NEW YORK, NY.- After seven years with Christie’s Americas, Loic Gouzer has taken the decision to leave his role as Co-Chairman of Post-War and Contemporary Art at the end of this year.

“Those who know me best know that my two great passions in life have always been art and the environment. I intend to spend the next few months concentrating on conservation and climate issues before coming back to the art world with a new project,” said Mr. Gouzer. “I will always be immensely grateful to Christie’s and to my wonderful colleagues who believed in me and honored me with their confidence and friendship. I have no doubt that the Post-War and Contemporary Art department, under the enlightened leadership of Alex Rotter and our talented team, will continue to be the leading player in the auction world.”

Guillaume Cerutti, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Loic has brought much to Christie’s during his seven years with us, and his name will remain associated with several great ideas and projects in his field of expertise, Post-War and Contemporary Art, and beyond. On behalf of the company, I wish Loic the very best with his future ventures.”

Known for his innovative approach to conventional auction formats, Loic was a champion of curated sales at Christie’s, creating a successful series of stand-alone auctions “If I Live, I’ll See You Tuesday”, “Bound to Fail”, and “Looking Forward to the Past” which saw new records achieved for Pablo Picasso’s Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’) and Alberto Giacometti’s Pointing Man. In 2013, he partnered with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to present “The 11th Hour” a charity auction that raised $38.8 million for wildlife conservation. In 2017, he conceived and executed the sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi for $450.3 million in partnership with Christie’s Old Masters department. Most recently, he oversaw the sale of David Hockney’s Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), which fetched $90.3 million, a new auction record for any work by a living artist.

In 2019, Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art department in the Americas will continue to be led by Chairman Alex Rotter, Executive Deputy Chairman Barrett White, Deputy Chairman Andy Massad, International Director and Head of Department Sara Friedlander, Head of Sales Johanna Flaum, and Head of Evening Sale Ana Maria Celis.