Christie’s four-venue “global 20th century art sale” replaced the company’s live evening auctions of contemporary, Impressionist and modern art in New York in May and in London in June. It followed Sotheby’s pioneering live-streamed $363.2 million “clicks and bricks” auction on June 29, and an equivalent hybrid offering at Phillips on July 2 that raised $41 million. The Covid-induced shift from live to online-only sales has severely dented turnover at the major auction houses. During the second quarter of 2020, Christie’s auction revenues were down 60 percent from the same period last year, according to the London art analytics company Pi-eX. Christie’s, like Sotheby’s and Phillips, has had to come up with compelling new auction formats to re-engage the 0.01 percent of the population that buys and sells big-ticket art.

Source: International New York Times July 10, 2020 21:45 UTC