Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Private Placement

September 8, 2009 by Marion Maneker

The Telegraph‘s Colin Gleadell reports on the growth of private sales. Using Sotheby’s unique Beyond Limits exhibition space at the Duke of Devonshire’s Chatworth House as a backdrop, Gleadell confirms what the auction houses have already been saying for sometime, art sales remain strong but they’ve also gone private:

Stephane Cosman Connery, the son of actor Sean Connery, heads Sotheby’s private sales in New York. “It’s a sign of the times,” he says of the increase. Since the high unsold rates of last autumn, and the end of the guarantee system for sellers, in which owners were promised hefty sums in advance of a sale, “people have been nervous about selling at auction”.

In a private sale, not only can they ask high prices, but they can do so discreetly, without risk of public failure.

Failure, though, is rare in the private sales department. Sotheby’s knows what buyers are looking for, where it can be found, and actively seeks it out for private sales. “We sell about 90 per cent of what we take on,” says Connery. “The majority recently has been Impressionist paintings in the $1 million to $5 million range.”

Confirming the trend, Christie’s, which announced £133 million of private sales for the first six months of the year, says that during June and July, its private sales grew by “more than 40 per cent” above the same period last year.

Francis Outred, Christie’s head of postwar and contemporary art in Europe, says that private sales in his department have outstripped auction sales so far this year. To cope with the demand, he has appointed Matthew Carey-Williams as director of private sales for contemporary art in Europe.

Carey-Williams is well qualified for the job. After working at Sotheby’s, he joined the Gagosian Gallery in New York, and then the Haunch of Venison Gallery in London, which became a subsidiary of Christie’s 18 months ago.

Big Money Sales Behind Closed Doors (Telegraph)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Van Gogh Kept in Mellon Home for 58 Years Goes on Display at National GalleryVan Gogh Kept in Mellon Home for 58 Years Goes on Display at National Gallery
  • The Market for Apartments in New York Reflects Similar Patterns to the Art Market, a Broad ResetThe Market for Apartments in New York Reflects Similar Patterns to the Art Market, a Broad Reset
  • Christie's Murphy Explains Why Art Is More Important in the Age of the InternetChristie's Murphy Explains Why Art Is More Important in the Age of the Internet
  • The Battle for Zhao Wou-ki’s EstateThe Battle for Zhao Wou-ki’s Estate
  • Would India’s Antiquities Be Better Served By a Legal Trade?Would India’s Antiquities Be Better Served By a Legal Trade?
  • New Economies Under-Invested in Art, Hoffman SaysNew Economies Under-Invested in Art, Hoffman Says

Filed Under: Dealers

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • Aboudia, Zemba Luzamba, Dickens Otieno Anchor Contemporary African Art Sale at Artcurial in Marrakesh
  • Tracey Emin Neon Lights Up Sotheby's 'Contemporary Showcase' Pop-Up
  • Selection Bias In Art Is What Creates Value
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor