Yahoo Movies A Christie's art expert on how to balance creativity and commerciality
Katharine Arnold has always been something of an all-rounder. She studied geography at the University of Oxford and did a master’s degree in international relations and affairs at the LSE, but maintained her strong interest in the arts throughout. So perhaps it was no surprise that after two years working on the trading floor at Merrill Lynch between 2007 and 2009, she found herself missing the opportunity to exercise her creative muscle, and went to the Courtauld for a year-long course in art history, before taking a job in research at Christie’s. “I suddenly found there was a way to combine the commercial side of my mind with my passion for art,” she says.
She has since worked her way up from trainee to specialist in post-war and contemporary art, eventually taking on the leadership of the department in 2019 – a role that involves curating and running sales of billions of pounds worth of masterpieces by artists from Jeff Koons to Yayoi Kusama. It is the opportunity to handle precious objects that continues to keep her motivated, says Arnold. “Take Tracey Emin’s My Bed, which we sold in 2014 – every time she installs that piece, she really does make the bed herself… so interacting with it feels a bit like spending that time in bed with Tracey!”
Here, Arnold shares her lessons in leadership as one of the auction industry’s most prominent women…
The three most important qualities for a good leader are…
First, a good commercial understanding of our business – we sold £4 billion worth of art in the first half of the year alone, so my financial background has proven invaluable. Second, a certain sensitivity towards the visual arts – I may not have any great talent as an artist myself, but I have an ability to intuit what an artwork is about, which I can then use to convey my enthusiasm for it to someone else. And third, diplomacy, because sometimes there are very sensitive issues to deal with when liaising with clients.
My personal strength as a leader is…
Empathy. It’s sometimes seen as a bit of a soft skill, but having it allows me not only to connect with colleagues and artworks, but also, fundamentally, with clients – sensing their emotions and hopefully navigating them towards sales.
The biggest priority for my business right now is…
Showing different kinds of art and opening people’s eyes to new things. As a tastemaker in the art world, we want to show more women artists – as we did in our June evening sale, in which 48 per cent of the living artists featured were female – and those from different cultural backgrounds. For instance, this month, we’re showing Robert Devereux’s collection of contemporary African art, which we hope will really boost knowledge and understanding of the incredible artists coming from that continent. The other priority for us is embracing new technologies. We’ve transformed tremendously in the past three years, shifting things online and selling in more innovative ways than ever before. We’re also now exploring what’s happening in the world of digital art – we’ve just launched a new platform, Christie’s Ventures, that is all about what the future of the art industry might look like.
One of my proudest career moments was when…
We sold Banksy’s Game Changer for £16.8 million to raise funds for NHS charities in March 2021, on the anniversary of the UK's first lockdown. I remember standing there watching how well the auction performed, and honestly, I just felt moved to tears.
The hardest decision I’ve had to make as a leader was…
Running a department like mine involves hard financial decisions all the time, especially when we choose to underwrite certain artworks for auction with house capital. Those decisions are taken on the basis of my knowledge and understanding of a work of art, and of the potential clients who might want to buy it, which means having a lot of conviction in myself.
An effective leader will always…
Show ambition. The art business is very competitive, so I have to be swift and aggressive with my deal-making, and make sure my team are ambitious both for themselves and for the business we can win together.
An effective leader will never…
Sit on the fence. When leading a team across a region, you need to have a strong conviction in the decisions you take. Of course, it’s always important to gain consensus and understand where people stand on a certain issue, but when a decision isn’t straightforward, you have to be able to make it with confidence so that other people can rally around you.
The one piece of advice I’d give to a new leader is…
Be open to different challenges. The beauty of my job is I get to be an art expert, a trader, an author and everything in between. It takes a lot of adrenaline, but it’s also a lot of fun.
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