Promoting Art and Auctions

Not really appraisal related, but I found the artnet news article interesting in ways Sotheby's is attempting to promote interest in fine art, particularly to younger generations. artnet news reports Sotheby's has partnered with Highsnobiety website to sell clothes with images of fine art from an Old Masters sale. The concept is interesting, but I am not sure promoting street clothes with Old Master works will be effective, but perhaps another art sector might be better. In any event, it shows some of the newer and different marketing approaches being used to identify and draw new collectors.

artnet news reports

Of all the mythical beings depicted in Old Master paintings, the hype beast wasn’t one of them. But old school is meeting the Flemish and Dutch schools in a new collection of limited-edition streetwear produced by Sotheby’s and the style brand Highsnobiety.

The collection of shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies—which will be released on Highsnobiety’s website on January 20—are emblazoned with images of art included in Sotheby’s upcoming January Old Masters auctions. The clothes, priced between €65 ($72) for t-shirts, €105 ($117) for crewneck sweatshirts, and €125 ($139) for hoodies, feature Italian, Dutch and Flemish works, from a 16th-century depiction skeleton astride a coffin to the serene mythical beauty of Ginevra Cantofoli’s A Sea-Nymph. The designs will also be available for purchase at a pop-up store at Selfridges in London.

At first glance, the hip brand and august auction house are strange bedfellows. Highsnobiety focuses largely on street art and skater culture—if they cover Sotheby’s, it’s most likely to report on a sale of Supreme skateboards.

But Old Masters might be having a larger fashion moment—at least, the auction houses hope so. In 2018, Gucci released an Old Master-inspired collection, leading Christie’s to declare that Old Masters were “back in fashion.”

Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time Sotheby’s has taken a novel approach to marketing the field. In late 2018, the auction house partnered with Victoria Beckham on “The Female Triumphant,” a sale of female master painters, and even displayed a selection of paintings in Beckham’s Dover Street store. It has also teamed up with Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti to promote a presentation of work by an Old Master with the same name. 

David Fischer, Highsnobiety’s CEO, said the partnership hopes to draw new kinds of collectors to Sotheby’s— those who “never dreamed of owning this art.” At the same time, he also enjoys “surprising our audience with partnerships and collaborations that they would not expect every day.”

David Pollack, Sotheby’s senior vice president and specialist for Old Master paintings, said the collection is “an opportunity to showcase Old Master paintings as remarkably modern, graphic works of art that can be enjoyed outside their mythological or historical context.”

Source: artnet news 

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