Reporting €127 million ($166 million) in sales in 2011, Artcurial is still in the shadow of those great beasts Christie's and Sotheby's, with €199 million ($260 million) and €190 million ($249 million) in sales in France in 2011, respectively. But Artcurial boasts the highest sales of the France-based auction houses, and posted its best results ever this year, citing a 23 percent increase in sales figures in 2011, with 17,800 lots sold. The firm was founded in 2001, after France passed a law that opened up the auction market to new companies, an even which also allowed Sotheby's and Christie's to hang out their shingles in the country.
In 2011, Artcurial sold seven works that passed the million-euro mark ($1.4 million), including Nicolas de Staël's "Nu Couché" ("Reclining Nude"), €7,030,000 ($9.4 million), a world auction record for the artist; Lyonel Feininger's "Hafen von Swinemünde" ("Port of Swinemünde"), €5,775,000 ($8.2 million); Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Santo," €2,634,800 ($3.5 million), a record for a European sale of the artist's work; Jean Prouvé's "Structure Nomade," €1,830,400 ($2.5 million); and Jacques Majorelle's "Le Kasbah Rouge," €1,315,800 ($1.9 million), a world auction record for the artist. The company has hired Jiayi Li, formerly of the Marlborough Gallery, to intensify its presence in China in 2012. The firm also has offices in Milan and Brussels.
The art market is "a very small niche, but it benefits from a very important audience," Artcurial co-president Francis Briest said at a recent presentation about the company's year-end results. "It's a market of seduction.... Our sales are guided by the objects, the rare works of art, that are sought out like a hunt for truffles." Artcurial was the first French auction house to sell comic books, according to co-president François Tajan. "Wine and collectible cars are also different entrance doors for new clients," Tajan added. The auction house is also known for its Hermès vintage sale, in which nostalgic grandmothers looking for classic scarves rub elbows with buyers for billionaire collectors.
While the financial crisis has affected many sectors in France and worldwide, the art market has remained strong. Paris, naturally, is the center of the French auction world, although, interestingly, Toulouse was the location of the two most expensive items sold at auction in France this year, both at sales run by provincial auction houses: a Qianlong scroll sold by auctioneer Marc Labarbe fetched €22,057,760 ($31.2 million) and a Qianlong seal achieved €12,393,000 ($17.5 million) at a sale by the firm of Chassaing-Marambat.