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n March, one of the world’s greatest impressionist portraits went up for auction in London. Painted in the same year as the Guernica, Picasso’s Femme au beret et a la robe quadrillee depicts the artist’s close friend Marie-Therese Walter, who is often described as his “golden muse”. As the hammer came down on the final bid, the $69 million sale was confirmed as the highest auction price for any painting ever sold in Europe. The record-breaking sale was more good news in what is already shaping up to be a stellar year for Sotheby’s, the prestigious and historic art dealership that hosted the auction. As one of the world’s largest and most respected brokers of fine and decorative art, the company has had to work hard to establish its global reputation. Sotheby’s can trace its lineage back to 1744 when it was founded by a London-based bookseller named Samuel Baker. Baker had been tasked with dispersing several hundred rare books that had been in the possession of a wealthy baron. The sale was such a success that Baker found himself approached by a number of literature collectors who wished to dispose of their libraries, which led him to partner with a theatrical local auctioneer named George Leigh. To g e t h e r B a k e r a n d L e i g h wo u l d b e responsible for turning auction houses into a continental sensation. They attracted both buyers and sellers from around Europe, and were responsible for valuing and transacting some of the most remarkable collections of the time. Upon Napoleon’s death, for example, the library of books the great general took into exile was entrusted to Baker and Leigh to be sold at auction. It wasn’t until much later that Sotheby’s pivoted from primarily dealing with book collections towards dabbling in fine art. In 1913, it sold a portrait by the Dutch painter Frans Hals and never looked back. The affiliation between Sotheby’s and the world of fine art was cemented rapidly, and continues to endure to this day. “I think when people hear the word Sotheby’s there’s an immediate positive association. We really are one of the platinum British brands, up there with Rolls-Royce and Bentley. We are the oldest company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, for example, and we’re actually older than the United States of America,” says Edward Gibbs, Sotheby’s chairman of the Middle East and India. “But we know we can’t rest on our laurels. It’s vital that we continue to honour the pioneering spirit that founded our company in the first place.” 2017 was a year of anniversaries for Sotheby’s. The dealership celebrated 100 years at its New
Edward Gibbs, Sotheby’s Chairman of the Middle East and India
“We are the oldest company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, older than the United States”
Bond Street location in London, 50 years in Paris, 40 years in Geneva and 10 years in Moscow. But rather than looking back on its successes, Sotheby’s took the opportunity to continue broadening its horizons. It opened new offices and selling centres in Dubai and Mumbai, along with new exhibition spaces in Los Angeles and San Francisco. This impressive global expansion shows the dealership’s drive to continue modernising. But to Gibbs it’s simpler than that – it’s about responding to demand. “There has been a sea change in the art world. If you look at the art world in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, it was really a cosy club. It wasn’t until the ’80s that things started to really change,” says Gibbs. “Japanese buyers entered the market and had a transformative effect on global sales, particularly the impressionist market. The ’90s and ’00s saw a tsunami of liquidity in the market from other emerging marketplaces, principally across Asia, but also Russia, and even South America.” Today, the fine art trade is a truly global market, which is no longer dependent on any single market or geography. But there is one region where the allure of fine art is driving demand faster than anywhere else. Over the last five years, there has been a 76 per cent increase in the number of Middle Eastern participants in Sotheby’s sales. In the UAE, the figures are even more impressive; participation has increased 157 per cent, with a 39 per cent increase in the last 12 months alone. The increased engagement has seen the total value spent at auction houses
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