This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Brown chapter.
With a single-breasted bouclé sports jacket tapered at the waist and a curl falling across the centre of his forehead, Tobias Meyer is as suave and cunning as Don Draper, but his business is auctioning. Currently the Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art at the auction house Sotheby’s, Meyer is undoubtedly one of the most recognized figures in the art world today.
For those of us (like myself) who only occasionally dip into this world during the much needed breaks from the SciLi, Meyer’s primary role as an auctioneer is to identify which works to sell, and from there, persuade collectors to raise their paddles and bid against each other. His considerable charm backed with a relentless business mind has racked up millions of dollars in sales over the past few years. His most recent notorious sale: in 2004, he managed to sell Picasso’s Boy with Pipe for a whopping $104 million.
Born in Vienna, Austria, Meyer attended his first auction at age fourteen. Thirteen years later, he became the youngest person to take the auctioneer’s podium at the venerable auction house’s Contemporary Art department in London. Currently fluent in German, French and English, Meyer’s wide range of skills and perfection of ingratiating small talk (schmoozing) have gained him worldwide recognition. Known as the “James Bond of the Art Market,” Meyer has perfected the craft of gauging cliental interest, a skill that has claimed him dominant control over the current international market.
He has the keen ability to survey the current trends of interests of our society and devise a market of the hottest collections before half of us realize what’s “in.” Deemed “Seller of the Century” by the London Evening Standard, Meyer is responsible for two of the most expensive paintings sold in auction history, including the price ever paid for postwar art: Francis Bacon’s Triptych, 1976, which sold for $86.3 million in Sotheby’s Evening Sale in May 2008.
Born in Vienna, Austria, Meyer attended his first auction at age fourteen. Thirteen years later, he became the youngest person to take the auctioneer’s podium at the venerable auction house’s Contemporary Art department in London. Currently fluent in German, French and English, Meyer’s wide range of skills and perfection of ingratiating small talk (schmoozing) have gained him worldwide recognition. Known as the “James Bond of the Art Market,” Meyer has perfected the craft of gauging cliental interest, a skill that has claimed him dominant control over the current international market.
He has the keen ability to survey the current trends of interests of our society and devise a market of the hottest collections before half of us realize what’s “in.” Deemed “Seller of the Century” by the London Evening Standard, Meyer is responsible for two of the most expensive paintings sold in auction history, including the price ever paid for postwar art: Francis Bacon’s Triptych, 1976, which sold for $86.3 million in Sotheby’s Evening Sale in May 2008.
As Watson is to science and Alexander McQueen is to fashion, Tobias Meyer is the Big Kahuna of the contemporary art auction world, and his talent has a market value that cannot be outbid.