Anders Petterson, the Number Cruncher

Based in the United Kingdom for nearly three decades, Anders Petterson is one of the researchers who has democratised the use of qualitative analysis as a tool to better understand the art market. His company, ArtTactic, has drafted reports by Deloitte, Hiscox and Tefaf. As the 2019 Hiscox report dedicated to the online art market worldwide comes out in France, its Norwegian author gives his views on its trends and what he believes is the main stumbling block to its growth: decades of practices that have forged certain habits and patterns that seem impossible to break. The trend for the online art market doesn’t seem positive. After a period of euphoria in 2013-2015, enthusiasm has been declining for two years. The technology doesn’t seem to have fundamentally changed much. The Internet is ultimately just a new sales channel that adds to or, to some extent replaces, those already…