Chrisite's Looks Toward China

The Wall Street Journal has an interview with François Curiel, president of the auction houses Asian operations. Curiel was sent to China earlier this year with the mission to build a strong auction operations and become the auctioneer of choice for China. The introduction mentions the two bronze animal heads Christie's auctioned which caused some reason for concern between China and Chrisite's. But from the interview with Curie, Christie's is ready to be culturally sensitive to the needs of the Chinese and also build a foundation of specialist who can communicate easier with the Chinese.

Overall an interesting article and interview on how a large auction house plans on competing and growing in China.

WSJ: How will you tap the Chinese market?

Mr. Curiel: Part of my job is to make it easier for mainland Chinese buyers to come to us by having more Chinese speakers, more Chinese representatives. I want to help our Chinese clients understand that it can be a dialogue with our experts. It's a long process of education. Also, do we grow organically or do we buy an auction house and develop it? Do we do a joint venture? And how do we deal with the two centers of Beijing and Hong Kong? We had the same question in Paris when we opened there in 2000. Until then, all art sourced in Paris was sent to New York or London. But the answer was there was enough for Paris, London and New York. Same will happen here. The pie becomes bigger.

WSJ: How will the competition in China affect your business?

Mr. Curiel: It's extremely important. There are 400 auction houses in China, and maybe 20 are doing more than $50 million a year and five are doing more than $150 million a year. That's very helpful. In France, the No.3 auction house does about $80 million and No. 4 is $20 million.

WSJ: Are you concerned about a bubble in Chinese art?

Mr. Curiel: I don't think there's a bubble around Chinese art. It might come if those who made a lot of money out of real estate or selling their companies suddenly have less money. That's what I'm worried about. I think we still have a long way to go before the Chinese market slows down.

To read the full WSJ article, click HERE. (Many articles on the WSJ journal are only accessible for subscribers, sometimes the link might open the full article to those who do not subscribe, sometimes it might as for you to subscribe to the WSJ, not sure which will happen, hopefully the complete article and interview opens).