51动漫

Raised in Westchester County, north of New York City, Haydock went to Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, for high school and then attended Boston College. 淚 don檛 know if it was subconscious or what,� he told me, 渂ut I clearly didn檛 have a strong desire to leave the Northeast.�

After some trial and error, he wound up majoring in聽mathematics, adding a second major in communications. 淭hat left open a pretty broad array of things I could pursue,� he said, 渂ut it felt like the natural gravitational pull was toward finance. It wasn檛 that I had a strong desire to work in the field, but for whatever reason it just took me there.� So after graduation, he joined a small private-wealth-management firm in Manhattan, and then moved to UBS, a major international bank.

He still looks the part. On the day we met, Haydock, 35, was dressed in a sharp navy suit, a pale-blue tie, and classic snaffle-bit loafers with gently rebellious bright-blue patterned socks peeking above them. Add to that his tall, trim frame, neatly parted brown hair, and ready smile, and you檇 probably guess, were you to run into him on the street, that you were looking at a happy and prosperous young banker.

In reality, Haydock said of his time in finance, 淚 found myself day to day absolutely hating my job.� We were sitting now in a skybox office that overlooks Christie main auction floor. 淚 think it was the robotic nature of what I was doing. You get in at the same time every day. You leave at the same time every day. There no real variance.�

But his time as a banker did offer one solace攁nd, it turned out, an escape.

Haydock salary allowed him to begin collecting nineteenth-century American paintings. 淭he Hudson River School is what I was fascinated by攖he first artistic movement in America, which had the idea of capturing landscape, luminosity, the beauty of the country,� he said. But those paintings were beyond his means, so he turned to works by artists of the New Bedford School. 淎 much smaller movement,� he told me, 渟o the prices weren檛, you know, $500,000! Way down from that. It was artists the general public will never have heard of: William Bradford, Lemuel Eldred, C.H. Gifford.�

As Haydock passion grew, so did his interest in the business of art. 淚 became fascinated with the idea of the auction environment, with what was happening behind the scenes,� he said. 淵ou could tell that there was so much more to the auction format than being in the room and bidding.� Then one day, he discovered that the famed auction house Sotheby offered a master degree in Art Business. 淚 quit my job at UBS and started the next day,� he recalled.

At the Sotheby Institute, in London, Haydock found himself a bit of an outsider. Almost all of his sixty or so聽classmates were focused on contemporary art. 淭hey wanted to be around Warhol, Basquiat, Jeff Koons, things like that,� he recalled. 淢y interest was so different. It was much more traditional.�

But his individualism proved beneficial. In 2010, at the end of the eighteen-month program and its intensive courses in art history, art law, and the practical matters of auctions and private sales, Sotheby hired him directly to work in its American Art wing. 淢y growth in the field is a huge product of having those opportunities available to me right away,� he said, 渨hereas so many people in the crowded contemporary-art world had to start at more junior levels.�

Haydock quickly rose through the ranks, and in 2014 Christie lured him away. Within a few years, he was named head of Christie American Art department.

* * *

"American Art� refers, broadly speaking, to works produced in the United States prior to World War II� what might be called homegrown art, produced outside the European traditions of fine art. (The war drove many European artists to move to the States, and is seen as the beginning of art contemporary internationalization.)

淭he American Art category is super broad,� Haydock told me. 淲e start with American portraiture, like George Washington. We span through the Hudson River School, genre painting, Ashcan School, American Modernism, illustration, American realism....� The category also includes sculpture, drawing, and photography. There a lot to know and learn, in other words. That what was missing from finance, Haydock said. 淚n this job, I firmly believe that if I檓 still doing it at the age of 55, I will still have infinitely more that I can learn. Which I love.�

At Christie, 淎merican Art� also refers to the two annual auctions, held every May and November, where scores of works are put up for public sale. Like the artworks themselves, Haydock explained, the collectors who gather to bid against one another are largely American. The work is so intrinsically tied to the country攖hink of Ansel Adams monumental photographs of Yosemite National Park, or Charles Russell dynamic bronze sculptures of broncos and cowboys攖hat its appeal is, too. But there are exceptions. 淲ithin our category, there are a few artists who resonate meaningfully in a broader way,� Haydock told me. 淕eorgia O橩eeffe, Edward Hopper, and John Singer Sargent can transcend the category and cross oceans.� That what made securing the O橩eeffe abstract floral painting so important for the May auction.

The success or failure of an auction usually hinges on the presence of big names, Haydock explained. Like a superstar listed on a Broadway marquee, an O橩eeffe or a Picasso on the auction block gets people in the door攅ven if the supporting cast of lesser-known artists makes up the bulk of the sale. 淲e have it at $4 million to $6 million,� Haydock said of the O橩eeffe abstract, 渁nd we have very strong expectations. So we could see it going for anywhere from six to, if we have the right day, maybe as high as ten.� Also聽secured for the May show was a Hopper watercolor (渁 beautiful, beautiful piece�). Christie put its estimate at $1 million to $1.5 million. There was also a Norman Rockwell listed at $4.5 million to $6.5 million; a pair of Marsden Hartley paintings, one listed at $4 million to $6 million and the other at $1.6 million to $1.8 million; and an N.C. Wyeth listed at $700,000 to $1 million. Sargent would also make an appearance攏ot one of his glorious portraits, but two drawings.

* * *

Auctions have traditionally been the preferred method of selling high-end art, and they remain an important component of the industry敎They檙e what get the headlines,� Haydock said攂ut times are changing. More and more, auction houses like Christie are acting not as auctioneers but as brokers putting a seller together with a specific buyer. 淟ast year, for American Art, we sold about $60 million to $70 million privately,� Haydock said. 淚t becoming an increasing part of our business. It used to be that the two big auctions dominated the calendar攐ne finishes, and on to the next. Now we are handling property at every single moment of the year.�

Selling art privately requires building relationships with the people who own it and the people who want to buy it. As a result, much of Haydock work involves face-to-face conversations with both parties. The stakes are often high, given that the works can go for an actual fortune敎I have a meeting this morning to talk about an O橩eeffe, in the range of $20 million,� he said攂ut it a job he relishes. 淵ou檙e traveling all over the country, you檙e seeing these beautiful objects, you檙e learning a ton as you檙e developing and growing, and you檙e also meeting some of the most interesting people in the world,� he said. 淲hat better than that?�

Still, he said, the semiannual American Art auctions are never far from his mind. They檙e what people think of when they think of Christie, and they檙e what largely define his internal clock. 淎fter doing I don檛 know how many auctions now, I always expect the anxiety to lessen,� he told me. 淏ut it still exactly the same. There are just so many uncertainties that exist at auctions, and you completely relinquish control the moment the auctions starts.�

I asked what I檇 see at the May auction, which was three months away. 淥h,� he sighed, 測ou will see high stress.�

* * *

A few months later, when I next met Haydock, there were just a few days to go until the May auction. As聽promised, stress was evident攂ut the auction wasn檛 the only reason for it. Three weeks earlier, Haydock and his wife, Sara, had welcomed their second child, a daughter. Haydock had temporarily moved from the family home聽in Westchester County to a hotel in the city, and his conscience was bothering him. 淚 feel like I檝e abandoned my family,� he said.

At the auction house, Haydock led me into the public gallery where the works were on display. The O橩eeffe was there, no larger than a newspaper but eye-catching with its bright carmine tones, as were other works. Pausing before one piece, Haydock suddenly became intense. Arthur G. Dove Nature Symbolized No. 1 (Roofs) 渋s probably the first abstract painting ever exhibited in America,� he said. 淚ts importance cannot be overstated.� He檇 brought every prospective bidder in the auction to see it.

Haydock whisked me through the rest of the gallery. The auction was nearing and his time was short.

* * *

The next time I saw Haydock was the morning of the auction. For all its glamour, and for all the months
of buildup, the event itself was charmingly casual. Many people were wearing sneakers with their suits and dresses. I followed the crowd into a carpeted, tennis-court-sized space. A couple hundred chairs were laid out on the floor. If it weren檛 for the artwork on the walls攖he real stuff, not reproductions攊t could have been any hotel conference room between London and Tokyo.

Along each sidewall was a wood dais lined with a bank of half a dozen phones, each manned by a Christie expert ready to take bids from collectors who couldn檛 be in New York. Haydock was among them, on the left, the second phone of six.

The bidding began with little ceremony. John Hays, the auctioneer攚ho also a Christie expert on American furniture攔an through the rules and then launched right in. First up was Untitled (Lily), another O橩eeffe, this one a pencil drawing. 淲e can start the bidding at $17,000,� Hays said. Bids began to ping: $20,000, then $22,000, $24,000, and so on, all the way up to $40,000. 淎ll through?� Hays asked. And it seemed for a moment as though it was, but then a new round of bidding started up. Finally, someone offered $70,000. Hays gave everyone a聽moment to consider, and then moved to close the sale. 淟ast call, for $70,000,� he said. 淥nce, twice, for $70,000... and sold!� He banged down聽his gavel. The whole thing took 1 minute and 50 seconds.

A broadly similar process played out over the next ninety minutes or so, with roughly eighty-five objects sold during the span. (Auctions, it turns out, are quick affairs.) Not everything created a bidding war. The O橩eeffe floral painting, Inside Red Canna, wound up selling for $3.8 million, slightly less than the $4 million low end of its estimated range. The Hopper watercolor, meanwhile, went for $1.55 million, eclipsing its projected range.

Haydock, fielding bids on his phone, was quiet during these sales. But as the auction moved to the secondary works, things heated up. Operating on behalf of anonymous bidders, he 渨on� Thornton Utz ironic Resume Safe Speed oil painting for $100,000, well above its $70,000 estimate, and picked up a few other works for prices that exceeded expectations. Then came the bidding for a striking white-shrouded figure by Kenneth Miller Adams, a relatively minor Taos School artist. Its raw beauty had eclipsed the artist reputation, Haydock had previously told me. With a bidder on the line, Haydock started things at $170,000. Preregistered bids brought the price to $200,000. A bidder in the room immediately went to $220,000. Haydock phone bidder countered with $240,000. From there, the offers escalated. Haydock client eventually made it $380,000. A moment later, the price hit $400,000. 淭hat against you, Will,� Hays said to Haydock, in effect asking whether his buyer wanted to go higher. Haydock waved his hand, indicating that his client was out. 淔our hundred thousand once, twice,� Hays said, his hammer raised攁nd then, a new bidder! 淔our hundred and twenty,� Hays announced. The surprise attack ended the bidding, and the Adams sold for $420,000, far above its $300,000 estimate.

The auction began to wind down and the room thinned out. Winning bidders headed to Christie sales office, while brokers and gallery owners gathered at the back of the room and began to discuss攁t a volume that suggested they were happy for the world to eavesdrop攖reasures they might make available at the next auction. For Haydock, the conclusion of the auction brought to end months of work and stress. Yet the last I saw of him he was already deep in conversation with what looked like potential clients攂uyers and sellers both.