This is some exciting news - de PURY will present a new series of curated auctions that will be a game changing event from a market perspective. The inaugural auction, WOMEN- Art in Times of Chaos, will present artworks by some of our favorite women artists including; Claudia Comte, Chloe Wise, Alison Zuckerman and Genieve Figgis, many of which we have interviewed here. Each has been invited to participate by offering an artwork of their choice created no earlier than 2019.

For the first time it will be the artists themselves, and the galleries who represent them, who will receive the proceeds from an auction of works that appear for the first time on the market. The curated auction will differentiate itself from any other contemporary auctions in the following ways: 

• 100% of the Hammer Price will go to the artist and the gallery that represents them, according to the percentage agreement they have between themselves.

• 18% Buyer's Premium, charged on top of the hammer price, will be payable by the purchasers.

• 3% (of the Hammer Price) will be deducted from the Buyer’s Premium and paid out to ‘UN Women’, the United Nations organisation that is the largest women’s charity in the world and delivers programmes, policies and standards that uphold women's human rights. Each subsequent curated auction will donate 3% in the same way to a different charity that will be identified in relation to the theme of the sale.

• Buyers will commit to not reselling the artwork for a period of 3 years.

• The identity of the successful buyers as well as the identities of the under-bidders for each work will be shared with the artist and the gallery representing them - thereby providing them crucial market data, which they usually do not have access to when a work of theirs appears at auction.

• There will be no printed catalogue nor any printed materials, making the initiative more environmentally friendly.

• The artworks will travel only once. The works do not need to leave the artist’s studio or storage until they are sold and paid for, as it will be a virtual exhibition and auction – again making the initiative more environmentally friendly.

• The curated auction will be hosted online by an avatar of Simon de Pury conducting the auction live.

Simon de Pury says

Whilst compiling a list of the contemporary artists I most admire today, I realized that the vast majority of them are women. In recent years the art market and the art world, more generally, have finally begun to correct the chronic under appreciation of the seminal contributions made by women artists. The red-hot demand for young women artists at auction is precisely the motivation behind this new initiative, ‘WOMEN – Art in Times Of Chaos’. These newly set record prices have benefitted the collectors who had been lucky enough to buy those works on the primary market and are now cashing in. Our approach with this new series is to cut out this speculation and to have the artists, as well as the dealers who champion their work, be the main financial beneficiaries.

Chloe Wise, Feelings For You. Courtesy of the artist

The online exhibition will be live on de-PURY.com from August 5, with the auction taking place on August 25