A court ruling by the New York State Supreme Court has maintained a seller’s ability to remain anonymous during the proceedings of an art auction, The New York Times reports. The ruling preserves the current state of auction dealings, and was a unanimous decision. (more…)
Sotheby’s auction house has appointed Patrick S. McClymont, a former partner and managing director at Goldman and Sachs, as its new Chief Financial Officer, beginning October 7th. McClymont replaces current CFO William S. Sheridan at the post, who has served the company for 17 years. “I have had the privilege of working with a highly skilled, highly professional finance, investor relations and information technology team at Sotheby’s that I invested in and helped build, and they deserve an enormous amount of credit for all that we accomplished. It has been a true pleasure to be part of Sotheby’s and now I look forward to spending more time with my family and focusing on charitable work,” Sheridan remarked. (more…)
Online auction site Paddle8 has moved to acquire a 3% share in art sales database and auction site Artnet. The stake previously belonged to Redline Capital Management, which attempted a takeover of Artnet last year. “We see a lot of strength in Artnet, and feel that the two businesses are complementary,” says Paddle8 co-founder, Aditya Julka. “Paddle8 will benefit from Artnet’s price database and listings business, contributing to a winning formula in leading the online auction space. This is not a takeover but rather a move towards collaboration in the future.” (more…)
World renowned auctioneer Tobias Meyer during the sale of the Yves Klein sculpture, which ultimately sold for $22 Million
Sotheby’s hosted its contemporary evening auctions last night, with Principal Auctioneer and Head of Contemporary art Tobias Meyer coaxing the audience through the sales with high energy and style. The sale, which totaled at $293.6 million, trumps last year’s spring auction of $266.6 million, while falling short of the auction house’s record high of $375 million last November. (more…)
Last night’s Sotheby’s contemporary art auction in Doha, Qatar closed with the regional record sales total of $15.2 Million, with 9 records set for artists at auction, including the highest price for a living Arabic artist. The top sale of the auction went to Donald Judd’s Untitled (Bernstein 90-01), which sold for $3,525,000 after a long bidding competition. Lina Lazaar Jameel, Head of Sale and Sotheby’s International Contemporary Art Specialist, said of the auction: “We are thrilled with the results of this evening’s sale, which achieved records for nine artists and set the highest total for a sale of Contemporary Art in the Middle East region. It is extraordinarily gratifying to see the market’s response to the exceptional range of art we sourced for this evening’s carefully curated auction. Interest grew throughout the pre-sale tour of highlights to both Jeddah and Dubai, culminating in tonight’s exciting auction.” (more…)
This spring, Christie’s auction calendar will feature a broad selection of works from the estate of the late Dr. Mona Ackerman, a psychologist and writer who counts works by Giacometti, Picasso, and Arp in her collection, as well as a number of fine antiques and pieces of furniture. Her wide collection of pieces will be auctioned in the weeks leading up to Christie’s Modern Art Evening Sale on May 8th in New York. Says Paul Provost, Christie’s Deputy Chairman: “Dr. Ackerman’s collection reveals her exquisite taste and wide interests. Her collection was striking and elegant, emanating the grace and passionate enthusiasm for life, for which Ackerman was well-known.” (more…)
Citing poor profit margins, Sotheby’s Canada branch has announced that it will be exiting the live auction market, and focusing on private sales through their Toronto office. This leaves the Canadian art auction market dominated by only two companies: Joyner Waddington’s and Heffel Fine Art. “Private sales is the growth area of this business; it’s not the auction part that’s profitable,” said Sotheby’s Canada president David Silcox. (more…)
A recent court ruling has challenged the practice of keeping auction sellers anonymous in New York State, and could fundamentally challenge how art auctions are conducted in the future, allowing buyers to avoid payment if the seller is not identified. “As of now you can back out of any transaction where the name of the seller is not provided,” said Peter R. Stern of McLaughlin & Stern. (more…)
