Going Corporate

Will corporate collections replace private ones as the source for the auction houses in the coming years?
Crain’s New York Business reports that Christie’s is in talks with a dozen corporations with exposure to art through corporate collections in the US and Europe. Hard times have made art an asset companies are looking to sell. So Christie’s has created a department around the business:

The auction house has created a special department to focus solely on corporate collections. It recently named longtime Christie’s executive Cathy Elkies head of the department in the United States and Ben Clark head of Europe. [ . . . ] “It’s still early, and the banks [with art collections] are still trying to sort out where they’re at,” said Ms. Elkies, director of corporate and private collections at Christie’s. “Within the year we may start to see some sales from the economic fallout. There is lots of opportunity.”

Christie’s Creates Unit to Sell Corporate Art Works (Crain’s New York Business)