Auctioneers

Dow Jones Writer Surveys The Current Art Auction Market

Art Knowledge News (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) - Strong sales at the auction houses this month may not yet signal a broad recovery for the art market. The art community was pleasantly surprised when sales of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art at New York's top auction houses, Sotheby's (BID) and Christie's International, brought in about $596 million combined. It represented a 46% increase over spring sales in May.Leading...

Art Market Shows Signs of Recovery

ShoppingBlog.com (Free subscription) | 15/11/2009

The Wall Street Journal reports that the art market may be on the mend. The fall art sales at Christie's and Sotheby's showed recovery in certain markets. Above is Picasso's "Bust D'Homme," which sold for $10.3 million, although the estimate was $12 million. The U.S. art market appears to be on the mend. The major fall art auctions may not have sold everything on offer, but collectors showed...

Buyers give Picasso a miss at christies sale

Indian Express (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009

Christie's International had its smallest evening Impressionist and modern-art auction in New York since May 2004 as buyers snubbed Picasso and Matisse in favor of conservative 19th-century landscapes and still-lifes.

Climbing back

The Economist (Free subscription) | 24/10/2009

Heartening contemporary art sales in London WHAT a difference a year makes. The contemporary art sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in New York last November were furnished with works which had been consigned over the summer, when the market was still a jolly place. Reserves were optimistic and many consignors had been offered guarantees to entice them to sell. After the Dow crashed 500...

Three Pieces Sell for More than $1 million at Christie's Contemporary

Luxist (Free subscription) | 18/10/2009

Christie's International moved $18.3 million in art at its contemporary London auction on Friday. Three pieces sold for more than $1.6 million (including fees), with the top price going for a piece by Martin Kippenberger ($3.76 million); a phone bidder from New York acquired it. Of the 25 lots offered at the art auction , which coincided with the Frieze Art Fair, 24 sold. Half the lots went to bidders...

Sotheby's To SEC: We Can't Give Details On Executive Pay

ArtsJournal (Free subscription) | 16/10/2009

"Sotheby's said it can't disclose the specific criteria it uses in setting executive pay because that would give an unfair advantage to closely held rival Christie's International. ... Amid calls for more corporate transparency, Sotheby's case illustrates the challenges of a publicly held company when it has a closely held rival."...

At London Auctions, Expectations Are Low -- Very

ArtsJournal (Free subscription) | 29/09/2009

"Sales at Sotheby's, Christie's International and Phillips de Pury of 'Part I' works during the week of the Frieze Art Fair are estimated to fetch at least 20.8 million pounds ($33.1 million)," down 81 percent from last year....

• Art Market Poised to Plummet in October - Luxist

Christie's Nixes Art-Investment Fund, Loan Division

ArtsJournal (Free subscription) | 20/08/2009

"Christie's International has scrapped plans to start an art-investment fund and a lending division, according to two people involved with the projects. The move is another sign that the global economic slump is hurting the once-booming art market. ... The closely held company wanted to compete more directly with Sotheby's Financial Services, a subsidiary of Christie's main auction-house rival."...

Christie's Announces A 35% Drop in Worldwide Sales of $1.8 Billion for First Half 2009

Art Knowledge News (Free subscription) | 24/07/2009

NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s International, the world’s leading art business, announced today worldwide sales of £1.2 billion ($1.8 billion) for the first six months of 2009, down 35% by £ on last year’s figure of £1.8 billion ($3.5 billion) for the same period (Figures include buyer’s premium). In Christie’s salesrooms around the world, 211 works of art...

• Christie's Announces Worldwide Sales of $1.8 Billion for First Half 2009, 35% Lower - Artdaily

Portrait of a Market Downturn

Law Blog - WSJ.com (Free subscription) | 24/07/2009

Christie's International sold $1.8 billion of fine and decorative art in the first half, down nearly 49% from the same period last year.

No One Wants To Buy Art Anymore

The Business Insider (Free subscription) | 23/07/2009

Christie's' sales drop 35% in the first half... Bloomberg: Christie’s International sold 1.2 billion pounds ($1.98 billion) of art and antiques worldwide in the first half, a decrease of 35 percent from a year earlier, the auction house said in an e-mailed statement. A total of 211 works of art sold for more than $1 million, compared with 457 items in the same period a year earlier as the economic...

Christie's Rakes In $32.7 Million, New Category Said To Be Successful

Luxist (Free subscription) | 09/07/2009

Filed under: Auctions , Art The latest London market art auction was good for $32.7 million last night , as Christie's International moved lots from its Old Masters & 19th Century art category. The works ranged from late 14th century to late 19th century, with this newly created broad category intended to push "crossover" buying (from different periods) among collectors. Christie's is...

It's Official: London's June Auctions Nosedived 70 Percent

ArtsJournal (Free subscription) | 07/07/2009

"The total volume of sales at London's June auctions of Impressionist and contemporary works declined 70 percent on last year as auction houses cut jobs and guarantees to sellers to adjust to the financial slump. Sotheby's, Christie's International and Phillips de Pury made 165.9 million pounds ($269.4 million) at the summer sales, down from a record 558.8 million pounds in 2008, according to...

Bernie Hires Help To Survive Hard Time

Think Outside the Cage (Free subscription) | 04/07/2009

Times Online Bernard Madoff has hired a veteran prison consultant to help him to find the best possible jail in which to serve his 150-year sentence for Wall Street’s biggest fraud. After his sentencing this week Madoff, now Prisoner No 1727-054, met Herb Hoelter, of the National Centre for Institutions and Alternatives, whose previous clients include the jailed Sotheby’s chairman Alfred...

MUSIC INDUSTRY: Michael Jackson's Legal Problems May Outlive Him

All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 27/06/2009

Superstar singer Michael Jackson will be remembered for a lot of things, from hit records to a galvanizing stage presence to his enormous personal troubles. But lately the King of Pop had become the King of Litigation, having been sued by royalty, veterinary hospitals, lawyers, "she's not my lover" Billie Jean, Wall Street, the family of somebody who died, Sotheby's auction house, the director...