Christie's
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Christie's is a world-famous auction house. It was founded in London, England on 5 December 1766 by James Christie. Christie's soon established a reputation as a leading auction house, and took advantage of London's new found status as the major centre of the international art trade after the French Revolution.
More recently, Christie's has auctioned off artwork and personal possessions linked to historical figures such as Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Diana, Princess of Wales, Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Napoleon Bonaparte and others. In 1998, Christie's in New York sold the famous Archimedes Palimpsest after the conclusion of a lawsuit in which its ownership was disputed.
In 1995, Christie's became the first international auction house to exhibit works of art in Beijing, China.
Christie's main London saleroom is on King Street in St. James's where it has been based since 1823. It also has a second London saleroom in South Kensington which opened in 1975 and primarily handles collectibles such as cameras, teddy bears, scientific instruments, toys and dolls and the middle market. Christie's South Kensington is one of the worlds busiest auction rooms. Christie's also has locations worldwide in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam, Rome, Milan, Australia (although operations in Australia have closed since April 2006 [link]) , Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok.
In the year 2000, it came to light that a price-fixing scandal was evident between the two major auction houses, Christie's and Sotheby's. It was in reality a commission-fixing situation resulting in collusion, when certain executives from both Christie's and Sotheby's admitted their guilt. A longtime employee of Christie's named Christopher Davidge admitted his guilt to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in late 1999, and numerous members of Sotheby's senior management were fired soon thereafter. Although A. Alfred Taubman, the largest shareholder of Sotheby's at the time, took most of the blame, it was his protegee, Diana (Dede) Brooks, President and CEO of the company at the time, who implicated him in return for leniency from the federal courts [link][link]. Taubman served a year and a day in 2002-2003, and remains a wealthy businessman who gained fame from real estate development ventures.
Christie's Education, based in London, New York and Paris, offer Master's, Diploma and Part-Time courses in topics ranging from Antiquities to Contemporary Art. Students study art history, but are also introduced to the current practices and priorities of the art world. Alumni hold a wide range of positions in the international art world.
See also
Further reading
- Christopher Mason, The Art of the Steal, 2004. Putnam. ISBN 0399150935 ([Review from the times of India])
External links
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