Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

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

Christie's Grooms a New Star

May 11, 2011 by Marion Maneker

Christie’s PR team showed that it can work like Navy SEALs today when it placed this gushing story in the Wall Street Journal about its French head of Post War and Contemporary art, Alexandre Carel who impressed his superiors with his ability to bring in big lots at the tender age of 25 years old:

[D]uring a volatile time for art sales [in 2009], he solidified his New York bona fides by bringing in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Mater” for $5.9 million in the Post-War and Contemporary evening sale and Tamara de Lempicka’s “Portrait de Madame M” (1932) for $6.1 million, a world-record price for the artist, in the Impressionist and Modern evening sale.

“It is easy for people to shine when business is booming, but to come through like that when older and more experienced people were finding business-getting very difficult, is to me a real accomplishment,” said Robert Manley, who runs Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art department in New York. “Before he was even legal drinking age, I felt that he understood the global market almost as well as I did, and I had been doing this for 20 years.”

A Prodigy, Poised to Sell (Wall Street Journal)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • London Gives Some Second Thoughts About June SalesLondon Gives Some Second Thoughts About June Sales
  • De Staël Explodes in Paris Continuing Market RiseDe Staël Explodes in Paris Continuing Market Rise
  • Jackson Pollock Drip Painting at Christie’s in MarchJackson Pollock Drip Painting at Christie’s in March
  • The New Gossip Game Isn’t Who Bought What, It’s Who Guaranteed WhatThe New Gossip Game Isn’t Who Bought What, It’s Who Guaranteed What
  • Christie’s Has a Lot to Prove … and Does ItChristie’s Has a Lot to Prove … and Does It
  • Christie’s Announces Sale of Works from Death in America CollectionChristie’s Announces Sale of Works from Death in America Collection

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Christie's, Contemporary

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
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • Behind the Fireworks at Sotheby's $363 M. Sale, More than a 'Game Show'
  • Sotheby's Announces $25m Rothko for November Sale
  • About Us/ Contact
  • 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