Taubman's record $700m trove at Sotheby's tests art market

By Katya Kazakina
Updated September 4 2015 - 6:08pm, first published 5:34pm
A. Alfred Taubman started his business with a $US5000 loan in 1950, buying auction house Sotheby's 33 years later. Photo: Sotheby's
A. Alfred Taubman started his business with a $US5000 loan in 1950, buying auction house Sotheby's 33 years later. Photo: Sotheby's

A. Alfred Taubman, who died in April at 91, was best known as the billionaire chairman of Sotheby's who transformed the genteel auctioneer into an international powerhouse and went to prison after being convicted of fixing prices with rival Christie's.

Less is known about Taubman, the collector. That's about to change.

Sotheby's on Thursday said it will offer more than 500 works amassed by Taubman over more than 50 years, ranging from antiquities to contemporary art, in four stand-alone auctions, starting on November 4. The group is valued at more than $US500 million ($713 million), the highest estimate ever for a private collection at auction, according to the auction house.

"He was a self-made man and his collection was put together with his own eye," said Simon Shaw, co-head of Sotheby's Impressionist and modern art department worldwide. "While he is a very well-known figure, he is not known as a collector. It will be a surprise for people."

The first sale, "Masterworks," will launch two weeks of semi-annual November auctions in New York. The Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary sales at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips will be the biggest test of the art market following the turmoil in the financial markets.

Picasso, de Kooning

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