Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

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

Sotheby’s Steps Up to the Challenge

November 18, 2016 by Marion Maneker

sothebys-ny-cont-1116-photo

This report is available to subscribers to AMMpro. Each subscription comes with the first month free. Feel free to subscribe to read the report and cancel before the month is up, if you're not satisfied with the value of the content.

Sotheby's continues to inexplicably try to enhance the drama of its evening sale of Contemporary art by bathing the room in ballroom blue lights and running a video introduction to the event. The effort is inexplicable because last night's saleroom was remarkably sparse with several empty sections of seats and a number of bidders seated in farther back than one might like to get the "excitement" going.

Sotheby's sale didn't need stage managing or borrowed drama from a set decorator. The tension was baked in almost six months ago when many in the industry were fretting over how to fill their all-important November sales. Sotheby's faced a disadvantage as it continued to rebuild its team of specialists.

In the context of the Summer of 2016, acquiring the Ames collection with a $100m guarantee—populated as it was with works by Gerhard Richter whose market, especially his abstracts, seemed ready for a rest—seemed like an aggressive and risky move. Sotheby's 2015 Q4 results had been marred by the firm's failure to make commission on the huge Taubman sales. BID, the auction house's stock, collapsed which opened the door to opportunistic and strategic investors. Taikang's 13.5% stake in the company was, in many ways, a direct result.

So taking on Ames was no small risk. But the alternative was probably worse. Here's one dealer summing it up for Dan Duray at The Art Newspaper:


Sign up to Art Market Monitor Premium today

You need a membership to AMMpro to view this article and other exclusive content daily.

You can register today for $90 per month—with your first month free!—or for $756 per year (no free trial period.)

Screenshot 2016-08-05 16.28.45

If you already have an account, sign in here:

 
 
Forgot Password

Filed Under: Auction Results, General, Premium Tagged With: Contemporary, Sotheby's

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
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • 14th-Century Painting to Sell at Auction Under Restitution Settlement with German-Jewish Art Historian’s Heir
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Paris's Artcurial Reports $180.5 M. in Sales for 2020, Online Sales Volume Up 59 Percent
  • Phillips Includes $2.5m Norman Rockwell Painting in November Evening Sale
  • Basquiat's Last Girlfriend
  • 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