NEW YORK, Dec. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sotheby's
(NYSE: BID) is pleased to announce the appointment of Christy MacLear, CEO of the Robert Rauschenberg
Foundation, to expand the Company's advisory business and provide
planning services and manage projects for artists, artist estates
and foundations. As Vice Chairman of the Fine Arts Division,
Christy will also work with Allan
Schwartzman to build out Sotheby's advisory services more
broadly. Based in New York,
Christy will join Sotheby's in January
2017.
"We are extremely pleased with the development of our advisory
services business both in terms of impact with new and existing
clients as well as for Sotheby's shareholders," said Tad Smith
Sotheby's CEO. "Innovation, growth, and service are at the heart of
our advisory management team's mission. Expanding into
advisory services for artists and artist endowed foundations is an
exciting new frontier and we are thrilled that Christy is here to
lead such an important initiative for us."
"Christy's important role leading the legacies of Robert Rauschenberg, Philip Johnson and David
Whitney is analogous to the long-term relationships that are
the focus of the advisory work that we built at Art Agency,
Partners and are expanding through Sotheby's," commented
Allan Schwartzman, Chairman of
Sotheby's Fine Art Division and head of Art Agency,
Partners' Advisory services. "She has developed a
specialized skill set and fills a void – the role between estate
lawyers and gallerists that exists specifically to help living
artists to plan, estate trustees to transition, and existing artist
foundations to manage programs."
As the inaugural CEO of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation,
Christy MacLear oversaw the
development of the strategy and vision, transition of assets, and
implementation of all programs in art and scholarship – the
creation of a legacy-based philanthropy program and the development
of a new artist residency on Rauschenberg's compound on Captiva
Island, Florida. Her tenure was recently capped with the
1 December 2016 opening of 'Robert
Rauschenberg' at Tate Modern, London, the first major retrospective of the
artist since his death in 2008. Christy will continue to
advise the Foundation into 2017 through the retrospective's stops
at the Museum of Modern Art, New
York and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
"The Rauschenberg Foundation is in great shape; the future
tracks are laid, and so I feel it's time to look at helping a
broader set of artists," said Christy
MacLear. "The market needs professional services that
can plan an artist's foundation, when artists are living, based on
all assets and assist in that transition of the estate. It
can be a costly error not to have an experienced person between
your lawyer and your gallery – and having a financial and
organizational plan in advance helps optimize an artist's
legacy."
Example services that Sotheby's will now provide include
strategic planning with living artists considering all assets
toward legacy goals; financial and organizational mapping from a
studio to a foundation; advisory management during the estate
process to transition assets with a long term view of use and
value; and defining and launching programs for foundations to
maximize their legacy's reach and impact.
A well-respected strategist, Christy
MacLear was formerly the Executive Director of the Philip
Johnson Glass House, where she also transitioned the estate of
David Whitney, and the Director of
the Museum Campus in Chicago,
where she managed the creation of a lakefront park that surrounds
three museums – the Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium and the
Field Museum of Natural History. Christy also consulted with
the leadership of the Cleveland Clinic, the nonprofit, academic
medical center, and served as an early team member of the Walt
Disney Development Corporation's new town, Celebration.
Christy MacLear holds a degree in
Urban Design & Architectural History from Stanford University and an MBA from
the Wharton School at the University of
Pennsylvania. She serves on the Board of Trustees for
Stanford University and on the Board of
Directors of the Municipal Arts Society.
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| +1 212 606 7176 | Lauren Gioia |
Lauren.Gioia@Sothebys.com | Dan
Abernethy | Dan.Abernethy@Sothebys.com
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