Special relationship

For the past 20 years or more the auction houses have been doing their utmost to wrest the retail art market out of the hands of the dealers. Few would disagree that they have had considerable success. In taking over Sotheby’s in 1983, the Detroit shopping mall billionaire Alfred Taubman saw what he called ‘a unique marketing opportunity’ in transforming what was essentially an up-market but loss-making wholesale operation — the majority of saleroom buyers were dealers — into a glamorous retail business.