Comings & Goings

A round-up of happenings across the art world: Cerutti bids farewell to Christie's, Epstein's full services for Black exposed, and Bonhams makes an unexpected hire. Also, the southwest is on the rise.

Dear art lovers,

Firstly, welcome to all my new subscribers who made “The Appraisal” a Substack Bestseller this week! This is my newsletter about the cultural marketplace, written with the rigor of a former Puck journalist and the insider perspective of a Sotheby’s and Christie’s veteran.

Today marks the opening of the highly anticipated Schiaparelli show at London’s V&A Museum. I delved into founder Elsa Schiaparelli’s collaborations with artists and designers for ELLE Decor. Thanks to gallerist Didier Haspeslagh, who specializes in artist jewelry and loaned a few pieces to the show, for speaking with me.

This week I’m dispensing of my usual newsletter format of a few short items followed by a longer, in-depth column, in favor of all short items because there’s too much news to discuss. While the modern and contemporary art world was looking eastward to Art Basel Hong Kong, there has been lots happening in the States, including the new Raphael exhibition at the Met (which I wrote about for the April issue of ELLE Decor). It arrives in the aftermath of the explosive New York Times investigation into one of the show’s donors, Leon Black.

I’ll get into that below the paywall, along with some interesting comings and goings at the auction houses. Guillaume Cerutti is departing as chair of Christie’s board in the coming weeks and will be replaced by owner François Pinault’s son, François-Henri. Bonhams has swapped out the head of their beleaguered car business, Whitney Maxwell, with auction outsider Julie David. Also, as a sidenote, did anybody else notice that Cristopher Canizares left his longtime role as partner (and Rashid Johnson handler) at Hauser & Wirth to start an artist agency just a few weeks after Hauser artist Amy Sherald signed with C.A.A.?

But first a couple tidbits from the flyover states:

Scottsdale surprise: I was shocked when I saw the above photo of the crowded opening of Scottsdale Art Fair last week. The second edition of the four-day event brought 21,000 visitors, a 50 percent increase over last year. There were 112 participating galleries, including MRG Fine Art, who reported selling a painting by urban artist Jason Bua for $1.2 million in the fair’s opening hours. According to Bank of America and ArtTactic’s recent report on the U.S. art market, Arizona is the seventh-highest state in terms of art spend, tied with Georgia and North Carolina, at three percent. (California is first at 17 percent, followed by Florida at 12 percent and New York at nine percent.)

The fair is co-owned by a local consortium of art and design professionals and Cities West Media, the publisher of Phoenix magazine. For last year’s edition of the event, former Armory Show director Benjamin Genocchio, who was cancelled in 2017 after sexual harassment allegations, served as a strategic consultant, and the late Michael Plummer, a co-founder of TEFAF New York, served as development director. The fair’s 25 sponsors included Ferrari, UBS, Netjets, Veuve Cliquot, and Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

M.S. Rau’s new Aspen gallery.

Aspen ascends: This weekend New Orleans-based gallery M.S. Rau, run by third-generation owner Bill Rau, is celebrating the grand opening of its second location in Aspen. After testing out the market in 2024 with a seasonal pop-up, the gallery decided to make it permanent with a longterm lease on a two-floor, 2,200-square-foot space in the Aspen Block Building. They’ve also expanded into the European market by showing at TEFAF Maastricht for the past three years.

Why does M.S. Rau see market opportunity in Aspen while Sotheby’s, who shuttered their gallery there in 2024, did not? My theory is that it has to do with the kind of works on offer. Sotheby’s operated a white cube space focused on contemporary art, whereas M.S. Rau will display Impressionist and modern art alongside objects d’art and jewelry, president and Aspen local Andrew Fields told The Aspen Times. “Aspen’s historic and elegant shopping district reflects the same one-of-a-kind character found in our collection,” he was quoted as saying.

Okay, now what you’ve been waiting for. Let’s get to Guillaume Cerutti, Raphael, Leon Black, and Bonhams cars.