Sotheby’s invites Bacon to Paris

After the 2001 auction reform, a number of French auction houses feared they might find themselves relegated far behind the leading international auctioneers. Faced with this possibility, some even chose to merge as did Artcurial- Briest-Le Fur-Poulain-F.Tajan and Tajan, in order to be able to stand up to Sotheby’s and Christie’s more effectively.

Until now, the British and American houses have sagely tended to see the French market more as an attic destined for export than as a market in its own right. Thus, the prestige sales worthy of New York and London are still relatively infrequent in Paris. This imbalance enabled Artcurial-Briest-Le Fur-Poulain-F.Tajan and Tajan to rank, in 2006, second and third in terms of French Fine Art proceeds, behind Christie’s, but ahead of Sotheby’s in fifth place. At that point, Sotheby’s generated sales of EUR 15.2 million. This year, the auction house, headed since September by Guillaume Cerutti, has other ambitions! On 12 December it plans a prestigious contemporary art sale, with an important canvas by Bacon as the headline lot. Christie’s is to follow suit the day after with a sale on the same theme, featuring a work entitled Mandres by Joan Mitchell for an estimated EUR 1.8–2.5 million.
Seated Woman, the work by Francis Bacon up for auction at Sotheby’s on 12 December for an estimated USD 7.5-10 million, is an imported piece – something of a rarity. In order to guarantee extensive coverage in the international media, the painting has been the focus of all of Sotheby’s communications expertise. Furthermore, the auction house has the ideal client list. In effect, on 14 November last, it sold Second Version of Study for Bullfight No.1 by Francis Bacon for USD 41 million, setting a new record for the artist. Finally the Pope of the London School is benefiting from a first million-ticket result in Paris, this time under Christie’s hammer; in May 2007, the auction house sold a 1958-59 canvas, Figure on a Dais, estimated at USD 3.5–4.5 million, for EUR 6.1 million. Francis Bacon will unquestionably be the artist of the year in the Paris sales, but thanks to the work of the leading international auctioneers.

It is now clear that, faced with the marketing and expertise of the British and American heavy weights, the Syndicat National des Maisons de Ventes Volontaires, presided by Hervé Chayette, whose mission is to promote auctions in France, will encounter some difficulty in supporting a traditional French auction house in one of the three lead markets this year. Aside from Cornette de Saint-Cyr, whose contemporary and post-war art sales, notably around the sale of the Delon collection, have been very successful, few candidates yet seem able to compete with the trio Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Artcurial.