Christie's is the most successful auction in the world. Christies auction history Christies auction house

Recently, cultural life around the world has been increasingly influenced by the phenomenon of art auctions. The world's largest media (newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and online publications) are filled with sensational news from auctions. These messages and numerous comments attract much more public attention than publications about unique exhibitions of masterpieces of art and news from the largest museums in the world.

Auctions (lat.auctio - sale at public auction) are a common way of selling goods based on a buyer competition. Auctioneers perfectly take into account human psychology and rely on excitement, in which buyers, by inertia, inflate the price to the delight of auctioneers and sellers.

Everything is sold at auctions (antiques, paintings, land, real estate, shares, vintage wine, letters from celebrities, jewelry and even children's drawings). At the same time, a variety of problems are effectively solved: from purely commercial to charitable ones.

It is believed that auctions existed already in the 5th century BC. e. in Ancient Babylon (they sold girls for marriage) and in Ancient Rome. With the fall of the Roman Empire, auctions were closed and reappeared only in France in the 13th century. The emergence of the modern type of auction is historically associated with the Netherlands, where the first book auction in Europe was held in 1599. The auction sale of books was picked up by England (in 1676), which became the birthplace of the largest auction houses in the world. In developed countries, there are now auction houses in almost every major city. There are several types of auctions, but the main ones are “English” (“bottom-up”) and “Dutch” (“top-down”).
An English auction is based on setting a minimum price for further auctions, during which the price gradually increases, and the item goes to the one who set the highest price (this is how, for example, both major auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's work).

The Dutch auction starts with a very high price and proceeds with a gradual decrease in price. The item or product goes to the one who was the first to “intercept” the reduced price. This form is actively used now, for example, at auctions of tulips or fish, that is, where something needs to be sold quickly.

The larger the auction house, the more versatile its activities (from antiques and fine art to collectible cars and musical instruments). Trading sometimes takes place several times a day, including in on-line mode, and begins to resemble stock exchanges, although the turnover is still not comparable.

Antiques, paintings, graphics and sculpture are the core of any major art auction. This is, as a rule, a secondary art market, that is, it does not sell new works, but what was created earlier, then bought or inherited.
One of the most determining factors for a successful auction is the preliminary assessment of the proposed works. In addition to general fashion, the author’s place in the history of art, genre, technique, rarity and preservation of the work, its price is influenced by the so-called. provenance of the painting (English provenance - origin, source). This is a kind of “biography” of the work: author, date, which collections it was in, which exhibitions it was exhibited at. Provenance is usually provided in auction catalogs to confirm the authenticity of an item. Interesting provenance can significantly increase the price level of the auction.

Each auction offers detailed instructions for sellers and buyers. Usually the auction is accompanied by a pre-auction exhibition, which opens a few days before the auction.

A catalog is prepared for each auction, which can be purchased or viewed on the auction website. The catalogs provide information about specific lots (individual objects or groups of objects offered for sale as indivisible units), as well as the pre-sale price range within which a specific lot is expected to be sold.

To participate in the auction, those wishing to make a purchase must register and receive a token. If the client cannot be present during the auction, he can make a purchase by phone or leave a written request in advance, which indicates the maximum price he is willing to pay for a particular lot.

The successful buyer should keep in mind that the price in the auction room (English “hammer price” - the price after the hammer hits) is less than the actual purchase price: it will be necessary to pay the auction commission, as well as various taxes applicable in the country in which the auction takes place bargaining.

Today, perhaps, everyone knows about the two “pillars” of auction trading, the oldest English houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s. The Sotheby's auction house was founded more than 260 years ago in London.
Its date of birth is considered to be 1744, and its founder is Samuel Baker. He started out in the book trade and quickly amassed substantial capital. In 1767, Samuel's nephew, John Sotheby, began working at the company. After Baker's death, the company became known as Sotheby's. Gradually, purchasing lots at her auctions began to be considered a sign of good manners and a guarantee of serious investments. Sotheby's central halls are located in London on the elegant New Bond. This is where spectacular performances worth hundreds of millions of dollars are staged. Sotheby's entry onto the international stage was the creation of a branch in New York in 1955. Then a large network of branches was created around the world (in Paris, Los Angeles, Zurich, Toronto, Melbourne, Munich, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, Heusten, Florence, etc.).

In 1990, the turnover of all Sotheby's branches reached more than $2 billion.
The entire history of Sotheby's is brilliant evidence that trading works of art is profitable, prestigious and promising.

One of the first to capture the fine arts market was another major auction house, Christie’s, whose history began on December 5, 1766, when its founder, former naval officer James Christie, opened the first auction. Soon he already owned a premises in London with an auction hall specially built for him.

It is believed that the largest auctions of the 18th and 19th centuries took place here. And by the way, none other than James Christie himself mediated the deal to sell the famous collection of paintings by Sir Robert Walpole, who is considered the first British Prime Minister, to the Russian Empress Catherine II. This deal laid the foundations for the future Hermitage Museum.

The most important achievement of Sotheby's and Christie's in the 20th century was the triumphant sales of works by impressionists and modern artists. For the first time, it was possible to attract the attention of clients to the art of modern times and turn the works of these masters into expensive lots. Trade in works of art has now become a big business with its own specifics and its own surprises. In recent years, the two auction giants have managed to pull off several stunning sales that have gone down in the history of the business and determined the modern level of prices for art objects. The amazing news of the auctions became the property of the front pages of the press around the world.

Although today the auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's control up to 90% of the world's auction sales of antiques and art objects, they, of course, do not exhaust the variety of auction houses in the world. There are several other important “players” in this market, such as the oldest auction house in Germany “Kunsthaus Lempertz” (Cologne), the temple of French auctioneers “Hotel Drouot”, the most famous auction house in Austria “Dorotheum” and others.
It is safe to say that new sensations at auctions will not be long in coming, and we will once again find ourselves witnessing intriguing events in the world of art.

Twice a year, Christie's auction house organizes an auction of Russian art in London, and the rest of the time it is proud of the records it has set and tirelessly reminds us of the connection with our country, which was formed back in the 18th century. Then the founder of the house, James Christie, helped Empress Catherine II to acquire the collection of Sir Robert Walpole, which formed the basis of the collection of the State Hermitage. Since then, Russia’s friendship with Christie’s has only grown stronger

When we arrived at Christie's headquarters on King Street, we had no idea how everything worked in it, much less could we imagine that under our feet, planted firmly on the patterned carpet in the foyer, there was a large storage room with Russian art. While the cultural population of Moscow dreams of looking behind the scenes of the Pushkin Museum, the Hermitage or the Tretyakov Gallery and does not have such an opportunity, and we share their unfulfilled desires, foreign museums, galleries and theaters turn out to be more accessible. Christie's repository is an equally sacred place , the same as the costume department of the Bolshoi Theater or the Ansaldo workshop in Milan, where they create monumental sets for La Scala performances. If the last two places are periodically given excursions, and the RGBI storage facility, for example, is even opened to everyone as part of “Library Night,” then it is almost impossible to get behind the scenes of one of the oldest auction houses without being involved in it. Christie's showed us the sidelines, leaving a section with Russian art for dessert, but, as often happens, they were not allowed to photograph anything. However, after the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, where at the entrance they take away all things from each visitor, including mobile phones, such Bans won’t surprise anyone.

If you enter the building at 8 King Street and turn left from the main staircase, you will see an iron door that can only be opened with a special pass. Hidden behind it is a small spiral staircase decorated with posters and posters. Going underground, to the ground floor, you will find repositories of Russian, Islamic, and Indian art, where specialists are collecting lots for the upcoming auction. Before entering each tightly closed room, you experience confusion - like that moment when the cover that hides them is removed from masterpieces or when a theater curtain swings open. We met this moment in the company of the head of Christie's Russian art department, Sarah Mansfield, who kindly took us through the closed areas.

If in the repository of the Vienna Museum Essl (we remembered it at the recent auction at Christie's, where they sold the collection of the museum's founder, the Austrian Karlheinz Essl), you need to pull the handrails with all your might in order to bring out three-meter stands with German paintings, then the miniature one in comparison with it, Christie's Russian art section impresses with its comfort and warm atmosphere. It looks like a small library in an old building from the time of classicism, which can be found, for example, in the Moscow art school named after Serov. Paintings by Russian artists: Lentulov, Mashkov, Grigoriev are arranged in a row on wooden shelves. Above the desks hang shelves with Russian books, and enamel figurines, copper dishes, porcelain figurines, lamps and other objects of decorative and applied art are placed randomly nearby. All treasures are at arm's length: there is no glass or protective shells. “This is very rare,” Sarah handed me a lamp with a soft pink lampshade, created in the collaboration of Tiffany and Faberge, which was acquired by Empress Maria Feodorovna in 1901. She showed us antique Russian dishes, then pulled out several oil paintings for the upcoming auction and carried one of them into a tiny, lonely room. “Come in,” Sarah closes the door, and we find ourselves in the dark. Here, under the light of an ultraviolet lamp, Christie's experts examine the objects of art that came to them, finding defects and traces of restoration - those that cannot be noticed either in daylight or with electricity. In the sky of the landscape that she brought for inspection, we discovered a dark spot - this, according to Sarah, means that someone slightly restored the painting decades after it was created.When we returned to the white light, the "secret" spot again became invisible.

In other departments of Christie's there are the same impressive warehouses full of sculptures, canvases and stretchers, and only in one room the light is on: from there you can hear the constant clicks of the camera shutter. Ancient Chinese vases, paintings by Pablo Picasso, sculptures by Jeff Koons and other art objects necessarily pass in front of the lens of Christie's photographer, who over the years of work has seen almost more art than all the other employees of the auction house. I remember the photo lab of LIFE magazine, shown in the film “The Incredible Life of Walter Mitty,” where the main character, who has been working in his position for 16 years, is immersed in the work of the entire magazine and knows it inside and out. Each photograph for the catalog takes the photographer 60-70 frames and about 20 minutes of work. At the same time, Christie's has as many as six photo studios in a mansion on King Street, where all the main lots are taken.

Results of Russian weeks - 2014

Christie's experts always talk about the Russian department as the fastest growing. The results of recent years clearly illustrate this. This summer, at the auction of Russian art, Christie's received record revenue - £24 million, about £200 thousand ahead of its main competitor - the oldest auction Sotheby's house. If you look at 2013, the then £12.4 million was 49% higher than the revenue from similar auctions in 2012.

November 24, 2014 is now a special date in Christie's calendar. On this day, an absolute record was set for a work sold at Russian auctions. Thus, the canvas Valentina Serova "Portrait of Maria Tsetlin" went under the hammer for £9.3 million ($14.5 million). The list of ten top lots also included “Portrait of Alexander Tikhonov” by Yuri Annenkov (purchased for £4 million by a Russian dealer), two paintings by Boris Grigoriev, pieces by Faberge, a rare Soviet vase produced at the State Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg, and other works of fine and decorative art.

Christie's auction dedicated to printed materials, in which Russian books were exhibited, was held in South Kensington the next day, November 25. 205 items were put up for sale, including 38 lots with Russian provenance, for example, a translation dedicated to Simon Chikovani Goethe's Faust (by Boris Pasternak), which went under the hammer for £6,875 ($10,766), along with other valuable documents, will now see activity in the Russian department quiet for a while before preparations begin for the 2015 summer auction.

First row

The two main people who promote the Russian department are Alexey Tizenhausen and Sarah Mansfield. Connecting New York, Moscow and London, they have been together for ten years. heads the international department of Russian art at Christie's for 23 years and knows it better than anyone else. Tiesenhausen's track record includes large sales of Faberge collections in the late 1990s, and a particularly impressive one in 2007, when Christie's managed to sell a Faberge egg from the Rothschild collection for $18.5 million and set a new price record. He is also involved in cataloging all works of art that fall into the Russian departments, and is a mandatory figure at all Christie's pre-auction vernissages held in Moscow.

visits Russia more often than others: making several business visits a year, she made a lot of friends in Moscow, honed her knowledge of the Russian language and acquired important notes in her biography. Through the efforts of Ms. Mansfield, who mainly deals with Russian painting, in recent years Christie's has managed to sell several works of art for record sums. The most striking example is “Flowers” ​​by Natalia Goncharova, which in 2008 went under the hammer for more than $10 million, setting a record the cost of the artist's works.Other major achievements are the sale of paintings by Abram Arkhipov ("On the Market"), Ivan Aivazovsky ("American Ship off the Rocks of Gibraltar") and Konstantin Somov.

Russian context

A whole galaxy of events was dedicated to the weeks of Russian auctions in London, which in addition to Christie's were also held by Sotheby's, Bonhams and MacDougall's. It is worth noting that neither sanctions nor the general situation in the world prevent the cross-year of culture Russia and Great Britain ended successfully. Interest in Russian culture not only does not fade, but, on the contrary, flares up. The results of this year's auction, as well as the very Russian autumn months and December for London, are proof of this.

London's Pace Gallery, for example, always in the front row at art fairs and with ten venues around the world (just short of the Gagosian Gallery), opened a major exhibition by Olga Chernyshova in one of its spaces on November 25th. This Moscow artist, famous for her projects at international biennales (in 2001, for example, she represented Russia in Venice), first came to Pace and immediately found herself on Lexington Street, occupying the site for almost two months. Chernyshova works freely in various media, excelling both in graphics, photography and painting, as well as in creating video installations. All genres are mixed together at London's Pace, forming a common canvas that reveals Russia in general and Moscow in particular. It is interesting that, in parallel with the London exhibition, Chernyshova is also shown in Antwerp: there her works are mixed with the permanent collection of the museum, and, it is worth noting, they contrast with it no less brightly than the works of Wim Delvoye and the familiar Pushkin halls.

We also note the opening of the new building of the Russified Phillips auction house in Berkeley Square, the active participation of Russian collectors in the October Frieze Art Week, the screening of the play “As You Like It” based on Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on the stage of the Barbican Center and other related Autumn events in Russia.

Perhaps the main Russian event of December was hosted by Charles Saatchi in his gallery. He decided to reconcile Russia with the rest of the world and mixed in one exhibition “Post-Pop: Meeting East and West” works by artists from the USA, Great Britain, China, Taiwan, Russia and the CIS countries. Thus, video installations by AES+F, paintings by Eric Bulatov and Vladimir Dubossarsky, installations by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov are combined with works by Chinese activist Ai Weiwei, American sculptor Daniel Arsham, iconic post-war artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, as well as exhibits from the British Glenn Brown, Gary Hume, Marc Quinn and many others. Milestones of the 20th century in the works of artists of that time and their echoes in contemporary art can be studied from November 26 to February 23, 2015.

Christie's auction house is currently the largest in the world in terms of turnover. Named after its founder, James Christie, who held his first auction in London on December 5, 1766. From the very beginning, Christie's house had an emphasis on the elitism of the enterprise and a desire for leadership, which was largely determined by the list of high-ranking clients And the house has something to be proud of: members of the royal family and the aristocracy often sent their collections here, and even valuables of the British national heritage, as well as paintings by most great European artists: impressionists, modernists, cubists, were often exhibited as lots.Golden time in the history of the house - XVIII and XIX centuries, when the famous Christie's held the largest auctions of that time.It was representatives of this auction house who negotiated with Empress Catherine the Great about the sale of the collection of Sir Robert Worpole, which later formed the basis of the Hermitage exhibition.

The most expensive painting was Vincent Van Gogh's "Portrait of Doctor Gachet", sold in May 1990 for more than $80 million. In July 2001, Pablo Picasso's work from the "Blue Period" series - "Woman with Crossed Arms" - sold for 55 million dollars, which is twice its starting price. There were 6 more buyers who were willing to pay $32 million for the masterpiece. A similar situation arose in 1940 with Matisse’s painting “Persian Dress.” It was sold for $17 million, while the initial cost was just under $12 million.

Christie's auction house is one of the most respected auction organizers. Together with Sotheby's auction house, it occupies 90% of the world market for auction sales of antiques and art objects. Its annual turnover is 1.5-2 billion dollars. Today Christie's offers its many clients works by masters whose paintings adorn the exhibitions of many museums around the world, as well as rare books, cars, cigars, collectible wines and other valuables. Christie's is an elite auction house, and therefore it is very sensitive to its reputation. All lots are provided with expert assessment, therefore the number of scandals associated with this house is minimal.

At every opportunity, Christie's does not forget to note that its ties with Russia go back to the 18th century, when James Christie helped Empress Catherine II with the acquisition of the famous collection of Sir Robert Walpole, rightly considered one of the key ones in the collection of the State Hermitage. Christie's worldwide sales in 2006 amounted to £2.51 billion ($4.67 billion). Christie's carries out more than 600 sales (i.e. an average of 2 times a day) in 80 categories, including such areas as fine and decorative arts, jewelry, photographs, furniture, watches, wine, cars, etc. Christie's has 85 offices in 43 countries on all five continents, and also has 14 of its own sales areas (salerooms), including London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Dubai , Hong Kong. Recently, the house has shown its activity in emerging markets - in Russia, China, India, and the UAE. Christie`s has a permanent Russian department and prestigious Russian Sales. According to the house itself, Russian trading continues to be one of the fastest growing areas of the international market.

In 2006, turnover reached $54.9 million; several new records were set. “In the late 1890s, Russian participation in international exhibitions allowed previously unknown Russian works to appear in America. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first wave of Russian immigrants brought with them a huge number of works of art, which was repeated with each new wave of immigration throughout the 20th century. Nostalgia and interest in Russian culture, instilled in the Russian intelligentsia from their youth, forced them to buy back their national heritage - a process that is now continuing on a larger scale,” said a leading specialist in the Russian department of Christie’s in New York in a recent interview with the Kommersant newspaper. York Elena Kharbik. The Russian department of Christie's annually holds sales in April (New York) and November (London). The icons are regularly sold at a separate auction in London.

The smooth-talking liar: the golden era of the house of Christie's

We know only in general terms about the founder of the Christie's house. It is known that James Christie was born in the Scottish city of Perth in 1730 to a Scottish mother and an English father. After a short service in the Royal Navy, the young man began working as an apprentice auctioneer in Covent Garden was a fashionable area of ​​London at the time.

A few years later, believing that he had gained enough experience, Christie took a risky step and opened his own auction house on Pall Mall. The choice of location was made with prophetic foresight. Several decades will pass, and this particular street will become a symbol of luxurious life - the center of gentlemen's clubs and art centers in London. Christie's first auction took place on December 5, 1766. The net proceeds from the sale of the lots, which included wine, amounted to 76 pounds 16 shillings and six pence. Thus began the more than two-hundred-year history of the world's largest auction house.

Things immediately went smoothly. James Christie seemed to have been born just like that - with a wooden hammer in his hands. Possessing a special charm and the gift of persuasion, he could sell everything - from a kitchen pot to an extra coffin, for which he earned the nickname “Sweet-tongued liar” from wits. After several years of successful sales, the auction house was already dealing with works by venerable European artists and “old masters” of painting. And Christie himself moved to a new office at 125 Pall Mall, becoming a neighbor of Thomas Gainsborough, who later (like Sir Joshua Reynolds) painted a portrait of the auctioneer.

Having changed owners several times, the portrait of James Christie found its owner in the person of the famous American industrialist Jean Paul Getty, who bought the painting for 26 and a half thousand dollars in 1938. This was the first major acquisition in the field of art by the founder of the Getty Museum.

Christie’s courage and natural talent were enough for a successful start. But to survive in the difficult world of London business, much more was needed. And Christie managed to see a niche in his business that no one had managed to fill before him - the auctioneer relied on contemporary art. And I was right. The fact is that in Britain at that time there was not a single exhibition hall in which the viewer could get acquainted with the artistic works of their contemporaries. Therefore, the place where one could see paintings by Landseer, Rosetti or Sargent was Christie’s auction house.

Another successful move was the emphasis on the elitism of the enterprise. This was largely determined by the list of high-ranking clients. Over the history of Christie's, members of the royal family and aristocracy often sent their collections here, and even valuables of the British national heritage were exhibited as lots. It was representatives of this auction house who were invited as experts to negotiate with the Russian Empress Catherine the Great about the sale of Sir Robert's collection Warpole, which later formed the basis of the Hermitage exhibition.The collection was sold for a phenomenal sum at that time - 40 thousand pounds sterling.

But the apogee of the golden era of the auction was, oddly enough, the French Revolution: Paris, the main art market of that time, was destroyed, and whole streams of the precious heritage of the French aristocrats poured into Britain - gold, paintings, everything that was of any value. The revolutionary government of France even turned to Christie's with an offer to help sell the legendary collection of jewelry of Louis XV's favorite, Countess DuBarry, who died on the scaffold in 1793. James Christie himself outlived the countess by only 10 years. The “sweet-tongued liar” died in 1803 , and his son, James Christie Jr., took over the company.

The wind of change

The era of the Industrial Revolution meant new realities for Christie's, to which it was necessary to adapt. Firstly, aristocratic buyers were replaced by magnate buyers: the main players in the art market were American nouveau riche, such as Andrew William Mellon or John Pierpont Morgan. The auctioneers dreamed of big profits, which means it was time to expand the business. In 1823, Christie's moved to its new home at 8 King Street (the company's London office is located here to this day).

Christie's The room set aside for auctions seemed huge. It was called the Great Hall. According to legend, its plan was conceived in the shape of a hexagon by James Christie in order to create as many vertical areas as possible on which to place the lots auction. Eyewitnesses later recalled that the walls of the Great Room were hung with paintings right up to the ceiling.

The time of “serious business” also meant that the Christie family gradually began to lose their monopoly in the management of the auction house. In 1831, William Manson joined the company, and in 1859, Thomas Woods became another partner of the auction house, and Christie's changed its name to "Christie, Manson and Woods." And 1889 was the last year when the Christie family was still involved in affairs of the auction house of his own name - James Christie retired 4. Ironically, in the same year, the auction for the first time put up for sale works by the Impressionists - the main innovators of their time.

Blows of fate

The first half of the 20th century brought Christie's serious trials. The first blow was the appearance of a new player on the art market - the venerable auction house Sotheby's. Founded two decades earlier by Christie's, it still did not stand in the latter's way, as it was mainly engaged in selling books. But the Art Nouveau era brought with it new temptations: the flourishing of painting meant a good opportunity to make money, and in 1913 Sotheby "s begins to sell paintings. Christie's was seriously scared. In response, he stopped selling his books through Sotheby's and organized his own sales of book collections. Thus began the competition between the two auction houses, which continues to this day.

The biggest success of the 20s. was the sale of a portrait of Mrs. Davenport (1782-1784) by the English portraitist George Romney for £360,900.

But soon Christie's had no time for competitors. The global economic depression of the 1930s and the consequences of the First World War depleted the art market. As a measure of survival, even the option of merging Christie's and Sotheby's was considered. Nothing came of these discussions - having an established base in the USA, Sotheby's gradually regained its position, and the need for unification disappeared.

The most terrible blow was not competitors or even the Great Depression. On April 16, 1941, an auction house on King's Street was damaged by a bomb. Auctioneers were able to begin its resumption only in 1953. For even longer - until 1966 - the company had to abandon sales of collection wines, which also meant noticeable financial losses.

New opportunities

Several operational decisions helped the auction house get back on its feet after the war. Firstly, Christie's from an elite establishment, where only the rich had access, turned into a public show. The auction hall was literally flooded with television cameramen, and the most high-profile sales were reported in the news. The auctions became public knowledge, attracting everyone to Christie's more clients. At the same time, the management of the auction house is hiring specialists to create a press office for the company. Then the mastery of new technologies was added to the development of the media space. In 1965, Christie's purchased White Bros. Printers for £38,000 and began printing catalogs and other high-quality publications. The effect of all this publicity was immediate: in 1960, Christie's reported sales of $2.7 million pounds sterling, and the following year this figure reached 3.1 million. But a much more important result of such processes was that in the course of commercialization, it was the leading auction houses that began to dictate fashion in art.

The confrontation between Christie's and Sotheby's resumed with renewed vigor in the late 1950s. Companies literally competed in... reading obituaries, looking for potential objects for sale.

Secondly, despite serious financial difficulties in the post-war period, Christie's was the first among British auction houses to begin working on representation in continental Europe, first opening a branch in Rome. Soon company offices appeared in several European countries and Christie's focused on America . The auction house has also expanded its special interests to include collectible coins and porcelain, and increased its staff of related specialists.

Finally, a successful move was the placement of the company's shares on the London Stock Exchange. This immediately brought good results: in five years, Christie's pre-tax profit grew from 139 thousand to 1.1 million pounds. The company remained public from 1973 to 1999, until it became the property of the French multi-billionaire Francois Pinault.

Gigantism as a business

The further development of the company cannot be called anything other than gigantism. Having taken the first step towards worldwide expansion in Rome, a few years later Christie's was already making leaps and bounds around the world. Faced with strict laws in Italy restricting the export of art objects, the auction house founded another subsidiary in Geneva - Christie's International SA , and Australia, Japan and Canada were included in the “world takeover” plan. In 1977, Christie's opened a sales hall in the famous Delmonico Hotel in New York. A year later, another company showroom appeared in the city, and sales in the USA became of primary importance for the auction house. Christie's reputation in the States was finally strengthened in 1980, when Henry Ford II approaches the company with an offer to sell 10 paintings from his collection of impressionist and modernist paintings. It was then that Van Gogh’s painting “The Garden of Poets” was sold for a record amount of $5.2 million. Today, Christie's offices are located in 43 countries, and permanent auction rooms operate in London, New York, Paris, Zurich, Milan, Amsterdam, Geneva, Dubai, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.

In the 70s, the sale of Coco Chanel's wardrobe of 40 dresses at Christie's, which brought in £43,250, attracted public attention.

All this time, the company continues to set auction trading records. One of the most striking successes of the 60s was the sale of Holman Hunt's The Lady of Shalott for $27,950 - the highest amount ever paid for a Pre-Raphaelite painting. And the sale in 1965 of the Cook collection (paintings by old masters) finally established the reputation of the auction house. A portrait of Titus, son of Rembrandt Van Rijn, sold for an amount that exceeded all expectations - $2.2 million.

1987 set a record number of sales at Christie's auction. In particular, Van Gogh's famous painting "Sunflowers" went under the hammer for $39.9 million; a 65-carat pear-shaped diamond and a 1931 Bugati Type 41 Royale were sold for $6.4 million. for $9.8 million.

In recent years, the auction house has increasingly paid attention to jewelry. Their steady sales helped Christie's International boost its earnings in the first half of 2008. While the company's overall sales revenue rose 10 percent, sales of jewelry, jade and watches rose 34 percent to $275 million.

Recipe for a crisis

The global economic crisis, which began in the third quarter of 2008, brought Christie’s a 19% drop in sales (its main competitor, Sotheby’s, had a 15% decline). Nevertheless, the auction house sold 629 works of art in 2008 for amounts exceeding a million dollars. The best lot was “Water Lilies” by Claude Monet, which went under the hammer for 80.5 million. The second position in the top ten most expensive works was taken by Francis Bacon's triptych - 51.7 million, the third - painting "No. 15" by Mark Rothko (50.4 million). The total trading result for the year was $5.1 billion. And at the beginning of 2009, the auction house won a competition with Sotheby’s for the right to auction the art collection of Yves Saint Laurent. Experts valued this meeting at 300 million euros. The auction, which the French press has already called the “auction of the century,” will take place at the Paris Grand Palais on February 23-25. In anticipation of them, the director of the Art of Impressionism and Modernism department at Christie's, Matthew Stevenson, voiced his recommendations for collectors and investors in times of crisis: “In difficult times, always buy the best.”

Interesting Facts

* In 1962, as the Cuban Missile Crisis intensified, company CEO Peter Chance secretly entered Cuba in an attempt to locate auction property that had been nationalized in 1959 after Castro came to power. And although the evaluation commission arrived with a catalog of values, its efforts were unsuccessful.

* In the late 60s, five years after the failure in Cuba, Christie's was able to establish successful trade relations with the USSR, selling 1,700 cutlery from a dinner service made in 1830, previously owned by Tsar Nicholas I, for the amount of 65,751 pounds ($193) 308).

* In January 1967, for the 200th anniversary of its founding, Christie's organized a huge exhibition. About 60 of the most famous paintings that were part of the auction were borrowed from the owners and exhibited to the public. The total cost of these works, including a portrait of the company's founder by Gainsborough, was about $5 million.

* At the end of 2008, representatives of Christie's called the market... icons among the most promising, because there are more and more potential buyers, people from countries where Orthodoxy is accepted.

* In November 2008, Christie’s brought its masterpieces to Kiev: 18 paintings by old masters, Russian and Ukrainian contemporaries, including works by Canaletto, Frans Hals, Natalia Goncharova and Kazimir Malevich. The highlights of the exhibition were unanimously recognized as two works by Canaletto - “St. Mark’s Square in Venice” and “View of the Grand Canal in Venice.” The cost of each of them is at least 4 million euros. Ukrainian painting, in addition to Malevich, was represented by the works of David Burliuk.

*In February 2009, a nude photo of Madonna taken by Lee Friedlander for Playboy magazine in 1979 was sold at Christies for $37,500.

At every opportunity, the Christies auction house does not forget to note that its ties with Russia go back to the 18th century, when James Christie helped Empress Catherine II with purchase the famous collection of Sir Robert Walpole, rightly considered one of the key ones in the State Hermitage collection. Sales Christies makes over 600 sales (an average of 2 per day) across 80 categories, including fine and decorative arts, jewelry, photography, furniture, watches, wine, cars and more. Christies has a permanent Russian department and prestigious Russian Sales. According to the house itself, Russian trading continues to be one of the fastest growing areas of the international market. In 2006, turnover reached $54.9 million; several new records were set. “In the late 1890s, Russian participation in international exhibitions allowed previously unknown Russian works to appear in America. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first wave of Russian immigrants brought with them a huge number of works of art, which was repeated with each new wave of immigration throughout the 20th century. Nostalgia and interest in Russian culture, instilled in the Russian intelligentsia from their youth, forced them to buy back their national heritage - a process that is now continuing on a larger scale,” said a leading specialist in the Russian department of Christies in her recent interview with the Kommersant newspaper. April (New York) and November (London). The icons are regularly sold at a separate auction in London.

The first Sotheby's auction took place on March 11, 1744. Rare books were sold at it. At the moment, Sotheby's is another largest universal auction house: more than 100 Sotheby's offices around the world on all five continents. Sotheby's have become the first to conduct auctions on the Internet. Also, Sotheby's has long been an auction leader in the category of contemporary art, the main sales of which take place in New York in May and November, in London in February and June. It is noteworthy that it was Sotheby's auction that held the first auction of Russian avant-garde and Soviet nonconformist art in Moscow 1988. It is also worth mentioning the recent first sensational Sotheby's London auction (February 15, 2007) of contemporary Russian art, which set world records and brought to international auction market for many Russian contemporary artists. The next sales of Russian contemporary art are planned for 2008.
Sotheby's also has permanent Russian departments in London and New York. They offer art from the mid-18th century to the present day - Itinerants, World of Art, Jack of Diamonds, Russian futurism, Russian avant-garde, contemporary art. Sales also include includes Faberge products, items from the Imperial Porcelain Factory, jewelry, silver and icons.On average, auctions are held twice a year in London and New York.

The third largest and most versatile auction house in the world. It was founded in 1793 by the famous print dealer Thomas Dodd and antiquarian Walter Bonham and expanded by the mid-19th century. Today Bonhams trades in 70 categories, including paintings, cars, musical instruments, wines, carpets and design objects. The auction house conducts more than 700 sales around the world. Bonhams has auctions in the USA (Bonhams & Butterfields) and Australia (Bonhams & Goodmans).

The largest and most respected auction house in German-speaking countries, Dorotheum celebrates the 300th anniversary of its founding in 2007. Founded in 1707 by Emperor Joseph I, in this sense, the oldest of the main auctions in the world. Dorotheum conducts on average about 600 auctions per year. In addition to Vienna, where its headquarters are located, it has representative offices in a number of Austrian cities (Salzburg), as well as in Milan and Prague.

Relatively young, MacDougall’s is the only auction house specializing exclusively in Russian fine art. Auction sales in 2006 grew to US$10 million. The auction house sells paintings and other works of art from the 18th century to the present day and has set several records for Soviet nonconformist art. The head office is in London, there are offices in Paris, Moscow and Kyiv. Auctions are held on average twice a year.

Stockholm Auction House

The oldest auction house in the world, was founded in 1674 in Stockholm. On average, it conducts 75 auctions per year. Operates only in Sweden, with offices in Gothenburg and Malmo. Specialized Russian auctions are held at least once a year. Also, Russian things can often be found at auctions selling European fine and applied art of the 19th–20th centuries.

Uppsala Auction was founded in 1731, it is the third major auction in Sweden and the largest outside Stockholm. Among the traditional sales of art of the 18th–19th centuries, Russian names are often found. Among the important paintings sold in the fall of 2006, the house highlights Ivan Shishkin, Ilya Repin, Alexei Kharlamov and others.

The auction house Bukowskis was founded in 1870 in Sweden by the emigrated Polish nobleman Henryk Bukowski. Between 1870 and 1940 he made several important sales of collections of royal origin, thanks to which the house gained a worldwide reputation. It is the leading auction house in Scandinavia and has offices throughout the world. Sweden's Bukowskis holds four major auctions a year. Two of them, spring and autumn Bukowskis Modern Sales, are dedicated to modernist and contemporary art, including design objects, furniture, silver, glass. The next spring sale is April 24–27, autumn sale is October 30–November 2. The other two auctions, spring and autumn, of Bukowskis International Sales are dedicated to old masters, 19th century, antiques, furniture, carpets, jewelry, etc. The nearest spring sale is May 29-June 1, autumn sale is November 27-30.
In 1979, an office was opened in Finland, which quickly became the leading auction house in that country, conducting more than 100 auctions a year. According to the house itself, due to the common history of Finland and Russia, the catalogs of both auctions contain many Russian works of art.

France is another country where, for historical reasons, there are a lot of Russian things on the art market. One of the biggest Tajan auction houses organize Russian auctions at least twice a year

On April 15 and 16, 2013, two leading auction houses in New York hosted interesting auctions of Russian antiques, which will be discussed in the new material on-line Magazine Elegant New York.

A long trail of history and a light veil of mystery colors our attitude towards auctions in romantic tones. The personalities of those who, attending auctions, leave multi-digit sums there, expertly purchasing antiques and art objects, are intriguing and arouse interest. The statement that this world belongs only to very, very wealthy people seems indisputable to us. But, like any stereotype, this point of view is only partly true.

It is not at all necessary to emulate the King of Qatar, who, not so long ago, was lucky enough to purchase Paul Cezanne’s painting “The Card Players” for 300,000,000. Without hesitation, he paid an amount that had never been paid for any work of art in the world. But, as they say, Caesar’s is Caesar’s, God’s is God’s, ... and to each his own.

The turnover of the world's leading auctions cannot fail to impress - according to Bloomberg, in 2012 the total value of the 10 most expensive art objects was $594.6 million, which was 44% higher than in 2011 ($413.6 million).

And statistics, as they say, are a stubborn thing and you don’t need to be a king to agree with leading financial experts - investments in works of art and antiques, these days, bring more significant profits than investments in, say, real estate. Who among us hasn’t thought about investing in an apartment or land over the last 15-20 years?

The latest economic crisis in the world has shown that bank deposits, real estate, and securities are far from controversial as a means of preserving and multiplying capital, but unique antiques are always in price. Moreover, in the modern world, collecting antiques and works of art is not the prerogative of only rich people; everyone can find their niche here. It is not for nothing that there is now an intensive growth in the interest of ordinary people who consider themselves to be in the “middle class” in investing in antiques and art.
Thinking about this phenomenon, I decided to visit New York auction houses. True, not yet for the purpose of investment, but with the firm intention to see what’s what and how everything happens.

The history of auctions began in the 18th century. One waiting, 1707, to the Austrian Emperor Joseph I I came up with the idea of ​​selling art objects by auction to someone who can give a higher price. These first auctions formed the basis of the oldest auction house Dorotheum. Soon, picking up the original and profitable idea of ​​the Austrian monarch, the now famous English auction houses were createdSotheby's (Sotheby‘ s) AndChristie's (Christie` s).

Christie's ( Christie ’ s) - auction houseEngland, founded in London in 1766. It is believed that it was Christie ’ s turned the process of auction trading into a kind of art. The most significant auctions took place here XVIII And XIX centuries. None other than James Christie, the founder of the House, was the intermediary in the sale of the outstanding collection of paintings of Robert Walpole, the English Prime Minister, to the Empress Catherine II. These paintings became the beginning of the Hermitage museum collection.

Sotheby's ( Sotheby ’ s) – arose a little earlier than Christie's ( Christie ’ s) - however, for more than a century and a half, the company was engaged in the sale of rare books and did not expand its scope of activity. First painting auction Sotheby ’ s was held only in 1917, and in the middle of the 20th century it reached the international level and since then two London houses have been leading and competing in the painting and antiques market.

Exactly, these two auction houses became the goal of one of my New York walks. Moreover, on April 15 and 16, both houses held auctions of Russian art objects of the 19th and early 20th centuries, including rare items from the Faberge jewelry company. These auctions were included in the spring program Russian Works of Art auctions Sotheby's (Sotheby‘ s) AndChristie's (Christie` s) .

As you know, auction houses publish high-quality catalogs for all their auctions, in the preparation of which several hundred experts take part. Such catalogs provide comprehensive information about the items being sold, and they are rightly called illustrated sales guides. Arriving at Rockefeller Center, where Christie’s auction house is located (you can enter it from 49th Street) and armed with such a catalog, I went to inspect the collection.

Before each auction, the auction house sets up an exhibition where all the lots are displayed. This exhibition lasts 5-6 days and anyone can visit it for free. As a rule, the exhibited collections are worthy of the best museums and consist of unique items belonging to private individuals. Moreover, most of these things were not exposed to the general public for a long time, or never at all, except perhaps before the previous auction sale. Inspecting such a collection is extremely interesting: the showrooms are spacious and, as a rule, not crowded, and the knowledge that the things in front of you are collected together and available for inspection only for a very short time gives rise to a pleasant feeling of exclusivity.

Moreover, unlike the museum, where vigilant grandmothers constantly repeat: “don’t touch them with your hands,” here elegant young people kindly offer to open the display case and let them hold in their hands in order to carefully examine any of the things on display, be it a snuff box by Faberge or a medallion Nicholas II in an elegant frame decorated with diamonds.
This time, 166 lots were offered at the Christie's auction. The products, many of which belonged to the royal family or their immediate circle, are made of silver, bronze, gold, many with the Faberge mark. Cigarette cases, boxes, photo frames, lorgnettes, snuff boxes, cigarette holders, animal figurines, figurines, cutlery, dishes, vases, letters, postcards, telegrams - such a set of ordinary things for the past centuries were put up for sale.

At an auction, each product has an expected price range, which is set by an expert, having previously agreed with the seller. If none of the buyers gives the minimum specified price, the lot is removed from auction. It happens that a lot goes for a price that lies within the range named by the expert, but more often it significantly exceeds the upper limit. As, for example, what happened at the auction on April 15: a silver dish with partial gilding, decorated with an engraved and embossed silver napkin emitting silk lace, was sold for $62,500, with an estimated price of $4,000-$6,000.

It is interesting that anyone can attend the auction, without prior registration, but in order to participate in the auction, in order to purchase something, you need to register via the Internet. Moreover, documents certifying your solvency will probably be required. Therefore, if you are not yet ready to buy, then you should just come and watch the auction take place. There is definitely grace, excitement and drama in this performance.

This time the auction was very successful, almost everything was sold out.

For clarity, I will give several examples of lots auctioned at Christie's on April 15, 2013.

The central and most expensive lot was a pink presentation porcelain vase from 1908, with the initials of Emperor Nicholas and Empress Alexandra, decorated with silver griffin-shaped handles by Faberge, from a New York private collection, made for an important gift, but remaining in the storage room of Nicholas's office II. It was later acquired by American India Early Minshull. Since then, the vase has been sold at auction several times, and its sale price has increased each time.

It sold for $483,750 with an estimated maximum price of $250,000.

A folder with letters and telegrams from Grand Dukes Maria Alexandrovna and Alexander Alexandrovich, including letters to Countess Tolstoy, was sold for $43,750, and several folders with similar letters never found a buyer and were withdrawn from auction.

The phaleristic section of the Golden Order of St. aroused great interest at the auction. Anna, II degree went for $6,000, St.. Vladimir, II degree for $4 500.

A GOLD AND ENAMEL ORDER OF ST. ANNE SECOND CLASS, WITH SWORDS
MARK OF ALBERT KEIBEL WITH THE IMPERIAL WARRANT, ST. PETERSBURG, 1899-1908

Golden Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, 1st degree.
It was sold for $291,750, and the order chain for it was sold for $315,750.

Icon of the Kazan Mother of God in a gilded silver frame, embroidered with pearls, 1880.
Was sold for $40,000.

The next day, April 16, auctions of Russian art and European silver of the 19th and early 20th centuries took place at the auction Sotheby's (Sotheby ’ s) , which is located in Upper Manhattan on York Avenue and 71 street .

The principle of sales here is the same, but the size and scope of this auction house in New York is much greater. 400 lots were put up for sale. The exhibition was located in several large halls, and it took a couple of hours to thoroughly examine it.

Simultaneously with the exhibition of Russian art and European silver, in the neighboring halls, a pre-sale exhibition of jewelry called Magnificent Jewelry was held, where platinum and gold jewelry with unique precious stones were put up for auction. Among them was a rather interesting lot No. 387 – Exceptional Pearl-Shaped Diamond, a teardrop-shaped diamond measuring 74.79 carats, estimated price $9,000,000 – $12,000,000, was sold on April 17 for $14,165,000.

Also interesting is lot No. 393 – MAGNIFICENT PAIR OF PLATINUM, FANCY PINK DIAMOND AND DIAMOND PENDANT-EARCLIPS

Platinum earrings with pink diamonds of 5.79 and 5.68 carats, complemented by drop-shaped diamonds and marquise diamonds - 19.25 carats.
Pre-sale price: 3,500,000 – 4,500,000, the earrings did not find a buyer and were withdrawn from auction.

It is interesting that at the auction of Russian art, Sotheby’s auction on April 16, 2013, sales prices were much closer to those previously established by experts than at the Christie’s auction on April 15.

Eugene Lanceray (1884-1886). Sculptural bronze group “Arabian horse play.”
Sold for $173,000, with a preliminary price of $140,000-$160,000.

Silver samovar Alexander Kordey, 1869
Sold for $75,000(preliminary estimate $20,000 – $30,000)

Coronation album in 2 volumes, in a leather cover, with black and white photographs and color illustrations of the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II. 1899 Sold for $21,250(preliminary estimate $7,000 – $10,000)

Punch set, silver inlaid with enamel. Ovchinnikov. 1899-1908. Sold for $161,000(preliminary price $80,000-$120,000)

The most significant and expensive lot: a tabletop portrait of Emperor Nicholas II, framed with diamonds, with a diamond imperial crown, and four monograms. Master Heinrich Wigstrom, artist Vasily Zuev, 1909

Such portraits were among the rarest imperial gifts and were intended only for important and significant people. Under Nicholas II, only nine Russians and nine foreigners were awarded such precious portraits.
Sold for $413,000(preliminary price $200,000-$400,000)

Total sales that day amounted to 5,673,692 USD

It is known that all over the world many galleries, salons, shops and stores sell antiques. But it is auctions that make this market global, that is, interconnected. Thanks to their catalogs, a common database of information about antiques is formed, which allows you to monitor the main price trends and, to some extent, protects the market from counterfeits.

Quite often, owners of outstanding antique or artistic rarities, deciding to sell them, resort to the services of an auction, which serves as a certain guarantee for them of the integrity of the transaction and gives them the opportunity to earn good money. Therefore, high-profile and significant events in the field of sales of antiques take place at auctions at leading auction houses. Thanks to auctions, such lots receive wide publicity, and it is based on the results of their sales that an elite fashion for art objects is formed.

So keeping track of events happening at auctions is interesting and useful, even if you do not intend to become a serious collector.

And, even if my story about New York auction houses did not convince the average citizen of the world of the advisability of investing in antiques, I hope it showed that visiting these places is a fascinating and educational leisure activity, good food for thought, combined with undeniable aesthetic pleasure.

Text by Tatyana Borodina

Any reprinting of text or use of copyright photographs is possible only with the permission of the author of the project.