Consider that, in 1988, the Artnet Price Database tracked only 18 auction houses and about 8,300 artists. Over the next 24 years, those figures skyrocketed: By 2012, there were 632 auction houses and 90,275 artists. But, like any mature industry, it is now entering a period of consolidation after decades of expansion. Last year, Artnet recorded only 534 houses (a drop of around 16 percent from the high-water mark) and 71,621 artists (down 25 percent from the peak). Still, the scale and contours of today’s art world would have been largely inconceivable to dealers, auction-house professionals, and collectors 30 years ago. – Artnet