Screen culture, online auctions, and art market spectacle

Abstract

This article examines the symbolic, financial, and visual qualities of spectacular, multi-site, online art auctions staged by Sotheby’s and Christie’s during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is argued that these events adopted visual techniques drawn from television gameshows and popular cinema culture to create a distinctive screen-based reality for the transaction of art assets. Much of the rhetoric employed by the auction houses to publicise online auctions suggested a utopian conception of technology capable of encouraging artistic innovation and broadening access to art markets. In contrast to the idea that these online formats constitute democratic change in the artworld, this article argues that the control of new technological infrastructures represents an extension of institutional power and maintains the socio-cultural elitism of urban centres in which physical art auctions at the top end of the market have traditionally been conducted.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

[1] The actual amount realised by the Christie’s sale was $340,851,000. For further detail see Christie’s report at https://www.christies.com/features/20th-Century-New-York-Wrap-Report-11018-3.aspx and Sotheby’s report https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/record-breaking-rembrandt-to-richter-sale-reinvents-the-auction (Accessed 16 October 2020).

[2] In 2020, investment by dealers and auction houses in IT increased by 80% to $3.5 billion (McAndrew 2021, 23).

[3] Paradoxically, innovative technology supported a conservative conception of the art canon. Although billed as spanning art history from Rembrandt (1606–1669) to Richter (b. 1932), the 71 lots extended well beyond this timeframe. The earliest work was by Paolo Uccello (c. 1397–1475) while paintings by a small number of contemporary artists younger than Richter were also included: Lucas Aruda (b. 1983), Amoako Boafo (b. 1984), Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977) and Jenny Saville (b. 1970). The bulk of the offering, however, was of works by Anglo-European male modernists and included only seven works by women (including three works by Louise Bourgeois). A painting by British artist Jenny Saville, Stare III, ultimately came in eleventh place in terms of sale value (£3,075,000), with works by Richter, Rembrandt and Joan Miró attaining top positions and garnering £10,449,000, £14,549,400 and £22,302,140 respectively.

[4] To take one example: echoing the catchy alliteration of the auction’s title, the names ‘Rembrandt’ and ‘Richter’ were strategically used to support the presentation of certain works, including Saville’s painting: ‘In this work [Saville’s Stare III], the subject’s nose bears a striking resemblance to the bulbous rendering of Rembrandt’s own in many of the self-portraits painted intermittently throughout his life. Indeed, Saville has often recounted the impact of Rembrandt’s genius on her own practice, specifically that of Self-Portrait with Two Circles (circa 1665) – a painting she views as formative for her understanding of the painterly process’. (Sotheby’s 2020c). Building on this visual connection, Sotheby’s reinforced the pairing of these works by placing them in proximity in the sale itself (Lots 11 and 12).

[5] According to the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report for 2020, Instagram was the most widely used social media channel for art acquisition and was used by 34% of High Net Worth Collectors in 2020. (McAndrew 2021, 243).

[6] I am thinking here of the pioneering work of Roy Ascott and Paul Sermon. Both artists used telecommunications technologies to develop innovative – and often utopian – approaches to interpersonal communication based on telepresence. For further discussion see Shanken (2000).

[7] According to McAndrew (2021, 111), this was also the highest ever price for which a fossil has sold at auction.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kathryn Brown

Kathryn Brown is a Senior Lecturer in art history and visual culture at Loughborough University, United Kingdom. Her publications span nineteenth- and twentieth-century French art, artists’ books, digital art history, contemporary art, and the art market. Her books include Women Readers in French Painting 1870–1890 (Routledge, 2012), Matisse’s Poets: Critical Performance in the Artist’s Book (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), Henri Matisse (Reaktion, 2021) and (as editor and contributor), The Art Book Tradition in Twentieth-Century Europe (Routledge, 2013), Interactive Contemporary Art: Participation in Practice (IB Tauris, 2014), Perspectives on Degas (Routledge, 2016) and Digital Humanities and Art History (Routledge, 2020). Brown has held visiting fellowships at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts (Washington DC), the Humanities Research Centre of the Australian National University, and Tulane University. Her research has been supported by numerous awards, including most recently from the Terra Foundation for American Art. Brown is the series editor of Contextualizing Art Markets for Bloomsbury Academic.