Welcome back to Wall Power, where we ask the crucial question: What will it take for the art market to recover its upward momentum? I’m Marion Maneker.

Yesterday evening’s sales of Contemporary art at Sotheby’s were up 30 percent from the same time last year. That should be cause to celebrate, but something important was missing from the room last night. After the sale, I spoke to a man who owns a shocking amount of art. He also buys and sells it on a regular basis. He gestured toward the saleroom and asked, “Have you seen a sale as dull as this? Everyone was sitting on their hands.”

The art market does seem to be suffering from a lack of confidence, although I couldn’t get the collector to answer whether the mostly full room was filled with potential buyers who didn’t want to venture bids, or spectators hoping someone would show them it was safe to get back in the water. I’ll try to answer that below.

But first…

• Some good news for once…: My friend, former colleague, and fellow auction data enthusiast Sophie V. Coco sent me her own auction analysis late last night. Focusing on the performance of male artists versus female artists, she uncovered some interesting numbers. In Sotheby’s The Now and Contemporary evening auction, a few women artists did...