Auctioneer and art advisor Simon de Pury has launched auction business de-Pury.com. Image: Simon de Pury.
The firm will hold a series of curated auctions with the first called WOMEN – Art in Times of Chaos. An exhibition of the artworks will run from August 5 online with the auction taking place on August 25.
The sale will offer artworks by women that have been created over the last two and a half years and require buyers to commit to not reselling the artwork for a period of three years.
Instead of taking the rostrum de Pury will host the auction online as a digital avatar online.
De Pury said the auction format also differs to other auctions in a number of ways including that: '100% of the hammer price will go to the artist and the gallery that represents them; an 18% buyer's premium will be charged on top of the hammer price; and 3% of the hammer price will be deducted from the buyer’s premium and paid to charity UN Women.'
Each subsequent auction will donate 3% in the same way to a different charity.
Among the artworks in the WOMEN – Art in Times of Chaos auction is this fabric picture by artist Phyllis Stevens called A Change for Love ‘The Land of Make Believe’.
De Pury said: “The red-hot demand for young women artists at auction is precisely the motivation behind this new initiative… Our approach with this new series is to have the artists, as well as the dealers who champion their work, be the main financial beneficiaries.”
Other differences with the format include that the identity of the successful buyers as well as the identities of the under-bidders for each work will be shared with the artist and the gallery representing them.
There will not be any printed materials relating to the sale and the artworks will travel only once – when they have been sold.
De Pury, who describes himself as an auctioneer, art dealer, curator, photographer and DJ, is well-known for his flamboyant style on the rostrum which led some to nickname him 'the Mick Jagger of auctions'.
