品，任何人都能在网上购买、交易。

Jonas Almgren, the boss of London-based Artfinder, sees his site as a painterly version of Etsy, a successful American portal for selling handmade wares.
公司Artfinder的老板乔纳斯阿姆格伦将自己的网站比作美术版的Etsy—一家成功的美国手工艺品网络商店，

Both cater to a popular craving for one-of-a-kind goods.
二者均迎合了部分人对绝无仅有商品的渴望心理。

Artspace sells mainly limited-edition prints and photographs.
它主要销售限量版的复制品及照片。

The lower end of the art market will largely shift online, predicts Skate's, an art-market research firm.
艺术市场调查公司Skate预测，低端艺术品市场将会主要转战网络。

Higher up, things get more complicated.
至于高端市场，情况则更加复杂。

Artists yearn to exhibit in real galleries; collectors want to experience first-hand a work's scale and texture.
艺术家们期待真正的美术展，收藏爱好者希望直接体验艺术作品的尺寸、质感，

In the secondary market the spectre of forgery makes them wary of dealing with virtual vendors.
而来自二级市场的山寨货则让他们对虚拟供应商有所忌惮。

When the price of an artwork tops 5,000, you want a relationship with a client, says Steve Lazarides, a specialist in urban art who runs both physical galleries and an online shop.
当某件艺术作品的价值最高达到5000英镑时，你希望同客户建立一定的业务关系，斯蒂夫拉扎里迪斯说道；斯蒂夫是都市艺术方面的专家，他即开了实体画廊，还开了一家艺术品销售网店。

The priciest bargains are struck between dealers and coteries of collectors they know well.
最为昂贵的交易往往在经销商及其圈子内熟知的收藏者之间达成，

The terms are almost always secret.
这种交易通常都是秘密进行的。

With living artists, relationships matter even more.
对于那些仍在世的艺术家，人际关系就更加重要了。

Dealers are expected to nurture their careers, which means managing prices, too.
经销商希望完善其职业，这也就意味着控制价格。

It is an unwritten law that they must never fall, says Friederike Hauffe, who teaches a course in art marketing atBerlin's Free University.
弗里德里克哈菲表示有一条不成文的规则，即经销商不能失败，哈菲在柏林的一家自由大学教授艺术市场课程。

Some dealers discourage collectors from selling the work of an artist they represent; if one comes up for auction they might bid up prices. To fail to sell an item at auction is to burn it.
部分经销商不让收藏者出售他们持有的某位艺术家作品，如果这些收藏家再度竞标他们会抬高这些作品的价格，而一旦某件拍卖品未中标，该作品就会被烧掉。

That does not mean that online marketing plays no role at the top end.
这并非意味着网络销售市场在高端艺术品层面无关紧要，

Swanky galleries have long e-mailed images to potential buyers.
积极的画廊早就开始向潜在的客户发邮件。

Many exhibit art online to attract global interest but conduct transactions in cosier settings.
许多画廊在网上开展览以吸引全球顾客，但进行交易却在实体店中。

Nearly four-fifths of galleries insist on some direct contact with buyers, according to the Hiscox report.
希思可保险公司的报告称，将近五分之四的画廊坚持直接同卖家联系。

Most online sales above 100,000 happen via the electronic bidding channels of auction houses such as Christie's.
大部分在网上销售的价值超过10万美元的美术品都是通过诸如佳士得拍卖行的电子招标渠道实现的。

But this may be changing. The prices collectors are willing to pay online are creeping up.
但是，情况或许会改变。收藏家愿意在网上购买的艺术品的价格在不断上升，

Friendships with dealers are beginning to seem less vital.
同经销商的关系似乎开始不那么那么重要了。

Christie's launched online-only sales in 2011 with an auction of Elizabeth Taylor memorabilia.
2011年，佳士得举行了唯一一次网络拍卖，该拍卖会拍卖的是为伊丽莎白·泰勒的珍藏品。

Saatchi Online thrusts itself into the heart of the new-art nexus: it represents artists directly, bypassing galleries, and is happy to sell to all kinds of people, says its chief curator, Rebecca Wilson.
萨奇在线的总策展人丽贝卡威尔逊称，萨奇在线则来势汹汹，直击新艺术销售要害：跳过画廊直接代表艺术家，并且乐意同任何群体做生意。

Amazon is not in the business of managing artists' careers. You can buy a Jeff Koons print on the site for 33,750 but are unlikely to find his giant steel Tulips.
亚马逊不是经营艺术品的行家，你可以在上面买到杰夫·昆斯价值33750美元的雕塑，但不大可能买到其巨型钢铁雕塑《郁金香》。

Mr Almgren thinks Amazon will struggle to sell even more modest works.
阿姆格伦认为亚马逊将会努力销售更多的中档艺术品，

There is an enormous mismatch between Amazon's utilitarian website and the inspirational approach you need to sell art, he thinks.
他认为亚马逊的功利主义性的网站和销售艺术品最鼓舞人心的途径有些背道而驰。

Perhaps that is why, as late as September 18th, Willie Gillis was still for sale.
或许这就是《威尔吉利斯》到九月十八日还无人问津的原因。