The public sale home exodus continues, this time at Phillips, the place Ed Dolman has resigned as govt chairman. He has held that place since 2021, having joined the agency as chief govt in 2014. Dolman will stay in publish till Might 2025, when he’ll transfer right into a consultancy function. Dolman says it has been a “privilege” to work with a “world-class workforce at Phillips”, however it’s now time for him “to show to new pursuits and to discover new methods of partaking on this planet of artwork”.
Following eight years with Phillips, the public sale home’s deputy chief govt Amanda Lo Iacono may even step down this month with a view to pursue different alternatives. It isn’t clear whether or not her place will probably be stuffed.
For the previous 12 months, along with his function as govt chairman, Dolman has been managing international operations on the public sale home—taking over this duty after Stephen Brooks stepped down as chief govt in January. At the moment, Phillips mentioned Brooks’ resignation, which got here after he had been within the function for lower than three years, was for private causes and was unrelated to the public sale home’s falling gross sales in 2023, when Phillips reported a 15% drop in gross sales from the earlier 12 months.
Martin Wilson, who took over as chairman of the British Artwork Market Federation (Bamf) just below six months in the past after a protracted profession as a number one artwork lawyer, has been appointed chief govt of Phillips. The Artwork Newspaper understands there are not any instant plans to fill Dolman’s soon-to-be-vacant function of govt chairman.
Wilson has been on the public sale home’s govt board since 2019, serving because the agency’s chief authorized officer. No determination is believed to have been taken as as to if he’ll stay in place at Bamf; Wilson couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.
In an announcement, Wilson says: “Edward Dolman’s extraordinary profession has left an everlasting legacy within the public sale world. Having labored collectively throughout totally different organisations over the previous 16 years, I’ve seen first-hand how universally revered and admired Mr. Dolman is, each for his potential to construct enterprise and for the inspiration he supplies to colleagues at each stage of the organisation. It has been a privilege to collaborate with him all through my profession, and I look ahead to shaping the following chapter of Phillips collectively.”
Dolman says in a separate assertion that Wilson’s “strategic strategy and deep understanding of the artwork market will probably be invaluable as Phillips continues to innovate and develop”.
Dolman’s resignation caps one other tough 12 months within the artwork market, notably for the struggling public sale sector. Sotheby’s is chopping at the least 100 individuals from its international workers following an earlier spherical of roughly 50 redundancies in London this summer time. There have been “a couple of redundancies” at Bonhams, based on its chairman Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, whereas Christie’s has up to now averted redundancy consultations.
Throughout his tenure, Dolman tripled Phillips’ annual gross sales complete, led the formation of the Trendy and modern artwork division and pushed forward with the public sale home’s growth in Asia. He opened new headquarters in Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New York and Paris, amongst others, and led the public sale home’s digital growth. Dolman additionally helped the public sale home climate a number of storms, together with pandemic lockdowns, the softening of the market and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which put stress on Phillips and its Russian homeowners, the Mercury Group.
Earlier than becoming a member of Phillips, Dolman served because the director of the workplace of Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the chairperson of the Qatar Museums Authority. Previous to that, Dolman spent 27 years at Christie’ the place he began out as a porter earlier than turning into a specialist after which advancing to chief govt, a task he served for 11 years.
