Fair warning – The rise of the female auctioneer

Think of a fine art auctioneer, and you’ll probably conjure an image of a distinguished gentleman, (usually with a British accent and a tweed suit from Savile Row) wielding an auction gavel. Nonetheless, women, both worldwide and locally, are proverbially shattering the secondary art market’s glass ceiling with gavels of their own. Auction houses specialising in fine art and bespoke collector’s items are employing women in important roles such as chairpersons, directors, art specialists … and auctioneers.

Locally, fine art auction house Strauss & Co boasts a majority of female auctioneers. Joint-managing director Bina Genovese, executive director Susie Goodman, and Sophie-Louise Fröhlich, a specialist in decorative arts, are part of the worldwide phenomenon where female auctioneers are increasingly exerting their authority and expertise in a sector that was traditionally a male-dominated field.

They join trailblazers such as Tash Perrin, deputy chairperson at Christie’s, New York, who took the mega Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller sale in 2018, as well as Jacqueline Towers-Perkins, vice-president and director of contemporary art of Bonhams, New York, and Helena Newman, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and the auction house’s worldwide head of impressionist and modern art. As Lydia Fenet, managing director and global director of strategic partnerships at Christie’s indicates with the title of her book, in the auction world, a woman wielding a gavel is ‘the most powerful woman in the room’.

It took quite a while for auction houses to realise the power of female auctioneers. Christie’s, founded in 1766, waited more than two centuries before they trusted a female auctioneer to head up an evening sale, traditionally the session that includes the high-value lots and major draw cards. That honour fell to art specialist and auction house legend Anke Adler-Slottke, considered one of the doyennes in the global secondary art market, who first hammered down an evening sale in 1994.

In a year when the pandemic has forced businesses to pivot and reinvent themselves to stay relevant, Strauss & Co has achieved record sales and continues to distinguish itself as South Africa’s most successful art auction house. Most recently, they held a historic single artist sale dedicated to works by JH Pierneef, which achieved ‘white-glove’ status when every lot sold.

Goodman wielded the gavel during the second half of the four-hour sale and knocked down the evening sale’s top lot, Acacia in the Veld, which sold for R2.6 million, as well as several other big lots including the iconic work Bushveld Tree, which sold for R1.9 million.

Passion, Goodman says, along with a quest for knowledge, is essential for young women who are considering a career in the art auction world. “I love art – we have about 1 000 works of art in our offices at any given time – I get to share the stories with collectors, art lovers and artists. For me, it’s a privilege finding homes for the lots I’m auctioning off.”

Every day is different, it’s a career where you learn something new almost every day, Frolich concurs. She describes it as a career where aesthetics and history intersect. “It’s fascinating tracing the provenance of a lot that’s up for auction and discovering the value that it may hold.” And nothing can touch the excitement of being the auctioneer when those lots come up for sale. “When I’m standing behind that rostrum, it feels like I am on stage. I love the thrill of it,” Fröhlich confirms.

Genovese, who worked with Christie’s in Rome, has now been in the art auction sector for more than three decades. She hammered down the 2017 world record for a work by JH Pierneef, Farm Jonkershoek with Twin Peaks Beyond, Stellenbosch, which sold for R20.46 million. She says she would choose the same path if she were only starting her career today. “It’s such a privilege to work in an industry that is so rich in history, culture and lived experience. And as art auctioneers and specialists in a rapidly globalising sector, we are constantly innovating and researching as trends shift and change, and new collectors come to the market with different tastes and expectations.

“When I step onto the rostrum, I must admit that I feel a jolt of adrenaline, followed by a knot in my stomach. It doesn’t go away, and it’s a rollercoaster of emotions as you stand there, gavel in hand. You experience excitement, energy, disappointment, I can’t explain the range and depth of emotions when you are up there on the podium, but I wouldn’t change it for anything” she concludes.