Sotheby's latest guarantee gamble
November 21 2016
Picture: Art Market Monitor
Marion Maneker has a good overview of Sotheby's handling of the $100m Ames collection of modern art, which was the auction houses's first big guarantee deal in the sector since their £50m acquisition of Art Agency Partners. Maneker reports that the Ames deal paid off, but it's risky stuff of course, and he was puzzled by an increasing use of razzmatazz for these major auctions:
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.
