British & Irish Art Loses Its Expert

Colin Gleadell reports on the departure of a long-time Christie’s expert as the contraction of various collecting categories takes its toll:

Jonathan Horwich, a deputy chairman of Christie’s and international director of its British & Irish art department, has left the company after more than 30 years, and will be “pursuing other opportunities in the art world”, says the company. Horwich is the most senior member of staff to leave during the restructuring process that has been taking place to cope with reduced sales during the recession.

The first staff member to be allowed to wear a beard, Horwich joined Christie’s as a cataloguer in 1976 and rose to become head of modern British and Irish pictures in 1987, ultimately overseeing sales of historic, Victorian and modern British pictures as well as specialised sales for works on paper, Irish, Scottish, maritime and sporting art.

Christie’s recently altered the structure of Horwich’s department by combining 18th-century British pictures with Old Masters and abandoning many of the specialised sales. In the first six months of this year, Christie’s British and Irish art sales shrank by 80 per cent, more than any other department in the company.

Art Market News (Telegraph)