The fine art of selling culture

Leading international auction chief says Chinese collectors will play a pivotal role in future market

Jussi Pylkkanen is the president of Christie's, one of the two biggest auction houses in the world.

But he sees himself as more of an aficionado and part of the cultural landscape that connects museums, foundations and art dealers from all parts of the globe.

A fan of Chinese porcelain and English glass, the 53-year-old Pylkkanen is the auctioneer at the center of the art world's biggest sales.

He believes China has a pivotal role to play in the global market as its collectors show an ever-growing interest in art, and auction sales in China continue their inexorable rise.

Under Pylkkanen's leadership, Christie's recently opened its new central Beijing flagship center, part of a continued expansion in China. It is the second Christie's venue on the Chinese mainland after its Shanghai branch, which opened in 2014.

According to Pylkkanen, the auction house is continuing to grow and invest in China and the new Beijing space is not only an important milestone in the auction house's 250-year mission to connect art and collectors but also illustrates its resolve to continue expansion in the country.

Pylkkanen recently spoke to China Daily about his China strategy, leadership style and personal life. The following are edited excerpts from the interview:

Art collecting has been popular and auctions have done well in China over the past few years, as Chinese moguls have splashed out money on masterpieces. How would you describe the Christie's business in China in recent years?

China is an absolutely critical part of the international art market today. Over the last three years, since our Shanghai office opened, we have witnessed huge growth in interest from Chinese collectors in all areas of the international art market - in Hong Kong, New York, London, Geneva and elsewhere.

There is no question that in years to come the number of Chinese buyers - and Western buyers showing an interest in buying Chinese art - will grow very rapidly.

We have witnessed this before, when we opened our business in North America in 1977. Quickly the US became a critical part of the market for us. As well as being a London-based company, we are also a multicultural company with significant operations across the world.

How has the Christie's expansion in China been going so far? What strategies will you adopt to expand further?

We already have three exhibition bases in China, which I am very proud of: the one in Hong Kong, which we have continuously developed over 30 years, a historical location in Shanghai and the new space in Beijing.

We have the kind of exhibition spaces that no other businesses, other than the local Chinese ones, have. We are pleased to be the first Western company to have a broad, structured footprint in China and we will continuously grow.

Is there a leadership style that is particularly effective in China? What is the proportion of Chinese and expats in your management team?

We are trying to make Chinese collectors comfortable to work with our business. We have opened many relationships over the past 250 years. We have strong resources and love to get very close to museums, collectors and young artists. It's a combination of the classical and the new here in China.

And Christie's gives collectors an international platform, which is very important.

The management team in China is 100 percent Chinese. We have a staff in China of almost 50. They are all from the Chinese mainland. We want to build a business, which is all about being in China and run by Chinese.

How hot is the competition that Christie's faces in China? What do you do to distinguish Christie's from competitors?

We don't see anybody working in the art market as being a competitor. We see them as part of the art landscape that includes the museums, the foundations and the art dealers.

It's one big community of art and culture. The more people dealing with art and culture, the better. We are leading our business with a team of many creative minds.

What is your competitive edge in this community you describe?

We have very high selling rates. We deliver what we promise. We like to do things well. Our exhibition spaces in Beijing brought out the exhibition on Pablo Picasso and other Chinese artists, and when we opened the space in Shanghai in 2014 we did the same thing.

People know we take our responsibilities seriously. We make sure the culture and art of every nation is well represented.

I'm currently on a tour, visiting museums, collectors and foundations and looking for exhibition spaces, and with all of them we want to reach out to the community.

What are the biggest achievements, opportunities and challenges for Christie's in China?

If we look at the commercial side, 28 percent of our buyers last year came from Asia, and 40 to 50 percent of those were from China. We sold around $6 or $7 billion (6.6 billion euros; 5.6 billion) -worth of artwork last year.

It's a very healthy environment and many people want to create relationships with us. Some of them are buyers, some want to come and learn about the art market, and some come to the education courses provided by Christie's. In China we are launching a new education course with Yale University, based in Beijing.

As more Chinese moguls buy world-famous works of art, do you think there's now a trend for art collections to house a major portion of global wealth?

People have been collecting artwork for over two centuries. People have been collecting as a symbol of their wealth and their position for many years - hundreds of years - and it continues today. It's normal. It's part of a culture that we are all in.

Some compare China's current art-collecting phenomenon with that of Japan in the mid '80s, when wealthy Japanese were chasing impressionist masterpieces. What do you think?

Japanese collectors have fantastic taste. They bought beautiful things and continue to buy beautiful pieces. The Chinese collectors are doing the same. There are sometimes financial ups and downs and I wouldn't call it a Japanese issue.

The Japanese are continuing to collect art pieces and the Chinese are now, too. The Chinese just arrived more recently in the market than the Japanese. The Japanese have had a long time to collect.

Japan's economy subsequently went into deep recession due to the bursting of an asset bubble, and the art market followed. Will China experience a similar fate and how can it avoid that?

I don't think so. The Chinese economy is very strong. As long as the Chinese economy, or any economy in the world, is strong, there will be individuals able and wanting to collect works of art.

During your trips to China, is there a place that particularly impressed you?

Of all the places I have ever been to, the Forbidden City stands out as incredible. I was able to go with our top specialist who showed me the wonderful pieces and porcelain in the museum. That was really a highlight for me. They are magnificent.

What are your hobbies? How do you spend your time off-duty while in China?

I collect contemporary art from across the world. But I also collect artwork, like glass from my home country, England. It's very close to the porcelain in China.

What's your favorite piece of artwork?

I love collecting artwork and I'm a passionate collector of Scandinavian and modern British glass.

And one of my favorites is Modigliani's painting Nu Couch, Reclining Nude. In recent years we have created very meaningful relationships with collectors in China, and the Long Museum in China bought it last year.

zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 12/02/2016 page31)