Sotheby’s New Hire: Can the Auction House Lion Lie Down with Gallery Lambs?

Marion Manekar | ARTnews | 23rd August 2021

If covid restrictions feel endless, spare a thought for Art Basel. Big art fairs have pretty much stopped, starving Art Basel and others of cashflow and halting their collaboration with galleries. Sensing an opportunity, the big auction houses are using their high-profile online sales capabilities to entice galleries to work with them instead. It is, says the writer, a delicate balancing act, an “alliance between competitors”.