Bonhams has made a trio of hires as contemporary art and digital growth become a focus for the auction house following the purchase by private equity group Epiris in September.
Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | Roland Arkell
The three new staff appointments – including a specialist to head up the contemporary art department in London – are among the first made since the auction house was acquired.
Clémence Tasiaux is the new head of department for post-war and contemporary art in London. A former deputy director at Sotheby’s, she subsequently joined the art advisory and brokerage firm Alcacer, advising high net worth individuals on their collections. Tasiaux will work alongside Epiris’ first major appointment, Muys Snijders, poached from Christie’s in late 2018 to head a contemporary department in New York.
Owner’s vision
Further indication of Epiris’ vision for the auction house is the hiring of a chief technology officer. Chris Tolson, who was responsible for the IT delivery for online gambling firm Bet365 and CTO for the telecommunications provider, NTT Europe, is tasked with leading “the global transformation of the digital landscape at Bonhams”.
In particular, he will oversee the overhaul of Bonhams’ website and take the “digital experience across all platforms to the next stage”.
Hitherto, Bonhams’ online-only offering has been relatively low key with around 15 sales conducted in 2018, the majority of them in the final months of the year.
The third appointment announced this week is the arrival of Marie Lingenthal as Bonhams’ representative in northern Germany.