Auction house follies.(The Art of the Steal: Inside the Sotheby's-Christie's Auction House Scandal)(Book Review)

From: Art in America | Date: December 1, 2004| Author: Ebony, David | Copyright information

The Art of the Steal: Inside the Sotheby's-Christie's Auction House Scandal by Christopher Mason, New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2004; 406 pages, $26.95 hardcover.

I recall sitting with a group of journalists at a Sotheby's post-evening-auction press conference in the late 1990s, squirming in my seat as we were being harangued by the company's then CEO, Diana (Dede) Brooks. Tall, blonde and vivacious, Brooks was trying to put a positive spin on the results of a mediocre s...

Read all of this article with a FREE trial to HighBeam Research

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from HighBeam Research

Hammer houses of horror.(Christie's and Sotheby's art auction houses)
The Economist (US) ; DAMASCENE scimitars and inlaid duelling pistols can be every bit as vicious as the cudgels of less refined combatants. The tones of voice may be more fluted, but the $4 billion-a-year business of international art auctions is defined by a rivalry every bit as fierce as Coca-Cola's worldwide
THE BIDDING WAR; Sotheby's and Christie's Duke It Out to Be No. 1 in the Auction World
The Washington Post ; ... including a display in the windows of posh Bergdorf Goodman (a first), brought reams of coverage, from the New Yorker to Dog News. Besides rousing bidders, such hype helps lure consignors (the owners of auctionable property). "It creates a brand," says Diane ...
Bid for the top; Auction houses; Phillips, the rising auction house.(Britain)(Disaster at Sotheby's and Christie's is excellent news for Phillips. The laggard in the auction business now looks like a contender for the world's top spot)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
The Economist (US) ; IN 1796, Harry Phillips, the brightest pupil of James Christie, London's top auctioneer, left his mentor to set up his own auction house. He was a wild success from the start. In 1798 he sold 25 paintings from the estate of Queen Marie Antoinette; in 1813 the pictures of the bankrupt Earl of
Just the two of us; Auction houses.(Sotheby's and Christie's alone again)(financial and management issues)(Industry Overview)
The Economist (US) ; The duopoly in fine-art auctions is weakened but very much alive ALFRED TAUBMAN is still in jail in Rochester, Minnesota, but he is already planning life after his release. On February 21st, his family shelved its planned sale of a majority stake in Sotheby's, one of the two leading auction houses
The figures man; Face value.(How Bill Ruprecht rescued Sotheby's)
The Economist (US) ; Bill Ruprecht rescued Sotheby's after a price-fixing scandal. Now he faces a new test WE WERE looking at an abyss of uncertainty, embarrassment and debt, says Bill Ruprecht, recalling 2000 when he took over as boss of Sotheby's, one of the two leading fine-art auction houses. Sotheby's had just
Under the hammer.(price-fixing case against Sotheby's and Christie's)(Brief Article)
The Economist (US) ; SOTHEBY'S (founded 1744) and Christie's (founded 1766), the world's two biggest auction houses, are a peculiarly British success story. They have helped turn London into the centre of the international art market. In recent years, they have been taken over from abroad: Sotheby's by Americans in
How Christie's kept top spot over Sotheby's in 2006 sales
International Herald Tribune ; ... together totaled $327 million has been recounted at length in the news media. Less has been said about the close relationship that Stephen ... which gave the transaction the desired publicity. Soon after, news of the forthcoming auction of the four other Klimts was announced ...
Christie's, Sotheby's Profits Plunge in '91
The Washington Post ; Reflecting the severe downturn in art auction sales, profits at both Christie's and Sotheby's - the world's two largest auction houses - plunged 85 percent last year, according to figures released last week. Profits at Sotheby's plummeted from $95 million in 1990 to $13 million in 1991. On the
Scandal? What scandal? There was no price fixing; The UK publication of Lords & Liars promises to lift the lid on the case that almost destroyed Sotheby's and Christie's. But it should never have gone to court, argues our critic.
The Evening Standard (London, England) ; Byline: BRIAN SEWELL ACAMBRIDGE BA in art history must be at best a contemptible degree if it qualifies a man for scribbling novelettish narratives in the manner of Arthur Hailey. We have all, in desperation, bought such trash in airport terminals and I dare say that Heathrow will be the
Photo auctions attract aggressive bidding: sotheby's strikes gold while Christie's sales are off.(Christie's International)
Art Business News ; It is becoming ever more important for the photo experts at the top auction houses to persuade important collectors to consign top-flight collections. Last year, in a major embarrassment for Sotheby's and Christie's, the upstart Phillips won the right to sell the Seagram's collection and