Art Bytes: Samantha Koslow

We go behind the scenes at Christie’s Auction House at Rockefeller Plaza with the Director of Business Development and Head of Museum and Corporate Collection Services to find out how a high-end art auction is assembled.

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The intensity of a major live art auction is unmistakable. It's really a form of theater, a high society spectator sport with the gavel crashing down sometimes after just 30s and price tags soaring, sometimes into the millions. Art auctions happen only through careful planning, strategic vision and lots of hard work. Today we'll take a peek behind the curtain into the inner workings of this rarified world of the high end art auction. Welcome to Art bytes, a podcast from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, where we take you beyond the art on the walls and into the stories of the artists and the ideas behind them. I'm your host, Kathleen Leighton. We're on the road this time at Christie's auction house at Rockefeller Plaza, which was founded in London in 1766 and began holding art auctions in New York in 1977. Samantha Koslow is joining us. Samantha is director of business development and head of museum and corporate collections services. Wow, that's a mouthful. It's a great title. So, Samantha, tell me, what does it mean? What are you responsible for here at Christie's? Thank you so much, Kathleen. I'd love to start by just saying how happy I am to have you back here in New York and see you again. And you're right, it is a mouthful. It's a ridiculously long title, but it means that means you're very important. Totally. But I think I have the most fun job at Christie's, and that I get to be the person who really supports our museum and nonprofit partners. So while our work together has brought us through buying, selling, you know, looking at collections, there's so much more to it. On any given day, I might be working on an appraisal, a program, helping with a loan request, thinking about patron cultivation, kind of. You name it, it touches an institution. It runs through me. And I'm privileged in that I've spent over 16 years here at Christie's so far, and I hope many, many more, and always worked in various business development roles. So I've seen kind of Christie's from all angles and been a part of some of the most exciting sales we've had. And so, no, today's are alike. Yes. Certainly no two days are alike. And that's what makes it fun. I wake up every morning with a bit of knowledge of what may come, and also a great relief in knowing that I never know what's going to come and I can approach each day, in that that's fun, exciting way. What type of art sells at auction? Best. Yeah, it's a great question. And when we, you know, get a lot here at Christie's because I think when you think about Christie's, you think about the masterpiece sales we've had. And of course, you know, that runs all the way up to Christie's has sold the most expensive painting that's ever come to auction, a Leonardo da Vinci that made $450 million back in 2017. That just makes me thinking about it. So you have to imagine me in the back of the sale room, sort of holding my breath through that whole experience. It was very exciting. But, you know, that's certainly not all. Christie's sells quality objects across many different collecting categories. I believe we have over 60 different categories here at Christie's that we offer, and there are sort of six things that we point to that we call the determinants of value. And it's really, I think, helpful to think about those things when you're evaluating a work of art that might come for sale at Christie's. So of course, we think about the artist. So there are certain names that are going to hold more resonance. Let's say Picasso, most anyone you meet is going to have some association with Picasso. But then there are lesser known artists that sometimes are not appropriate for sale at Christie's because they don't have a known market. Or, you know, we can help elevate those market. So it can be really exciting. Second is subject matter. So I'm sure you can envision a beautiful, idyllic landscape may hold higher value than let's say, a scene of war or something that's a little harder for people to not always, but, those are some things to think about. Of course, rarity. So whether it's a Picasso ceramic, let's say. So there were many of them made and put out on the market versus a one of a kind masterpiece, condition. So sometimes works of art have had damage throughout their lifetimes. Something that, of course, is more affecting Old Masters, antiquities, that sort of thing. Provenance. So who has owns the work of art? So one of the things exactly. So was it a part of a great European American, international collection? Was it owned by a great museum, for instance? Those things really hold weight with our collectors. And then the one that's the hardest to put your finger on, that just, is sort of the quality. So while there are some that are sort of known masters, there are also different levels of quality, that have that applied to different fields so that those are some of the things we think about when evaluating a work for sale, So let's take an example of one object and follow it through the process that you go through. And Nelson-Atkins sold a monet painting at Christie's. And you were very involved with that. So once you had that masterpiece in your hands, what did you do? Sure. So it's it was fun to think about. Of course, when the work arrives for sale, that's when you think the process begins. But actually our process with the Nelson-Atkins started long before we took possession of the work of art. So from the minute we get that call from the museum, we really start thinking of them as our partner in the process, and we work together with the team to roll out a PR strategy, a launch strategy, kind of pick the perfect spot to place the work, announce it, and then roll out our full marketing campaign. In the case of the Monet, we announced the sale in Paris. We timed that announcement around our activities for the 150th anniversary of Impressionism, which is happening in 2024, and really capitalizing on the energy and attention that the work would get. There. From there. The work then went on to travel the globe. It visited Hong Kong and Taipei before coming back to for sale here in New York. That's amazing. Now I'm thinking that you don't probably take every single object on the road like that around the world. How do you decide? That would be very exhausting, but fun. I like the idea of global traveling with my works of art. It would. And honestly, Christie's has a great commitment to sustainability. That's actually one of our pillars as a firm. So we're very strategic in where we tour works of art, and we look at prior bidding activity, and interest from our clients. We maintain, you know, great depth of data as well as convening moments in the art world. So I mentioned that 150th anniversary of Impressionism, as well as art fairs that might be going on or other sort of key moments on the global art calendar. So those all play play a great role. So the night of the auction, I remember how exciting that was. But also you had the items for sale all in a certain order. And I know that that had been really thought through carefully. Are you looking for drama, excitement, momentum? Probably all all of the above. How do you do that? So, so much planning goes into anything that happens here at Christie's, of course, but especially the cadence of our sales is really important because we want to get bidders engaged right from the beginning. So generally, we like to start our sales with something that might be at a slightly lower or more approachable price point, or an artist that we know is really attractive and hot in the market. So that we have sort of that guaranteed bidding right from the start. Something fun to note is that the Nelson-Atkins Monet was actually lot eight in the sale, so quite early, but eight is a very auspicious number internationally. So we really wanted to give the Monet that pride of place within the sale. I didn't know that. The number eight. The number. It's the infinity symbol. Okay. Yes, exactly. So who can come to an auction? Can anyone just just attend an auction? Or do you have to have a special financial consideration or something like that? what I think a lot of people don't know is that almost every sale at Christie's is free and open to the public. We like to think of ourselves as one of the great sort of free public museums, in a way, or great cultural attractions in the city of New York. Of course, there are exceptions to that. So our major evening sales that happen only a handful of times per year are ticketed. And that's really just to make sure that the people who are most likely to bid, because there's so much demand and excitement around those sales, as you remember, we we need to make sure the bidders have space reserved in the room. So there are about 250 or so seats in the auction room that are reserved, for bidders and is, are some seats better than others? Do you place people the way that you place art in ocean? They really aren't, because it's such an intimate Saleroom we like to say that every seat is a great seat for different reasons. So sometimes times you might want to be closer up near the auctioneer. You may want to be closer to the phone bidders who are bidding with clients who might not want or be able to be physically in the room so they can bid with a Christie's specialist. And then we often get sort of surprise bidders jumping in from the back. And that's when you really want to be able to have a seat that allows you to view the whole room. So truly there's no bad seat. So the auctioneer is up there with all those prospective buyers, bidders out in the audience. What are they looking for when they're scanning all of these people? we have some idea of who might be interested in bidding during the sale. We spend a lot of time in the lead up talking to collectors, trying to get a sense of who's going to be engaged, but the magic and fun about auctions that you really, you can never be fully prepared, and you never know who might be drawn in by the magic of the bidding, or who may decide to sit on their hands on that particular night. So the auctioneer has an incredibly important job of both watching the entire room, but also being in tune with the phone bidders listening and watching their slight clues as to, you know, I might have someone engaged, watching their hand symbol ploy. Right. That is exactly somebody. And we don't know who they are, but they are. They pull up their finger and say, wait. Exactly. So I think it's something where it's hard to put into two words or data, but it's that synergy amongst the team. And something you and I talked a little bit about in the past is that relationship amongst the members of our team that we really know each other well and we really enjoy working together. And I think you really need to have that camaraderie and knowledge of each other so that we can react in real time. The auctioneer also has to be watching the bidders online, so those big screens in the back of the room allow the auctioneer to be aware of people who may be bidding online. And Christie's has seen a great uptick in terms of online bidding, in our sales, which is really exciting. We had to do a lot of pivoting in the, you know, to bring in digital aspects to our sales. And it's a great way to bring in even more bidders. And how did how did that pivot to was that Covid? we've always had online bidding capabilities, but Covid really sort of threw the old model out and introduced a new, new way of thinking about our auctions. So in sort of March of 2020, when things were shutting down and Christie's couldn't hold live sales, it was a really challenging moment for us because bringing people together for the auction has always been a key part of our model. But I was really impressed with how the team handled that situation and quickly rallied together and came up with this concept that we called one. It was the first global relay sale. So we had auctioneers, in four locations New York, Paris, London and Hong Kong. And they sold works without any bidders in the room, and all sort of through live feeds. So we had auctions going on in all four sale rooms. It was incredible. How does that work with the energy? The energy in the room a lot of times comes from the people that are sitting in the room. If there's no one sitting in the room, how do you maintain that excitement? I certainly agree with you that the energy in the room can have a huge impact. But we've found ways to amp up the drama through digital tools as well. So during that time we really increased our production value. So we did have telephone bidders and we really turned it into more of a production, to make sure that that drama was really felt for the people bidding online or over the phone. We've introduced a few other sort of new and exciting things. So large LED screens in our sale rooms that allow video components to come in, as well as dramatic lighting. So I don't know if you noticed during the Monet sale, but one thing that's really fun to point to is we use sort of color and light to announce a key moment in the sale. So the entire room was bathed in this beautiful violet light at the time of the Monet sale. So it indicated to bidders like, this is something to pay attention to. Special. Yeah, I remember that because yeah, we did make a huge difference. Yeah. The the crowds sort of got quiet and they were kind of looking around very expectantly. Exactly. You engineer that. And one more fun fact. I just, I thought, it's really fun to mention in terms of just celebrating auction years here at Christie's is we are committed to gender parity in our auctioneer. So all of our evening sales are 5050, split between male and female auctioneers now at Christie's. Super. Yeah. What kind of audience are you seeing buying art. Has that shifted at all? Is it is it all a certain age group? you know, one of the things that's really interesting about working at Christie's is, of course, we have our known collectors. We also work with members of the trade. And as you know well, museums and institutions. But we really are seeing changes in those demographics. Christie's just came out with our sort of half year results last week, and saw that 24% of our buyers and bidders in 2024 thus far have been millennials or younger or millennials or younger. Exactly. So it really speaks to Bank. Exactly. We hope so. And only growing room for growth. So it's a really exciting time to be in this market. Of course, it's very international. My role specifically focuses on the Americas, but I work in close contact with my colleagues, both in Europe and Asia all the time. So there is so much planning and meticulous attention to every detail, but I'm sure things don't always go as planned, right? Of course, what I would tell me about some time that something totally unexpected happened and what you did. my goodness, there's many things we could talk about today. I know, I know, you know, I do really think about I mentioned a little bit that one auction. So when when Covid happened and we couldn't bring our bidders together, we, we really had to change the model of how we were thinking about not only holding our sales, but reaching out to our clients. And one of the things I was really excited to be a part of was within the museum community, we helped set up a lot of zoom programs, as well as, digital forums for bringing people together to just talk. And we heard that that's something that really spread throughout the museum community. And there were lots of sort of gatherings over zoom of different members of the institutional community. And that's really something we committed to across Christie's. So not only holding our auctions in a new digital way, but also reaching our clients in new ways. And again, as you saw, that's really allowed us to change our models. So that now it's not just the live auction that matters, it's that full digital production. Something I heard the other day that just blew my mind was we had over 4 million people tuned in for our Paul Allen auction, last fall. So think about how many people are in the room. I think 250. We had 4 million other people who are tuning in to witness the drama of that sale, and I think that is just hugely exciting. That was at the fall of 2022. And and that number has only continued. You know, people are now engaged. They're looking to Christie's for sort of the digital content that we're putting out. And that's a really exciting place to be in. That is exciting. Yeah. Does it ever get old? I mean, is it always I can't imagine that. It's a thrill every single time. Honestly, it truly is, because every season we have new consignments, new property that's coming in, new stories to be told. And that to me, is what gets me up and excited and out of bed every day is there is going to be some new treasure to uncover. And how can we think about that in a new, exciting way? And hopefully it sparks that joy of learning and engaging with the art with a new audience and that next collector that we're looking to reach. You did the Elton John sale. Yeah. So that that was one of the other ones I was thinking about, because that was quite a long process. And working through how do we present that in a way that really stays true to Elton John, the man, the performer, but also the art collector and that sort of lesser known area of his life? So we had a sale of the contents of his Atlanta home. And it was really such a fun moment because we had everything from the art collection to a car and his silver sparkly boots. We just went crazy. I don't remember the final number, but oh my goodness, it was just such a great sale to be a part of, and kind of took me back to. One of the earliest sales I had at Christie's, was the collection of Elizabeth Taylor back in 2011. Again, just a really fun moment where the entire building was transformed and taken over. We had her closet recreated in one space, her wardrobe and another, and of course, her incredible art. So we've really had a lot of fun moments in my time here has been a lot of creativity. It certainly does. And you've had such, a lot of different types of items. What would be the most amazing piece of art you could ever imagine being auctioned at Christie's? I get asked a version of that question a lot, and I say it's like trying to pick which of your children is your favorite? Which I never like to do. It depends. It does depend on the day. And there have been so many, but I truly have to say that I'm really fortunate in my role now that I get to do what I love most, which is support institutions. So when I get to share the mission of a great museum or nonprofit and help spread the word about them to to not only the Americas, but also, you know, far beyond, nothing gives me great or pleasure and really helping in a time when, unfortunately, art organizations are not getting the funding or the PR that they deserve really help shine a light on that. It was such critical aspect of our culture. So excellent. Excellent. Well, Samantha, thank you so much for welcoming us into Christie's. Thank you. So I wish I wish you would stay longer. I want to live vicariously through you just for another week. You've been listening to Art bites, a podcast from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I'm Kathleen Layton. See you next time. Much fun. Oh, how was that? About 40 minutes, Oh my goodness. Amazing. I feel like it flew by. You're fantastic. Oh my gosh. Woo! It's warm in here. You don't need to be media trained. Oh no. You're you're kind. Oh my goodness I like. The more we were talking the more I was like, oh I wish I had said that. Or I thought about that. Oh no. It's that. But I hope there was some fun stuff in there. For real fun stuff. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Oh my gosh, my pleasure. It was a lot of fun. And we got it all right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That was it. Painless. It's near so easy. No, you're Samantha Jones I know, right? I I'm sorry, I do PR, I cannot unknow that. I'm glad you do. There's so funny because, you know, it's been a while. So there are not that many people like Christie's that still know my secret. Other identities. So what, staying here, would you do you love the role you have or. I do, I do, you know, I really, this is a role I've dreamed about for a long time and, took over during the pandemic. So it was like, it's such an interesting time to be thinking, you know, differently. Specifically focusing on nonprofit work. I think if I hadn't moved into this full year, I would have eventually moved into a nonprofit. More so now I get to help. Yeah. So much. Really. It is very exciting and meaningful. And yeah, we'll have more sales in the fall, certainly not for the Nelson-Atkins, but another nonprofit that also need some money. So it's it's good stuff. That's wonderful. Yeah. Well thank you. Yeah. We're done. Amazing. Okay. Got you guys. Anything else? You go. I don't think so. I think we're just going to pack up. Is there anything on view now that we should. You're you're carrying a client moment where we actually. August is one of the few times.