In order to accomplish this story on the members of Christie’s and Sotheby’s photo department, Gilles Decamps had the idea to ask every one of the subjects to pose with their favorite photo in the auction they were heading. Here are the results.
Philippe Garner
International Director
London, King Street
With a career spanning over thirty years in auction houses, Mr. Garner is responsible for developing long-term business strategies and cultivating Christie’s relationships with collectors, clients and museums. In 1971, he was instrumental in introducing photographs to auction, when he catalogued and coordinated the first ground breaking sale. Mr. Garner was also crucial in expanding the field of 20th Century Decorative Arts & Design. He has directed a variety of prestigious sales, including The Art Nouveau and Art Deco Collection of Elton John (London, 1988); the Ritman Collection of Fine Art Nouveau & Symbolist Jewels (Geneva, 1995); and The Seagram Collection of Photographs (New York, 2003). Mr. Garner has published numerous books, articles and essays on decorative arts, design and photography. He has curated a number of museum exhibitions at locations such as the Hôtel de Sully in Paris and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
Joshua Holdeman
International Director
Americas
Since 2006, Josh Holdeman has been a Senior Vice President in the Post-War & Contemporary Art, Photographs and 20th Century Decorative Art & Design departments. In this role and in partnership with Philippe Garner, he has helped make Christie’s a force in photography and 20th century art. During his tenure, Christie’s introduced several new artists to the auction market and established world auction records for many important artists, including Prouvé, Mollino, Bugatti, Penn, Eggelston and Horst. His keen eye and incredible enthusiasm for art of the 20th century, be it photographs, design, fine art or architecture, have made him a trusted advisor to collectors around the world. Prior to joining Christie’s, Mr. Holdeman was the International Director of Photographs at another major auction house. He spent nearly 10 years as an associate at contemporary art gallery Robert Miller, and was named head of their Photography department in 1999. Mr. Holdeman earned both his Art History B.A. and Painting B.F.A. from Bates College in Maine.
Jamie Krass
Senior Vice President, Director
20th Century Art and Photographs
New York
As Director of both 20th Century Art and Photographs at Christie’s, Jamie Krass is responsible for client development, business-getting and market expansion within these two fast-paced, cutting edge areas of the art market. Recent successes of his include the world-record setting sales Three Decades with Irving Penn and the Constantiner Collection, which follow the past triumphs of Segoura and The Collection of Robin Roberts, amongst others. As well as leading these teams, Jamie advises many of Christie’s most important collectors in both auction and private transactions. Mr. Krass, who holds a B.A in Art History from Hobart College, joined Christie’s in 1995. He is a renowned auctioneer, having sold many of the firm’s highest profile sales, and his work has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Newsweek.
Stuart Alexander
Senior Specialist
New York
Leading the New York specialist team, Stuart Alexander brings to this role over thirty years of experience in photography beginning in museums, most notably at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona where he earned his M.A. in Art History. As an independent curator and scholar based in Paris, then New York, he published widely and organized numerous exhibitions with major international publishers, collections and museums.
Recognized as the leading authority on the work of Brassaï and Robert Frank, his expertise has been instrumental in such successful sales as Photographies: Collection Claude Berri (Paris, 2005), Important Photographs from a Private American Collection (New York, 2007) and Avedon: Photographies provenant de la Fondation Richard Avedon (Paris, 2010). Adept at working internationally, Stuart has been instrumental in establishing world auction records for Eugène Atget, Man Ray, Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson among others.
Laura Paterson
Specialist
New York
Laura Paterson, who joined Christie’s in 1994, is responsible for appraisals and estimating photographic works for auctions, creating and editing sales catalogues, and coordinating the department’s various sales. Ms. Paterson is a native of the United Kingdom and prior to joining Christie’s New York, she worked at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the University of Edinburgh. Ms. Paterson earned a Master of Arts degree in Art History in 1982 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management in 1990, both from the University of Edinburgh.
Elizabeth Eichholz
Specialist
New York
Elizabeth Eichholz has been a member of the Photographs department at Christie’s since 2007. She is responsible for researching and cataloguing photographs to be offered at auction, as well as preparing auction estimates and insurance values for appraisals.
During her time with Christie’s Photographs, she has been involved with numerous important sales, including Icons of Glamour & Style: The Constantiner Collection, The Miller-Plummer Collection of Photographs, and most recently, Three Decades with Irving Penn: Photographs from the Collection of Patricia McCabe.
Elizabeth holds her Masters of Arts in Modern Art, Connoisseurship and the History of the Art Market from Christie’s Education in New York. Her undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree was completed at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Matthieu Humery
Specialist Head of Sale
Paris
Matthieu Humery was appointed Vice President and Specialist Head of Sale of the Photographs Department for Christie’s New York in 2007. During his tenure at Christie’s, Mr. Humery has overseen the sales of the Fremont Collection, the Elfering Collection and the Collection of Bruce and Nancy Berman’s Photographs by Diane Arbus (part I) and William Eggleston (part II). In the Spring of 2008 the Photographs Department achieved the most successful season of sales for any Photographs auction week, and established world records for works by Irving Penn’s Cuzco Children, 1948, which achieved $529,000, and Henri Cartier-Bresson Hyeres, France, 1932, which sold for $265,000. In the Fall of 2008 Mr. Humery orchestrated Christie’s first ever sale of Contemporary Photographs, which set world records for artists Alec Soth and Louise Lawler. Prior to Christie’s Mr. Humery worked from 2001 until 2005 in Paris and New York as a Specialist in Photographs, Contemporary Art & 20th Century Design and has since been consultant to numerous organizations, notably the Magnum Agency, the Luma Foundation and the Watermill Foundation/Robert Wilson Art Collection. Mr. Humery holds Masters Degrees in Art History from both the Free University in Berlin as well as the Sorbonne, where he is currently working towards his PhD.
Elodie Morel
Specialist
Paris
Alexander Montague-Sparey
Specialist, Head of Sale
London, King Street
As Specialist Head of Sale, Alexander Montague-Sparey is responsible for all London Photographs sales. Since his tenure at Christie’s, Mr. Montague-Sparey has been responsible for sales including the 100% sold collection of the late Norman Hall in May 2010, which included Self-portrait, Cuzco Studio, 1948 by Irving Penn, offered for the first time at auction, as well as the single owner collection of Jeanloup Sieff, where the world auction record was achieved for the artist with Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, 1971. Prior to Christie’s, Mr. Montague-Sparey worked at another major auction house, overseeing an international selling exhibitions programme of contemporary art, design and photographs, working with photographers such as Mario Testino, Annie Leibovitz, and the Guy Bourdin estate, curating the latter’s first retrospective commercial show, Unseen.
Alexander earned his M.A. in History of Art from the University of Oxford, where he specialised in 19th Century French art and architecture. He also holds a B.A. in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Durham. Alexander was born in Geneva, Switzerland where he grew up before moving to France and the UK. He is a native French speaker.
