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.
