Thursday, October 16th, 2008
Phillips de Pury Representing Annie Leibovitz
Image: AP/Mary Altaffer
All eyes were on Damien Hirst when the artist partnered with Sotheby’s for Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, the officially sanctioned auction and exhibition of over 200 brand new works that yielded profits of $198 million. Now Phillips de Pury and photographer, Annie Leibovitz, have taken the artist-auctioneer relationship one step further. In an unprecedented move, the auction house has announced it will serve as the official dealer for the artist’s work. Phillips will take responsibility for the sale of Leibovitz’s Master Set – 200 works spanning the artist’s career, individually selected by Leibovitz herself. Each large format print is priced at $37,000 (£ 20,000), and in stark contrast to the Hirst model, none will be sold at auction. The sale will coincide with two London exhibits – one at Phillips, from Oct. 23 – Nov. 22, and the retrospective, Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life 1990 – 2005, running Oct. 16 – Feb. 1 at the National Portrait Gallery.
The announcement comes in the wake of the recent buy out of Phillips by Russian luxury retailing powerhouse, the Mercury Group.
Sources: Art Info / The Art Newspaper
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