Bonhams has made three new staff appointments – including a specialist to head up the contemporary art department in London. The trio of hires are among the first made since the auction house was acquired by private equity group Epiris in September.
Clémence Tasiaux is the new head of department for post-war and contemporary art in London. A former deputy director at Sotheby’s, she subsequently joined the art advisory and brokerage firm Alcacer, advising high net worth individuals on their collections. Bonhams’ global head of post-war and contemporary art, Ralph Taylor said she has “the perfect qualities to help build on the exponential growth we have enjoyed during the past five years.” Tasiaux will work alongside Epiris’ first major appointment (made at the end of 2018), Muys Snijders poached from Christie’s to head a post-war and contemporary art department in New York.
Further indication of Epiris’ vision for the auction house is the hiring of a chief technology officer. Chris Tolson, who was responsible for the IT delivery for online gambling firm Bet365 and previously worked as CTO for the telecommunications provider, NTT Europe, is tasked with leading “the global transformation of the digital landscape at Bonhams”.
Chris Tolson has joined Bonhams as chief technology officer.
In particular, he will “oversee the overhaul of the Bonhams” website and take the “digital experience across all platforms to the next stage”. Hitherto, Bonhams’ online-only offering has been relatively low key with around 15 sales conducted in 2018, the majority of them in the final months of the year.
Marie Lingenthal has joined Bonhams as its representative in northern Germany.
The third appointment announced this week is the arrival of Marie Lingenthal as Bonhams’ representative in northern Germany. Having previously worked in galleries in both New York and Hamburg, she will be based in Hamburg, acting as both a brand ambassador, arranging valuations and sourcing pieces throughout northern Germany to be offered in Bonhams salerooms in the US, London and Hong Kong.
Old Master hire for Christie’s France
Astrid Centner has joined Christie's in France. Image credit: ©Christie’s Images 2019.
Christie’s has hired Astrid Centner to become head of its Old Master & 19th century paintings department in Paris.
She was previously an art adviser and before that worked for Sotheby’s.
A graduate of the University of Brussels, she has published essays on artists including Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and has specialised in Flemish 17th century painting. In 2011 she rediscovered an unpublished painting by Sir Anthony van Dyck.
She will work closely with Christie’s international director Pierre Etienne and Bérénice Verdier, cataloguer for the Paris sales.
