André Emmerich
of André Emmerich 
Galleries

Willem de Kooning
Woman as Landscape, 
1954-55

Franz Kline
Andrus, 1961 

 Jasper Johns
Gray Painting with 
Ball, 1958 

David Hockney
Trees, 1964 

Hans Hofmann
Ave Maria, 1965 

 Hans Hofmann
Color Poem No.6,
1954 

Sam Francis
Untitled, 1955

Sam Francis
Untitled, (No.7),
1964

to market, 
to market...
the marriage of 
emmerich & sotheby's
by Judd Tully
 

 

Was Sotheby's anemic $13.4 million sale of 
contemporary art last May 8 (against a 
bullish pre-sale estimate of $23 million to 
$31.4 million) a factor in the formation of 
Emmerich/Sotheby's, the just-created 
confection starring art-world veteran André 
Emmerich?
It depends on who you talk to. "No," says 
Diana D. Brooks, Sotheby's president and 
CEO, who also navigated the lame May 8 
sale that saw a trio of multimillion-dollar 
lots--Willem de Kooning's Woman as 
Landscape, Franz Kline's Andrus and Jasper 
John's Gray Painting With Ball--sink with 
barely a hand raised. "In fact, we've been 
talking with André since February," 
emphasized Brooks.
"Sotheby's is making an effort to shore up 
its image after the May debacle," countered 
one prominent private dealer who likened 
the alliance to Sotheby's diplomatic hiring 
last year of ex-Museum of Modern Art 
director, Richard Oldenberg, as a largely 
undefined ambassador-at-large. Oldenburg 
has a big title as chairman of Sotheby's 
America but has hardly made a wave since he 
came on board a year ago April.
"André was appealing to Sotheby's for his 
contacts, the respect he commands and his 
longevity in the industry" (Emmerich is 71 
years old), said another dealer who also 
insisted on anonymity.
Several art-world observers noted the high-
profile defections of senior Sotheby 
contemporary experts that began in 1994. 
Anthony Grant and Marc Selwyn left 
Sotheby's to join the international 
enterprise of PaceWildenstein, and former 
department head and major rainmaker, Lucy 
Mitchell-Innes, left last year and now runs 
an art advisory business with David Nash, 
her husband and former Sotheby's 
Impressionist/Modern star. 
The impact of this brain drain and the 
perceived inexperience of Sotheby's more 
junior contemporary department has given 
Christie's a leg up in their neck-and-neck
battle for landing plum contemporary 
consignments. (That is an ironic 
development considering last year's 
resignation of Diane Upright, Christie's 
contemporary head and seasoned expert. She 
was succeeded by Neal Meltzer, who has yet 
to hit 30). 
The new alliance bolsters Sotheby's 
contemporary expertise substantially, since 
Emmerich's entire staff is to move uptown 
to the firm's York Avenue headquarters. 
Sotheby's now can boast of having the 
largest group of contemporary art 
salespeople and experts under one roof in 
New York, even surpassing PaceWildenstein's 
huge 57th Street presence. 
Emmerich's move uptown leaves behind 
significant gallery space at 41 East 57th 
Street, the dealer's longtime roost. 
Emmerich's two elegant and high-rent spaces 
(on the 5th and 6th floors), so far, will 
be retained for his extensive stable that 
includes living artists such as realist 
William Bailey, sculptor Anthony Caro, Brit 
expatriate David Hockney, abstractionist Al 
Held and sculptor Beverly Pepper.
More importantly, Emmerich also lords over 
a large group of artist estates, including 
Josef Albers, Milton Avery, Sam Francis, 
Keith Haring, Hans Hofmann and Morris 
Louis. Sotheby's, significantly, did not 
acquire the dealer's inventory--which 
Emmerich had been trying to sell over the 
past year or so--but has the entire 
kaboodle on consignment. That means 
Sotheby's, along with Emmerich, can try to 
sell that horde of largely Color Field 
paintings both privately and at auction, 
the kind of hybrid arrangement that until 
now has been largely wishful thinking or 
foolhardy fantasy.
"We have invented a whole new mechanism," 
exclaimed Emmerich. "It will set the art 
world on its ear. We can offer more and 
better services to artists and collectors 
than ever before. We can go head-to-head 
against PaceWildenstein and Christie's to 
boot."
Among the projects Emmerich envisions are 
solo exhibitions for his stable at 
Sotheby's showrooms in London, Paris and 
Tokyo as well as publishing ventures 
including catalogue raisonnes. "We can 
finance any major project that comes along 
the way."
It's still too early to tell how the 
Emmerich/Sotheby's hybrid will look 
after the media glow fades. 
It's also unclear what effect, if any, the 
new deal will have on Robert Monk, the 
current department head who took a lot of 
flak for the blustery estimates and 
subsequent results in the May sale. 	
Judd Tully covers the international art 
market for a variety of publications, 
ranging from Art & Auction to The Washington 
Post.