In conversation with female auctioneer Lydia Fenet
Lydia Fenet is Managing Director, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships at Christie’s in New York. In her capacity as lead benefit auctioneer for the firm, she has led auctions for more than six hundred organizations and trains Christie’s charity auctioneers. She also lectures on « the Art of Selling » and speaks to groups about empowering women in the workplace. In 2019, she wrote her first book «The most powerful woman in the room is you ». Mentioned on The New York Times, Vogue, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal, Lydia is a strong woman that captivates any audience at any given time.
Could you tell me about you and your exceptional personal journey at Christies since more than 20 years?
I started working at Christie's as an intern during college. I was not familiar with the auction world before I took the internship, but after I finished all I wanted to do was secure a job at Christie's. I applied after I graduated from college and after a few months working in another department I was hired to work in the Special Events department.
Lydia Fenet, auctioneer, raised more than half a billion dollars for non-profits around the world, but she is also author of “The Most Powerful Woman In The Room Is You”.
What are the most impressive auction sales you have done?
The most exciting auction that I have taken was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It was the first charity art auction held to support children's art education in Saudi Arabia. It was an incredibly exciting moment personally, and the auction exceeded all expectations.
Sadik Alfraji, Soaring body, 2014.
Christie’s “Art for Al Balad” charity auction was held in Jeddah on June 26th 2019 and raised $1.3m for a new heritage museum in Jeddah’s Historical District and a children’s non-profit organisation The Help Center.
Are you a collector yourself? and what drives you as a collector?
One of the greatest lessons I learned working at Christie's is to collect what you like rather than what you think will grow in value. That way you will always have something you love on your wall. I love American abstract works.
Do you observe a raising trend among collectors at the moment? Is there a specific demand for a period area?
The trend in the art world right now is all about NFTs. Christie's had an amazing sale by the artist Beeple earlier this year that was a market maker for digital art. It has been amazing and really fun to watch the entire art world embrace this medium and try to predict what will happen next.
Everydays: The First 5000 Days is an NFT artwork created by Michael Winkelmann, a digital artist known as Beeple. The artwork auctioned at Christie’s on February 21, 2021 reached $69.3 millions.
What are women collecting most? And are their buying process or choice different than men?
Women collect everything! An exciting development in the past decade is women buying for themselves. When I first started at Christie's we always used to market art and luxury items to men. Now, we market to both men and women because both groups are collecting as couples or on their own.
How do you see women in this « mens world »?
Christie's has been incredible about elevating women into positions that were historically held by men in our firm. If you look at the number of women in senior positions, serving as auctioneers at the top sales, specialists within the highest grossing departments, they are amazing women. It has been incredible to watch this happen in the last decade.
In 20 years, which sectors will be leading the market?
I don't think the art that will be leading the market in 20 years has been created yet. As we saw with the rise of digital art in 2021, there are artists working in mediums that we don't even consider in the auction world - until we do. When I first started at Christie's in 1999 the Contemporary Art sale made about $7 million a year. Now, the sales make billions of dollars a year. The art and auction worlds are moving at the speed of light these days.
We have seen a strong interest for watches, what are the advantages for a buyer to buy from an Auction house like Christies instead or a regular dealer?
The most compelling reason to buy at auction is the global reach of the company. Christie's has been around for over 250 years and the strength of the brand allows us to reach the world's most important collectors who buy and sell through our platforms. In addition, we have rigorous standards for ensuring that collectors are purchasing goods that have been authenticated.
And what are the major sectors that might suffer from a lack of interest and lead to price reduction?
Most collecting categories have a time when there is great interest and other times when the interest is not there because of changing trends in the market. As long as you buy what you love you won’t be beholden to the trends in the market.