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Christie’s has adjourned its shifts, except for Hong Kong. Geneva will sell its watches and jewelry from June 29 to July 1. If everything goes as planned, of course …
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The Sotheby’s building in New York.
Credit: Sotheby’s
I could create a “reports” section. It would be just after the one devoted to cancellations. Auctions were still missing from my list. You know as well as I do that May constitutes what the Hotel Drouot would call a “highlight”. It is even the summit, the peak of the year with November. The big houses are therefore wondering what they are going to do. In more noble terms, they talk about adopting strategies, which the epidemic can of course always come to upset.
Christie’s seems clear. She postpones everything to June. There will then be a “consolidated sale”, for those who understand the language of wood. Fans will then be able to discover contemporary, modern and impressionist art in a “giga week”. I take this information from Anna Brady, who published an article online in “The Art Newspaper” on March 19th. Everything will begin on June 23 in New York and end on the 26th. This “giga” will follow the “Classic Week”, where ancient art is sold. This will be postponed from April to June 8 to 12.
Sotheby’s in the dark
Customers with a traditional taste will have a month to rebuild, or at least replenish their purse. The London Classic Week will take place as originally planned from July 6 to 17. A very long week. It is reminiscent of those of the calendar of the French Revolution, which in 1792 had imagined weeks of ten days, the decades. Since everything seems (I say “seems”) to be going better, the Christie’s Hongkong calendar will not, however, be shifted. The vacations should go well from May 30 to June 3. I cannot speak to you for the moment about Paris, pending. But Paris tries not to pass for butter.
And Sotheby’s? Well, when Anna Brady’s article appeared, the multinational was feeling its way. Nothing has apparently changed since. The site has not moved. It must be said that the multinational remains in transition, the reign of the new owner Patrick Drahi is just beginning. At the present time, the calendar of the house therefore remains just as vague, as public sales approach. We understand better that the list of “online” sales, reserved for the small fry, has remained immobile. After all, they also continue at Christie’s! Phillips and Bonhams, who follow the turnover of the enemy sisters from a distance, is at least clear in their vagueness. They are all canceled without giving new dates yet. Too dangerous.
Christie’s headquarters in New York. Christie’s photo.
This is not the only danger. What will the sales of June-July give, if indeed they take place? If I felt able to tell you, I would be a forecaster in a large international bank. So I can only give you my feeling. Well, it will be difficult. February had already not gone very well. Not enough exceptional pieces in the catalog, apparently. The American stock market then reached its historic high. For June-July, assures Christie’s, the sellers declare themselves starting. They will probably also need money. We are inevitably heading towards a strong crisis, but of unknown magnitude. Will people with cash flow put their money in artwork as a precaution like buying gold bars? Or will works remain on the carpet (we say in good French “ravalées”) because of estimates become too high? However, in the great crisis, that of 1929, art was less discounted than stocks. But history is not inevitably an eternal restart.
“Luxury Week” in Geneva
I see that I forgot Geneva, the capital of ticking and pebbles! Well in our city, sales of watches and jewelry have shifted. The “Luxury Week” will not take place in May as planned, but from June 29 to 1is July. A short week this time. Still, the epidemic has not communicated its calendar.
P.S. New York’s spring TEFAF, which was scheduled to take place May 8-11, is fittingly seen to be postponed. It will take place from October 31 to November 4. It will suddenly take the place of TEFAF FALL, turned around ancient art. The latter therefore disappears from the calendar for 2020. TEFAF SPRING aims to be rather modern and contemporary, but …. That said, the referral will restore the image of the event. I told you about my misadventures in Maastricht a few days ago. The fair had closed just after I left, infected with the virus. According to a friendly merchant who exhibited there (and who does not want to see his name published), there was a strong contamination among the merchants present.
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