Cathy's Art Diary

Probing online interviews from ARTNews with the CEOs of Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Manion Maneker, president and editorial director of Art Media, was an excellent interviewer and asked some awkward and interesting questions firstly to Charles Stewart of Sotheby’s then Guillaume Cerulti of Christie’s. Both talked about the challenges of the last year and Covid-19 but also about how they saw the future of auction houses. Interestingly they took slightly different viewpoints with Stewart felling the move to online had brough big changes that wouldn’t got away such as a move away from the rigidly timed main sales. However Cerulti felt that these would return as normality returned and that there was a real desire for people to get back together in this way. He emphasised the social aspects of sales and the importance of what you might overhear when you are there and the buzz in the room. Maneker also asked about the role of luxury goods in their businesses as well as the growing import