In a rare direct attack on an auction house, The Master — Judd Tully — calls Phillips de Pury’s strategy of creating a wide variety of themed sales and trying to compete directly with Sotheby’s and Christie’s for art that the two auction giants are better at selling:

“I don’t know anymore where to look for material at Phillips, and I don’t know when to look for it,” says the New York dealer Leon Benrimon, who has both consigned and bought works at Phillips. “What the market needs right now is to bring great material at the right time and not to bring mediocre material sporadically. That’s what’s going to win, and I don’t really see Phillips doing that.”

Out on a Limb (ArtInfo.com)