How did Christie’s strategy of shifting their Contemporary art sales in London to October pan out? Viewed in isolation, it was a big win for Christie’s as you can see from these charts from our partners at the Live Auction Art app in both the Contemporary category and the Italian art sub-category (which is really just another branch of Contemporary art these days (see the chart below.)
Colin Gleadell looks a little further and compares the numbers across the two seasons:
Whether Christie’s decision to relinquish the summer sale will be copied is uncertain. This week, they won the battle comfortably with £177.2 million of sales against Sotheby’s £86.5 million. But in the summer, Sotheby’s notched up £82.6 million for contemporary art against nought for Christie’s.
Just to underline that last comment. Sotheby’s and Christie’s sold similar amounts June vs. October but Sotheby’s also held an additional sale in October.
Art Auction Sales: Frieze Art Fair London (Telegraph)
