NEW YORK, NY.- As a further step in its sales innovation strategy, Christie’s introduces a new themed week of sales, Classic Art Week which will take place at Rockefeller Center, New York in April 2016. This week of sales will include Old Master Paintings, Sculpture, Antiquities, and Christie’s signature Exceptional Sale of decorative arts.

A new curated sale entitled “Revolution” will be the centerpiece of this auction series, and will feature masterworks from the 18th to the 20th centuries, including paintings, drawings, prints, photography and sculpture, which will explore the radical social, political and artistic changes that defined this period of history.

“This classic series of sales and exhibitions will provide a wonderful contrast to our 20th Century art series which generated so much interest and electricity in our salerooms in May. The Classic Art Week will provide an opportunity for the world’s collectors to see the very best in each field as Rockefeller Center transforms itself into a museum of classical art,” noted Jussi Pylkkänen, Global President, Christie’s International.

“We have spoken to the collectors, art dealers and museum curators in these fields and so many are supportive of this new Classic Art Week concept and April provides the perfect moment in the auction calendar. The series promises to invigorate interest in these wonderful fields that are the DNA of the art market. We look forward to welcoming everyone to Rockefeller Center to celebrate the very best in Old Master Paintings, Antiquities, Sculpture and Decorative Art.”

MARQUEE SALES WEEKS AT CHRISTIE’S’ NEW YORK
• Christie’s creation of a cross-category, 20th Century sale week, introduced in May 2015, was proof-ofconcept for this new approach, which prioritizes curated sales and exhibitions with extended viewings over traditionally separated sale categories. In May, approximately 20,000 clients visited Christie’s over 10 days.

• As Christie’s has previously announced, this cross-category approach will be applied again in the upcoming November auction series in New York, led by a new themed sale, The Artist’s Muse at the start of the combined 20th Century sale week (see related release).

• With the addition of Classic Art Week to the spring 2016 calendar, Christie’s leads the market in the creation of focused ‘marquee’ collecting events in April and in May that draw from antiquities to the 21th Century – and closely mirror the cross-category acquisition style favored by today’s leading collectors.

CALENDAR CHANGES
• The creation of Classic Art Week in April 2016 will move traditional New York winter sales into the spring calendar: The Exceptional Sale will move from December, and Old Master Paintings and Sculpture will move from January. Classic Art Week will be among the major convening moments of the spring collecting season and lead into the 20th Century art week in May 2016.

• The Old Master & 19th Century Drawings sale will remain on January 28 in New York. The New York January sale will complement Christie’s Paris sale of Old Master & 19th Century Drawings in April, which coincides with Impressionist & Modern works on paper sale and the fair, “Salon du Dessin,” as well as the Old Master & British Drawings & Watercolors sale in London in July.