When A Alfred Taubman, the chairman of Sotheby's, was convicted of leading a price-fixing scheme with Christie's and sent to prison in 2002, the scandal rocked the elite auction world and reverberated throughout Manhattan. He left under a cloud.
What a difference a few years (and $500 million worth of connoisseur art) make. Now, Sotheby's is celebrating Taubman - who died in April at 91 - pulling out all the stops to promote the sale, beginning on November 4, of his extensive art collection, from old masters like Raphael to 20th-century masterworks by Modigliani, Matisse, Picasso, Schiele and de Kooning.
Sotheby's plan to augment its own fortunes depends, in part, on whether it can resurrect a positive image of Taubman that today's public may not recall: that of a legacy collector, an esteemed patron, and, as the catalogue calls him, "an American gentleman".
"This is a historic sale," said Simon Shaw, Sotheby's co-head of Impressionist and modern art worldwide. "There has never been a collection of this significance."
Sotheby's marketing efforts include a custom-printed banner around its Upper East Side headquarters featuring images of artworks in the collection as part of the presale exhibition.
Not only did Sotheby's fight hard to win the sale away from its archrival Christie's, but it fully guaranteed the sale for $500 million to the Taubman family.
Sotheby's hopes the sale, which includes more than 500 pieces spread across four dedicated auctions, ranks among the biggest, like Christie's $477 million Yves St Laurent sale in 2009, particularly since it has been losing ground to Christie's in postwar and contemporary art.
Moreover, the sale represents the first real test for Sotheby's president and chief executive, Tad Smith, who took over in March (promising shareholders that he would make judicious use of guarantees to sellers).
The stakes are also high for the Taubman family, which not only wants to make as much as possible (proceeds will go toward estate taxes and a private foundation), but to affirm its patriarch's legacy as a respected collector.
"If I could dream of anything out of the auction, it is that one day they'll talk about Taubman as a provenance - the way we talk about Thannhauser or Havemeyer or Gould," said Taubman's son William, 56, in a recent interview at the auction house. "That would be a great tribute to my father."
Some collectors and dealers say the collection has been overhyped, that Taubman often bought pieces at the low estimate that would not otherwise have sold - partly as a favour to Sotheby's specialists who asked for his help.
But Smith said Sotheby's did not overpay, nor is it excessively exposed in having guaranteed the sale. And others say Taubman chose well over his more than 60 years of amassing pieces by artists ranging from Dalí to Degas. "The quality of the collection is outstanding," said James Corcoran, the longtime Los Angeles dealer who sold several pieces to Taubman. "It's going to make the mark for this year - to decide how strong the art market is."
Among the highlights are two Rothkos (each estimated at $20 million to $30 million), a de Kooning ($25 million to $35 million) and four Picassos (one of which is estimated at $25 million to $35 million).
During his 22 years as Sotheby's principal owner, Taubman transformed the auction business from one directed at dealers and gallerists to one that targeted collectors.
His long history with Sotheby's would make the auction house seem like the obvious resting place for Taubman's collection - particularly since his son Robert is on the board and his stepdaughter, Tiffany Dubin, works there as a vice-president.
The auction house has tried to recreate the feeling of the Taubman home in designing its exhibition, giving the rooms domestic scale - in particular one meant to feel like a Park Avenue living room - "so they can understand just how it's going to look in their homes," William said.
"It's a collection my father put together," he said. "What you see is the personal collection of an individual."
© 2015 The New York Times News Service
