Christie’s have announced that a triumvirate will replace the workaholic Curiel in Paris, headed by François de Ricqlès, hitherto vice-president of Christie’s France, alongside international director Jonathan Rendell, dispatched from New York, and Guillaume Guédé as managing director.
Christie’s say Curiel’s move is part of a strategy to strengthen their Asian operations in the fields of real estate, private sales, insurance and art storage (Christie’s are one of the main tenants at the Singapore Free Port due to open in March).
After 12 years in New York, and nearly a decade in Paris, Curiel calls the move – which he admits he did not seek – “the biggest challenge of my career” and, at 61, probably his last major posting.
Curiel’s departure is likely to be seen as a fresh blow to the Paris market, coming hot on the heels of the commissionaires crisis at Drouot.
French daily Libération claimed that “the departure of a key man like Curiel should sound the alert to the government, which has never measured the economic and symbolic importance of the art market”.
By Simon Hewitt
