“… David Hulme has a different view. He is the Managing Director of the Banziger-Hulme, a fine art consultancy, and he thinks the art market will be just fine.
While he describes the proposed scheme as a “logistical nightmare,” he also thinks the extra revenue for artists is important and that the regressive nature of the royalty structure could see the majority of the money going to the artists who need it most. But he also says “it is only a very small percentage of artists that will ever benefit from this scheme and these are the ones who already are perhaps considered well-off in the art world”.
He also thinks that the art market is so buoyant right now that it will take something much bigger than a resale royalty scheme to bring it down.
“The emerging markets are taking off big time,” says David, citing the entry of India, China and Dubai to the international art markets as driving explosive growth. “A downturn in the art market will be created by much more powerful forces and will begin in the auction rooms of Sothebys and Christies in New York and London before it trickles down to Australia.”
There is a concern that droite de suite could see Australian art head offshore for sale. David says that the Swiss auction houses have done very well out of their country’s decision to not follow the European lead.
But he also says Australia’s geographic isolation and the cost of shipping art over long distances – and possibly having to ship it back if it doesn’t sell – means there’s little danger of our art market being driven out of the country. …”