YES OR NO? In The Guardian, Dalya Alberge wrote about Bonhams clarifying how it conducts its charity auctions, after complaints that it was taking a “buyer’s premium”—the charge added to the hammer price—from a good cause. At a sale in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust charity, that took place last month, art dealer John Bradley asked if the auction house included the buyer’s premium in “all [the] proceeds” mentioned in its catalogue. Bonhams’ sale coordinator replied “Buyer’s premium will be payable and 20% VAT.” On Friday, the auction house announced the opposite: “We will donate the buyer’s premium to the Teenage Cancer Trust”. Brandler said he was “thrilled” that the charity would receive all the money paid for the charity lots. He added: “Will other salesrooms follow suit and be more [transparent] in their descriptions?”

SAY CHEESE! The photography festival Les Rencontres d’Arles is doing well, despite the hectic context of France’s parliamentary elections, reports Le Quotidien de l’art. It’s 55th edition, titled “Beneath the Surface”, consists of 30 exhibitions (10 certified by the artistic direction). The event is always presented as an opportunity to discover Arles’s heritage in a new light, as well as unusual spaces, such as the second floor of the city’s Monoprix (the French equivalent of Target), which currently features the seven finalists of Fondation Roederer’s Découverte prize. The Henri-Comte gallery, adjacent to the town hall, is home to still lifes by Ishiuchi Miyako (winner of Kering’s 2024 Women in Motion prize) depicting objects that belonged to her late mother. The Chapelle de la Charité houses a spectacular cabinet of curiosities by Michel Medinger. Sophie Calle took over a damp underground space, called Cryptoportiques, to showcase a series of decomposing photographs. The idea is to speed up the decomposition process and help them disappear “on a high note”. The festival runs through September 29.

THE DIGEST

Tanzanian portrait artist Shadrack Chaula was arrested for recording a viral video, showing him burning a photo of President Samia Suluhu Hassan while verbally insulting her. The 24-year-old painter has been sentenced to two years in prison or a fine of $2,000 (£1,600) after being found guilty of cybercrimes. Some social media users have started an online drive to raise money to pay Chaula’s fine so he can be freed from jail. [BBC]

In an interview with The Asia Pivot, Artnet Pro’s biweekly members-only newsletter about Asia’s art markets, Alice Lung, who overseeing the Perrotin gallery’s operations in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, and Los Angeles stated: “From what I observed at the recently concluded Hong Kong auction sales, the Chinese contemporary art market appears particularly weak. Buyers in mainland China are not as active right now. […] When the market was strong, each artwork generated more interest. That has declined, but overall business activity remains similar. […] Meanwhile, collectors are becoming more careful, discerning, and selective about their purchases.” [Artnet Pro]

Worried that they would not have enough space to keep collecting, the Los Angeles-based couple Candace and Charles Nelson found a two-fold solution to their problem. One, learn to appreciate smaller, more intimate works. Two, team up with interior designer Sara Story to complete their modernist Beverly Hills home. Their walls boast works by contemporary artists with ties to California, including Ed Ruscha, Jonas Wood, and Brenna Youngblood. [Cultured]

The Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas has put off any decision on whether to remove mosaics by Reverend Marko Rupnik, who is accused of abusing women. The shrine will remain intact until a satisfying solution can be found for the victims. The art work was created while some abuses were going on. The ex-Jesuit artist was expelled last year, and the Vatican has been looking into him since last October.[Abc]

French lawyer and politician Roland Dumas has died at age 101. He was France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, the President of the Constitutional Council, but also accused of defrauding the Giacometti estate. Lastly, he was known for playing a central role in the handover of Guernica to Spain after Franco‘s death. [Le Quotidien de l’Art]

THE KICKER

OLYMPIC SNEAK PEEK. The Olympics and Paralympics are right around the corner. One of the host city’s selling points was that it would primarily rely on existing or temporary structures for sporting competitions, such as the Grand Palais for fencing and taekwondo, the Stade Roland-Garros for tennis and boxing, and the Stade de France, the country’s national stadium, for athletics, rugby, and closing ceremonies. Only the Aquatics Center in the suburb of Saint-Denis has been built specifically for the Games. The new permanent sports facility has been co-designed by the Amsterdam-based firm VenhoevenCS and the French architects Ateliers 2/3/4. Here is a glimpse of it.  [AD]

According to a press release signed by Sebastian Fahey, Sotheby’s managing director of global fine art, Helena Newman, who has served as chairman of Sotheby’s Europe since 2016, has been named worldwide chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art. Newman will pull double duty, retaining her roles as European chairman and auctioneer.

In Asia, Sotheby’s has brought on the Hong Kong-based specialist Elaine Holt, who worked at Christies for over a decade, most recently as deputy chairman and international director of Christie’s Asia Pacific. Holt’s role as head of the Modern and Contemporary Art team in Asia will be bolstered by two new senior specialists in Contemporary art, Joseph Yang who joins us from the Chinese auction house Poly and former Sotheby’s employee Boris Cornelissen, who left the house in 2020 to run his own gallery in Australia.

Holt’s new position comes at a precarious time in the Asian art market tensions rise between China, the US, and Taiwan, which could forecast unfavorable economic and security implications, and Beijing juggling the a real estate crisis that could prove disastrous. Still, Asia has been a major target for all the auction houses in recent years with all Christie’s, Phillips, Sotheby’s, and Bonhams making moves to strengthen their presence in the region. In 2022 Sotheby’s announced a new Asia headquarters, a 24,000 square foot space in Hong Kong’s luxury hub, Landmark Chater, which is set to open this year. 

Alex Branczik and Max Moore, who together led the Modern and Contemporary business in Asia for the last three years will move head back to London and New York, respectively, also with new titles and responsibilities. Branczik will become chairman and head of Modern and Contemporary art Europe, while Moore will become head of Sotheby’s Sealed and senior private sales specialist for Modern and Contemporary art. 

James Sevier, who for three years worked as European head of Contemporary art, has transitioned to deputy chairman of Contemporary art, Europe, a position which, according to the press release, “will provide him space to work more closely with his portfolio of major clients.” Auctioneer and deputy chairman of Contemporary art, London, Michael Macaulay will move into Sevier’s position as head of Contemporary art, Europe while retaining his deputy chairman title.

The painting is a rare example of Kusama combining two of her most well-known motifs, dots and the infinity nets. Compositionally the work is split in two, with black dots on a red background on the right side and a black and red net on the left. 

In a statement, Bonhams called the work “immersive and compelling…The endlessly looping and repeating whorls serve as a key motif reused throughout her career, reflecting both her personal history and inner state.”

According to a report released earlier this year, Kusama was the highest selling contemporary artist in 2023. Her work earned $80.9 million at auction that year, more than $30 million that the previous year’s top seller, David Hockney.

The most expensive Kusama sold last year was the 2024 painting A Flower, which brought in almost $10 million during an auction at Christie’s Hong Kong. 

In April 2023 a group of five works by Kusama, all of which were produced within the last 20 years, sold for $22.9 million during a Sotheby’s evening sale, also in Hong Kong.

In recent years Kusama’s popularity in the art market has skyrocketed, with some calling her cultural proliferation, bolstered in 2023 by a retrospective at the M+ Museum and a widely publicized Louis Vuitton campaign, the Kusama Industrial Complex.

The estate toured Boston, Los Angeles, Paris, London, and Hong Kong before the sale, before landing in New York alongside an exhibition commemorating her career. Art, jewelry, design, and personal objects were among the items made available for auction.

Presented at Bonhams, her collection was spread across two sales: a live one held on November 6 and an online one where bidding began on October 29 and ran through November 7.

Walters had amassed a collection of American art, much of it in the form of paintings depicting women set against idyllic backdrops. Among the works from it that headed to auction, Childe Hassam’s The Peony Girl (ca. 1888–89) fetched $622,800 and William Merritt Chase’s The Tenth Street Studio (ca. 1884–1915) sold for $508,500. The former was Walters’s favorite piece, while the latter hung in her living room.

From her Mario Buatta–decorated apartment, where Walters often hosted dinner parties, a set of chintz upholstered armchairs by the designer yielded $4,480; a pair of gilt metal ostrich-form candlesticks sold for $6,400; against an estimate of $800–$1,200, Baccarat glass stemware service fetched $5,760; and a Royal Crown Derby Imari porcelain dinner service exceeded its estimate of $800–$1,200, selling for $5,760.

Additional highlights included a set of eight Elizabeth II silver pepper grinders, which exceeded its $200–$400 estimate, fetching $1,000, as well as a green patinated bronze figure of two poodles, which yielded almost $6,000, against an estimate of $500–$700.

Jewelry was also sound: Walters’ Harry Winston diamond engagement ring from Merv Adelson, which was bought for $699,000; three Joel Arthur Rosenthal (JAR) gemset earrings made for Walters, which respectively fetched $229,100, $229,100, and $203,700; and a Belle Époque diamond bow brooch (ca. 1910) worn by Walters to legendary singer Sir Elton John’s 60th birthday bash, which sold for $35,840.

A Cartier Art Deco diamond and gemset wristwatch sold for ten times its estimate at $32,000. Additionally, a custom Harry Winsto–designed diamond pendant necklace monogrammed with Walters’s initials sold above asking price, at $14,080.

Proceeds from the sale will go to charities important to Walters.

The newswoman, who died in December 2022 at the age of 93, also counted luminaries like Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller, Hugh Jackman, and Andrew Lloyd Webber among the coterie of friends who flocked to her Upper East Side apartment for dinners and parties. Her home’s thoughtful decor, overseen by famed interior designer Mario Buatta, as well as jewelry and other personal items Walters loved are now the focus of the estate auction, “Barbara Walters: American Icon,” produced by Bonhams, along with Walters’ daughter, Jacqueline Danforth. The online auction runs Oct. 29 through Nov. 7, while the live auction will take place Nov. 6 at Bonhams’ New York showroom. Proceeds will be donated to Walters’ favorite charities, which were not specified by the auction house. 

More than 300 lots shine a spotlight on Walters’ desire to live a graceful, elegant life, an idea reflected in a collection that included paintings by artists John Singer Sargent, John Whorf and William Merritt Chase. “To me it’s a constellation of stars, and the Sargent is the brightest of those stars,” says Morgan Martin, head of American art at Bonhams. “It’s clear not only that she did her research but also that she connected to these paintings in a deeply personal way. The John Whorf, for example, hung over her bed, and she told people it reminded her of her mother, and this makes sense because it’s a painting of the Boston Public Gardens, and Barbara was raised in Boston.” Sargent’s Egyptian Woman (Coin Necklace), painted in 1891, is estimated to fetch between $1.2 million to $1.8 million, while Whorf’s circa 1950s Swan Boat, Boston Public Gardens carries an auction estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.

Walters also possessed an enviable jewelry collection, with pieces that include a Harry Winston engagement ring (estimate: $600,000 to $900,000) showcasing a 13.84-carat emerald-cut diamond set in platinum, given to her by producer Merv Adelson, to whom Walters was married not once but twice: from 1981 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1992. Other jewels include a ruby and diamond floral brooch (estimated at $12,000 to $18,000) Walters wore to a 1991 event, where she was photographed alongside Audrey Hepburn, as well as three pairs of bespoke gemstone and diamond earrings by Paris-based designer Joel Arthur Rosenthal, known by jewelry aficionados as JAR. The earrings range in their auction estimates from $150,000 to $300,000 a pair.

“She was a sophisticated and chic jewelry collector,” notes Caroline Morrissey, director and head of jewelry at Bonhams in New York. “Not everyone is bold enough to wear pieces by JAR or have him create bespoke pieces for them, but if anyone could, it was Barbara Walters. JAR also creates pieces based on personalities, so it’s not surprising that she owned these three pairs of super bold and lively, fun earrings because they match her personality perfectly.”

Gross agrees. “Barbara had such an amazing eye for design; everything she wore and everything she did had such a sense of personal style,” she says. “From the way she dressed to how her dinner table was set and the people she gathered in her home — every detail was personal, and nothing was by accident. I miss her very much.” 

This story first appeared in the Oct. 25 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

According to Bonhams auction house, the artwork was actually an oil panel illustration by the artist Newell Convers Wyeth, father of the more-famous Andrew Wyeth. The painting was one of four cover illustrations for a 1939 edition of the Helen Hunt Jackson novel Ramona.

The dramatic scene portrays the novel’s title character—a half-Scottish, half–Native American orphan living in Southern California after the Mexican-American War—”and her rigid and overbearing foster mother, Señora Moreno.” The book was originally published in 1884.

The painting was signed by Wyeth in the upper left and in ink on a label affixed to the back of the frame. However, the thrift shopper did not find any initial information through a quick internet search, simply hung it up in their bedroom for several years, and eventually stored it in a closet.

In May of this year, the consigner posted some images of the painting online in a Facebook group called Things Found on Walls after taking the work out while cleaning. The consigner was quickly directed to the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Pennsylvania, which showcases the work of several artists in the Wyeth family, as well as conservator Lauren Lewis.

Lewis drove three hours to meet the painting’s owner in Portsmouth and view the work in person. Lewis’s level of excitement “was the first time the consignor realized it was actually legitimate and valuable,” according to Bonhams.

During Wyeth’s career, the American artist created more than 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books, working for companies like Scribner’s and publications like the Saturday Evening Post, Harper’s Monthly, and Ladies’ Home Journal.

The painting is believed to be most likely a gifted from the publishers Little, Brown and Company to an editor or to the estate of the author. The auction house has given the painting an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It is scheduled to be auctioned on September 19 in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

The Headlines

AUCTIONEER PIERRE CORNETTE DE SAINT CYR, whose namesake family auction house was acquired by Bonhams last year, died on Sunday in Saint-Tropez, France, Le Parisien reports. He was 84. Bonhams said in a statement that Cornette de Saint-Cyr “will forever be associated with introducing the first contemporary Chinese art, photography, and comic art sales in France.” He started Cornette de Saint Cyr in Paris in 1973, and two of his sons, Arnaud and Bertrand, eventually came aboard the firm, which grew to have 14 international salesrooms, AuctionLab reports. Cornette de Saint-Cyr was also a collector, focusing on drawings and photographs, and he chaired the Palais de Tokyo contemporary art center in Paris from 2003 to 2012.

LIVE-WORK SPACES. The Harlem home of writer Langston Hughes from 1947 until 1967, the year he died, is now a museum, the Art Newspaper reports. Located on East 127th Street, the residence is an Italianate-style building from 1869; Hughes worked on the top floor. Meanwhile, on the other side of the United States, a 5,300-square-foot building in the Venice section of Los Angeles that Godfredsen-Sigal Architects created for artist John Baldessari in 2009 is on the market for $6.7 million, Yo! Venice reports. Dubbed the “Baldessari Gallery/Museum,” the handsome modernist structure features an art studio, exhibition spaces, three baths, and more.

The Digest

Italy’s conservative government has been lobbying museums for shows on “cultural touchstones of the Italian right,” the Washington Post reports. Tomaso Montanari, an art historian on the steering committee of Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, said, “We are . . . smack dab in the middle of a neofascist revival.” [WaPo]

Dealer Marco Altavilla, who cofounded the influential T293 gallery in Naples, Italy, in 2002, with his partner Paola Guadagnino, died on Saturday after an illness. Now located in Rome, T293 has on its roster acclaimed figures like David Maljković, Simon Denny, and Tris Vonna-Michell. [Italy 24 Press News via Artforum]

Adobe Systems cofounder John Warnock, who was instrumental in developing the PDF, died on Saturday at the age of 82. With his wife, Marva Mullins, Warnock collected Native American art and rare books, which he shared online at rarebookroom.org. [The Associated Press]

Artist Tracey Emin has acquired a former bathing pavilion in Margate, England, and plans to turn it into a community center with a restaurant, gym, and more. Emin opened an art school in the seaside town earlier this year. [BBC News]

Bentonville, Arkansas, the land of Wal-Mart and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, is “becoming a new capital of cool,” the Wall Street Journal argues in a guide to the city’s cultural and culinary offerings. [WSJ]

ARTISTS ON THE RECORD.Joana Vasconcelos, “artist, aristocrat, and karate fighter,” is in El País; Tuan Andrew Nguyen, now showing at the New Museum in New York, was on PBS NewsHour; and Park Mee-na, currently exhibiting at Atelier Hermès in Seoul, is in the Korea Times.

The Kicker

BURDEN OF DREAMS. This week’s New Yorker features a personal essay by the inimitable filmmaker (and former Whitney Biennial participant) Werner Herzog that is as rich and bizarre as one would hope. It touches on some of his exploits in his early years, like running stereos into Mexico for “well-off rancheros,” breaking his ankle jumping out of a window to spray children (housemates) with shaving cream in Pittsburgh, and . . . let’s not spoil it all here. Herzog also discusses his methods, and turns philosophical at some points. “Truth, like history and memory, is not a fixed star but a search, an approximation,” he writes. [The New Yorker]

The Headlines

TAKING IT TO THE BANK-SY. Fashion designer Paul Smith is sending a Banksy painting to auction at Bonhams in London, where it will be offered on June 29 with a top estimate of £1.8 million (about $2.3 million). Titled Congestion Charge (2004), the work is a pastoral scene rich with trees and plants—and a sign for London’s then-new congestion pricing scheme for cars entering certain parts of the city. (Cheeky!) Smith also sold a Banksy through Christie’s in New York in 2021, the Art Newspaper notes. On that occasion, Sunflowers from Petrol Station went for a within-estimate $14.5 million with fees. Smith has been busy on the art front of late, also staging a Pablo Picasso show at the Musée Picasso in Paris that runs through August 27.

NOTHING IF NOT CRITICAL. In London, Tate Modern just opened a show titled “Capturing the Moment,” and some of the early reviews are . . . not good. Presenting choice loans from collector Pierre Chen’s Yageo Foundation (Hockney, Picasso, Bacon) alongside museum holdings, the exhibition aims to look at the relationship between painting and photography, “a hopelessly broad, well-worn premise for an exhibition,” Jackie Wullschläger writes in the Financial Times, terming the affair a “lazy apology for an exhibition.” In the Guardian, Laura Cumming asks, “Why are the walls of one of our foremost public art museums being given to a private collector in this way?” The show’s “premise feels like nonsense,” she argues, writing, “There is no thesis, no catalogue, no developed argument.” The exhibition runs through January 28.

The Digest

Four ancient Roman temples have opened to the public in Rome. The structures, which date as far back as the third century B.C.E., were unearthed amid demolition work in the 1920s. [The Associated Press]

The 2023 Prix Ars Electronica awards, for artists working with various forms of technology, have gone to Ayoung Kim, Atractor Estudio and Semantica Productions, Winnie Soon, and Sonja Höglinger. They will each get €10,000 (about $10,900). [ArtReview]

At the Detroit Institute of Arts, Yuriko Jackall has been named department head of European art and curator of European paintings. She is currently head of the curatorial department and curator of French paintings at the Wallace Collection in London. [Press Release/ArtDaily]

Michael Finkel’s new book, The Art Thief, follows the exploits of the notorious Stéphane Breitwieser, who stole some 300 works of art over the course of eight years. “This ultra-lucrative, odds-defying crime streak is wonderfully narrated,” Kathryn Schulz writes. [The New Yorker]

To mark the reopening of London’s National Portrait Gallery after an extensive renovation, the Guardian had notables pick their favorite examples of portraiture. Critic Adrian Searle went with a wild Maria Lassnig self-portrait, artist Thomas J. Price an Adrian Piper classic, and curator and critic Rianna Jade Parker an Errol Lloyd painting. [The Guardian]

Headed to Venice this summer for its architecture biennale? Tara Isabella Burton has a guide to exploring some of the quieter corners of the Floating City. [The Wall Street Journal]

The Kicker

ART IS FOREVER. Whoever thought this up deserves a marketing award. The Associated Press reports that the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam is currently hosting tattoo artists, who are giving visitors tattoos of Rembrandt sketches for €50 to €250 (about $55 to $273). Discussing how his process diverges from the Old Master’s, one tattoo artist offered this thought: “The canvas is different. The canvas can talk to you, move too much, float, even faint. That didn’t happen for Rembrandt.” The program is called “A Poor Man’s Rembrandt.” [AP]

The Headlines

THE AUCTION BLOCK. Epiris, the private equity firm that owns Bonhams, has tapped JPMorgan Chase & Co. to advise on a possible sale of the auction house, Bloomberg reports. How much could the London-based firm go for? Epiris, which is also located in the capital city, is said to be floating a valuation of $1 billion. Bonhams, which was founded in 1793, went on an international acquisition spree last year, snapping up Bruun Rasmussen in Denmark, Bukowskis in Sweden, and Skinner in Massachusetts, as ARTnews reported. Epiris has held the veteran auctioneer since 2018.

GAME ON! With the Philadelphia Eagles set to play the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Sunday, the directors of their hometown art museums—the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art—have placed a big bet on the game. The stakes: The loser will have to send a delegation with the loan of a “master work” (to be named later) to the winner. In a press release about the wager, the museum directors talked a bit of (exceedingly polite) trash. Julián Zugazagoitia, who leads the Nelson-Atkins, predicted that the Chiefs will “make short work of the Eagles,” and that his staff will make sure the visitors “taste the best of our Kansas City barbeque.” The PMA’s Sasha Suda, for her part, said that she expects the Eagles to “soar to victory,” with her colleagues offering the Missourians some “unforgettable cheesesteaks.” Do not mess with museum directors! Good luck to all the competitors.

The Digest

A filing by Damien Hirst’s company Science (UK) reveals that in 2020 he sold more than £8 million ($9.62 million at the current exchange rate) worth of art to benefit the United Kingdom’s National Health Service. [The Art Newspaper]

Big-league art collectors Craig Robins and Jackie Soffer have listed their Miami Beach home for a cool $45 million. It’s a Spanish-style residence from the 1940s with 9,000 square feet and a very special feature: a futuristic-looking bathroom that was designed by the late Zaha Hadid. [Architectural Digest and The Wall Street Journal]

The Hyde Collection—a jewel of an art museum in Glen Galls, New York—has named John Lefner to be its CEO. Lerner, who is currently the Hyde Collection’s chief operations and development officer, is succeeding Norman Dascher Jr., who will retire May 1. [The Post-Star]

Bree Pickering has been tapped to lead Australia’s National Portrait Gallery. Pickering comes to the Canberra organization from the Murray Art Museum Albury, where she became director in 2016. Earlier in her career she directed the Vox Populi art space in Philadelphia. [AFR]

Art and design from the estate of Hustler founder and free-speech advocate Larry Flynt will be offered by the Abell auction house on Thursday. The lots include Tiffany-style lamps, hunting scenes, and a great deal more. [Abell]

Artist Ugo Rondinone has put together a show at the Museum of Art and History in Geneva, Switzerland, that sets his work alongside more than 300 pieces from its collection. Turn-of-the-century artists Ferdinand Hodler and Félix Vallotton are focal points in the exhibition, which includes rooms hidden behind a “magic door” that opens automatically. [Financial Times]

The Kicker

THE GOLDEN EYE. Actor and painter Pierce Brosnan is the host of a delightful-sounding new series on the History Channel called History’s Greatest Heists, which will cover the notorious 1990 theft of paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The former 007 gave an interview to Channel Guide magazine about the show, and offered some candid thoughts about its subject. “We like to see people break the law, try and steal things, trying to steal money,” he said, adding later, “Some of these guys were just off-the-planet kind of crazy and also brilliant. Just brilliant. It takes balls to go out there and do what they do.” The show premieres today. [Channel Guide]

Notably, Asian art buyers were a major factor for this growth, making up 31 percent of Christie’s global sales, 36 percent of Phillips’ global spend, and 46 percent of lots sold for more than US$5 million at Sotheby’s. While all three auction houses reported a drop in bidders and buyers from Asia in 2022 as compared to last year, they are still doubling down on their focus on the continent.

In July 2021, Christie’s revealed plans to move into a 50,000-square-foot, four-story Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong in 2024. The Russian-owned Phillips partnered with Poly Auction for its Hong Kong sales and announced plans to move into new, expanded premises next to the new M+ museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District in March 2023, coinciding with Art Basel Hong Kong and their inaugural 20th century and contemporary art sales in the city. Sotheby’s will also be moving to its brand-new headquarters at the upcoming Six Pacific Place in Hong Kong, a short distance away from the auction house’s newly announced year-round exhibition space, both set to open in 2024.

International auction houses have also been expanding their teams in the continent. Bonhams made a slew of new appointments recently, with its Asia team now the biggest it has ever been. This is in addition to opening a new office in Shanghai in June 2021. Back at Sotheby’s, Alex Branczik, former London-based head of contemporary art, and Max Moore, a New York–based specialist focusing on NFTs, joined the house’s Asia team last year.

Intriguingly, this year in particular, specific cities, beyond China and Hong Kong, have caught the attention of the global auction market. At the end of August, Sotheby’s held a successful auction sale in Singapore for the first time in 15 years while Christie’s hosted a highly popular public viewing of a controversial Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in the city. Moreover, Christie’s posted a job ad for an associate specialist in Singapore. And Phillips will hold a pop-up exhibition showcasing works by California-based artist Brett Crawford in Singapore during the week of the launch of ART SG, the city’s biggest art fair.

One of Singapore’s biggest draws is its position as the center of one of the most dynamic and underhyped regions in the world, Southeast Asia.

According to Francis Belin, president of Christie’s Asia Pacific division, “The Southeast Asian market has been fundamental to our business, alongside Greater China, and we have been operating representative offices there since 1990s. In recent seasons we have witnessed growing participation from regional buyers in our art and luxury auctions and increasing recognition and desire for artworks by Southeast Asian artists.”

While their buyers from Asia Pacific dropped by 40 percent from the first half of 2021 to 2022, Christie’s reported that in the first half of 2022, buyers from Southeast Asia in particular, tripled their purchases in international auctions from the first half of 2021, which indicates that post-lockdown auction market appetites are still growing in this part of the world.

Additionally, 2021 and 2022 saw the world auction records for Southeast Asian artists double from before the pandemic in their Hong Kong salesroom. Singaporean painter Georgette Chen’s Still Life with Rambutans, Mangosteens and Pineapple (ca. 1960s) hammered at HK$13 million in November at Christie’s Hong Kong 20th and 21st century art sale while one of Thailand’s foremost contemporary artists, Natee Utarit’s GOD (2011) sold for HK$4.03 million in May during a Christie’s Hong Kong 20th and 21st century art evening sale. Both were new artist records.

As auction houses look to engage with different countries in Southeast Asia directly, Singapore’s standing as a long-established global financial hub and its easing of pandemic restrictions seem to hold sway.

“As the world opens up post-Covid, Singapore has emerged as one of the most progressive economies, and we have observed that wealthy collectors from across Asia are increasingly settling in the city and using it as their base,” said Jonathan Crockett, chairman of Phillips’s Asia division. “Increasing numbers of global companies have already or are relocating their base of Asia operations to Singapore.”

Chong Huai Seng, a Singaporean art collector and the cofounder of art advisory Family Office for Art, agreed, stating that economic and geopolitical uncertainties in Hong Kong and China makes Singapore, by contrast, a reliable safe haven for family wealth. In fact, the exponential rise of Family Office is a clear indication of the ongoing massive inflow of wealth to the city.

“Besides, Singapore is situated in the centre of ASEAN, a stable and fast growing region with a young, consumer base. Therefore I believe the reality of the market place has basically pushed and pulled the auction houses to do more in Singapore,” he added.

South Korea, the rising art capital with international galleries opening in the city alongside the launch of Frieze Seoul this past September, is also very attractive to global auction houses right now. This is in part thanks to its local art market, which is set to exceed 2021’s record of $682.8 million.

In fact, Phillips recently appointed Minhee Suh, formerly a senior specialist in K Auction, a local company in the city, as its Seoul regional director. Similarly, Sotheby’s reportedly hired Jane Yoon, a former international fair and auction specialist, as managing director for South Korea.

Nicolas Chow, chairman of Sotheby’s Asia and its international head and chairman of Chinese art, called South Korea one of the “territories we have been watching closely for some time. With new recruits on the ground there, we will be focusing on nurturing our local footprint in the region.”

So far, most international auction houses remain steadfast in their commitment to their presence in China, despite the country’s domestic tensions and wealth policies, with Sotheby’s even announcing the launch of new Shanghai headquarters in early 2023. But there are visible signs that indicate tremors beneath the surface. For one, Phillips partnered with Chinese auction house Yongle this month for its Hong Kong and Beijing auctions, moving away from its previous partnership with China’s state-owned auction house Poly Auction amid industry buzz that the Russian-owned auction house might have new owners in the future.

“The major challenge [for auction houses] has been and will be political,” said Wendy Goldsmith, a London-based art adviser who formerly worked at Christie’s. “At the moment, with the insecurity in Hong Kong, I know numerous collectors moving their works to the Singapore Freeport for example, and others who are simply trying to get their money out, often to Singapore as well. The word on the street is that South Korea may become the next Asian hub with their stability being a factor as well.”

Local auction outfits are also increasingly looking beyond their shores. Poly Auction is considering expanding its market presence further in Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea, in the coming years, according to Jenny Lok, the house’s Hong Kong–based head of business development and operations. SBI Art Auction House, a well-known Tokyo based auction house specializing in modern and contemporary art, is also looking into expansion in Asia, according to their spokesperson, although nothing has been announced yet. “Clients in Asia love the thrill of the chase,” Goldsmith added. “There will always be this demand, the challenge will be finding the right supply.”

Correction, 12/16/22, 7 p.m.: A previous version of this article misstated Chong Huai Seng’s name.