Recruitment

Personnel changes are afoot in the silver departments of two of London’s major auction houses.

Following the decision of Thames Valley estate agents Simmons and Son to concentrate upon their core business, a new firm of fine art auctioneers and valuers has been established in Watlington.

LAPADA have appointed Rebecca Hossack of London’s Rebecca Hossack Gallery (RHG) as a director. The Australian-born dealer in Contemporary pictures, sculpture, jewellery and decorative arts is the first Contemporary specialist to join the association’s board.

François Tajan, who quit as chairman of Tajan SA, the firm founded by his father Jacques, at the end of March, has joined Paris rivals ArtCurial.

Baroness Rawlings of Burnham Westgate has accepted the invitation of the British Antique Dealers’ Association to become their new president. She will replace Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville who has filled the role since 1995.

TWO long-term directors of auctioneers Rosebery's are to leave southeast London to pursue a career offering antiques themed breaks from a Pyrenean château.

THE management team of IFAE’s Palm Beach shows is to take on new responsibilities as Lorenzo Rudolf takes on a new role in the organisation.

LAST week I reported how Kensington porcelain specialist Simon Spero was moving following the termination of his lease.

François Tajan, chairman and principal auctioneer of Tajan SA, France’s leading auction firm for many years, is quitting the company and will leave at the end of April.

VISCOUNT Linley has joined Christie’s as a non-executive director.

The venerable Mayfair dealership The Fine Art Society, whose Bond Street premises are currently undergoing stage two of a refurbishment, has announced two youthful appointments to its board of directors.

Edinburgh dealer John Dixon of Georgian Antiques has joined the LAPADA board of directors.

SMS texting is the latest innovation for matching candidates with new career opportunities in the art and antiques trade.

CHRISTIE'S have strengthened their photography and 20th century design team by appointing Joshua Holdeman, formerly international director of photographs at Phillips, de Pury & Co.

THE country’s premier dedicated trade jewellery show International Jewellery London has appointed Alison Marshall as their new organising manager.

UK: BONHAMS are advertising for a new managing director for their Knightsbridge rooms following the announcement that James Knight is now to head their Bond Street operation. The vacancy has been created as part of a wider reshuffle to allow group managing director Malcolm Barber to concentrate on building business in the United States.

John van Schaik, managing director of Sotheby’s Amsterdam, has chosen to step down from his current position at the end of this year. Instrumental in developing Sotheby’s Amsterdam from a local Dutch operation into Sotheby’s main continental auction house, turning over €50m in 2003, Mr van Schaik oversaw a period of major growth and the move of operations from the centre of Amsterdam to its current premises in the south of the Dutch capital.

JOHN Newgas has announced his decision to step down as chief executive of LAPADA, the Association of Art and Antiques Dealers, at the end of December.

Sotheby’s have appointed their current German chief, Philipp Wurttemberg, to succeed Laure de Beauvau Craon as head of Sotheby’s France. M. Wurttemberg will start in the job in January 2004, while continuing as managing director of Sotheby’s Germany, a post he has held since 1999.

Fontainebleau auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat, 57, has replaced ArtCurial’s Hervé Poulain as head of France’s auctioneers’ association, the Syndicat National des Maisons de Ventes Volontaires (SYMEV).