CLIVE Stewart-Lockhart, deputy chairman of Dreweatts, is to become managing director of Woolley and Wallis, the Salisbury-based salerooms.
He will take up his appointment at the
beginning of May.
The appointment comes at the same time as
Woolley & Wallis director John Axford is promoted to deputy
chairman.
Paul Viney, the current managing director
and chairman, will continue in the latter role, but has decided to
hand over the day-to-day running of the business to Mr
Stewart-Lockhart so that he can concentrate on the increased number
of probate valuations he has taken on since the retirement of
former principal Tim Woolley.
The appointment of Mr Stewart-Lockhart to
head what is currently the most successful exclusively provincial
auction business in the UK seals a longstanding friendship and
working relationship with Mr Viney. Both have been chairman of the
Society of Fine Art Auctioneers (Mr Viney is the current chairman),
they have lectured together on cruises and both, along with Mr
Axford, are longstanding members of the Antiques Roadshow
team.
"I am delighted that Clive, who has been a
good friend for many years, has decided to join us," Mr Viney
toldATG. "I have been managing director at Woolley and Wallis for
17 years, so it's high time I passed on some of the day-to-day
running of the company to a fresh pair of hands."
The pair's friendship mirrors that of Tim
Woolley and the late Richard Barton, the former chairman of
Dreweatt Neate, the firm that went on to form the basis of
Dreweatts.
Mr Stewart-Lockhart has extensive experience
as a generalist and is noted for his expertise in pictures, but is
also seen as bringing valuable Orientalist knowledge to strengthen
further Mr Axford's Asian art department, which has twice set the
record for anything sold at auction in the provinces.
"I'm very happy to act as a sounding board
for John, but I wouldn't dream of getting in his way. He has
developed his knowledge in the most amazing way in recent years,"
said Mr Stewart-Lockhart.
Looking back at his time with Dreweatts - he
has been at Donnington Priory for 30 years - Mr Stewart-Lockhart
said that he was most proud of his role in the private treaty sale
of a collection of First Fleet drawings to the National Library of
Australia, and the sale of a pair of portraits by Jean Baptiste
Greuze for £900,000 six years ago.
He said that he admired the way Dreweatts
had been at the forefront of adopting online auctioneering, saying
it had "transformed" the business.
He also said that his move came at a time
when Dreweatts were continuing to focus on building their profile
as a big British player on the international scene, but he felt
that he wanted to concentrate now more on consolidating a strong
regional business and Woolley and Wallis gave him that
opportunity.
"My long association with the Society of
Fine Art Auctioneers underpins my belief that there is a great
wealth of auctioneering in the British provinces and we should
build on that," he told ATG.
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