The auctioneer
Subtitle: adventures in the art trade
By: Simon de Pury and William Stadiem
Contributors: Stadiem, William, author
Edition: First edition.
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 228
ISBN-13: 9781250059789
Subjects: Auctioneers; Art; Biography; History
Description: "Just as William Goldman, the ultimate screenwriter, took us inside Hollywood, Simon de Pury, the ultimate art player, will take us inside an even more secretive business, whose staggering prices, famous collectors, and high crimes are front page news almost every day. The former Chairman of Sotheby's Europe, the former owner of Sotheby's rival Phillips de Pury, and currently a London-based dealer and advisor to great collectors around the world, Simon has one of the highest profiles of any non-artist in the art world. Even though he has an ancient title and the aura of an elegant Swiss banker, Simon is famous as an iconoclast and is known as "The Mick Jagger of Auctions" for his showmanship and exuberance. His whole life in art has been devoted to bringing art to the public and to the juxtaposition of high and low. Movie stars, musicians, and athletes compete with hedge funders and billionaires for the great art, and Simon is their pied piper; he wants to turn the world to art and this book will be his message"--

De Pury wants to turn the world on to art. His background with auction houses and his current position as a London-based dealer and advisor to great collectors around the world gives him one of the highest profiles of any non-artist in the art world. Here de Pury tells the secrets-- and drops the names-- as he takes you behind the scenes of a world of collectors, bidding wars, and front-page art crimes.
Table of contents: title: My Nude Portrait; title: Going Contempo; title: Artopolis; title: L'Artiste; title: The Apprentice; title: London Calling; title: My Role Model; title: The Auction House Wars; title: Simon de Monaco; title: Our Man in Geneva; title: A Royal Courtship; title: Me and the Baron; title: The Merry Wives of Heini; or, The Making of a Collector; title: Foreign Industries; title: If I Had a Hammer; title: Teams of Rivals; title: The Women; title: My Oligarchs; title: Courting Medicis; title: The Cutting Edge.