The 2011 edition of Art Basel Miami Beach broke its previous attendance record, drawing 50,000 to the five-day fair that ended Sunday, organizers said.

Anecdotal reports indicate that despite the uneven economy, artwork sales remained strong. Art Basel Miami Beach directors do not take a percentage of sales and do not have a way to track sales records at the fair, they say.

‘’The fair went very well and we are very pleased with the results,’’ said Chantal Crousel of Paris-based Galerie Chantal Crousel, according to an Art Basel Miami Beach release.

New York gallerist Lucy Mitchell-Innes, director of Mitchell-Innes & Nash, attritubted strong results to a emerging collectors. “We saw a whole new generation of thirty-something collectors, seriously interested in looking and learning – and now buying as well, with many more women collectors making their own independent collecting decisions,’’ she said via the same release.

The long-standing Art Miami fair, which changed its scheduled to coincide with Art Basel several years ago, also reported record attendance with a crowd of 55,000.

Jane Wooldridge