New, proprietary data shows a 25 percent drop in art sales last year across Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips—a brutal signal, perhaps, that the market has truly hit bottom. Nevertheless, there are encouraging signs within certain market segments, such as more buyers bidding, and a growing number of lots selling above the estimate range.

There were heroes amid the $1.3 billion in sales during last week’s New York auctions, and a couple humbling moments, too. But a closer inspection reveals something less flashy: steady, systematic gains for an art market that’s finally recovering from its post-pandemic malaise.

For years, tech platforms have been pining to disrupt the art market with A.I. or blockchain or a jazzy new platform. I came up with a better solution during a chat with the Yale School of Management’s Magnus Resch.

Until the past few decades, the art market was a largely analog world, guided by word-of-mouth, reputation, specialized knowledge, and “context.” That traditional structure has kept information in the hands of a tight coterie of power brokers. But…