Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

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

Dissing Phillips

November 13, 2009 by Marion Maneker

The New York Times‘s art market reporter has some harsh words for the Phillips de Pury in her story covering the sale:

Phillips, the struggling Chelsea auction house, was offering less-than-stellar examples of trendy names like Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons, making the event seem like an average day sale at Sotheby’s or Christie’s, with prices in the hundreds of thousands rather than millions.

After making the point that Phillips had entered into an arrangement to sell Charles Saatchi’s art, the story goes right back into disparaging the firm’s offerings:

Beyond the dozen or so works he was offering, sellers, dealers and auction house experts said the sale consisted of works that Sotheby’s and Christie’s had rejected or were from dealers in need of quick cash.

The mystery in all of this is not the cutting remarks but the time and effort that the Times and its reporter put into a sale that hardly needed covering.

Phillips de Pury Limps to the Finish with a $7m Total (NY Times)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Sotheby's Antiquities (Clarence Day) = $36.77mSotheby's Antiquities (Clarence Day) = $36.77m
  • Lot by Lot: Sotheby's Contemporary Evening SaleLot by Lot: Sotheby's Contemporary Evening Sale
  • Sotheby's Australia SoldSotheby's Australia Sold
  • RM Follows Up Ferrari Success in California with $22m Race ClassicRM Follows Up Ferrari Success in California with $22m Race Classic
  • Christie's Grooms a New StarChristie's Grooms a New Star
  • Review of Xanadu, er, VeniceReview of Xanadu, er, Venice

Filed Under: General

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
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Basquiat's Last Girlfriend
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Sotheby's Evening Cont. Sale, London
  • Cave Painting Porn Discovered
  • Christie's to Sell $12m Yves Klein to Benefit The Water Academy
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • 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