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The auctioneer who whose role used to be more like that of a mediocre salesman amidst a slightly distracted audience is now a trained conductor with the room at his attention. Christie's chief auctioneer, Christopher Burge, exemplifies the profession's evolved role. He has a reputation for being "genuinely charming and having tight control over the room" (Thornton, 5). As Burge explains his selling strategies, one may call to mind the world of sports or gambling before art. Burge discloses that he keeps a book recording the seated positions of the bidders and their bidding styles, whether they are aggressive or looking for a deal (Thornton, 4). He also credits his abiity ability to read bidders body language after years of experience (Thornton, 21). As a result, Burge and other experienced auctioneers, have a good sense of how things will turn out before the auction begins.
The buyers have changed as well. The auction house used to draw informal crowds engaging in some casual window shopping and light socialization. Todays Today's buyer is much more focused. Some see the event as a serious business transaction by which to diversify their investment portfolios. Others are serious collectors constatnly constantly looking to aquire acquire new works to keep them at the top of their socila social circles. Many attend for a combination of both reasons.
Other factors have changed since Christies opened. The works offered at acution auction tend to be quite recent. As Thornton notes in her first chapter, primary concern is not for the meaning of the artwork but its unique selling points, which tend to fetishize the earliest traces of the artist's brand or signature style." (Thornton, 7).
The bidding room itself is has changed from the greyish-green ideal of 18th century gallery interiors to the stark minimal white that is the standard of today (Klonk, 28). Additionally, the condensed arragnment arrangement of paintings charactreistic characteristic of 18th century displays has given way to a focused and seperate separate display of each work (Klonk, 30).
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Though Sothebys auctioneers likely use the same statistical methods that Burge describes, this is proof that the market is often unpredictable when those with unlimited financila financial means are involved. The article also points out that sale had more modernist material than recent sales. L'Aubade by Picasso sold for $23 million.
This resonates with Thornton's observation that serious collectors tend to buy newer works because they want to stay ahead of the curve (Thornton, 13). This may also help wxplain explain why, aside from the Klimt painting, the other top grossing sales were from the modernist paitingspaintings. Though these modernist paintings arent aren't exactly new, perhaps this is a compromise between the uncertainty of the primary art market and the desire to have more recent work.
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