TEHRAN – The director of the Tehran Auction, Alireza Sami-Azar, said that the auction has no intention of competing with Christie’s but rather wants to praise the auction house instead.

“Christie’s tries to introduce works by Iranian artists in Dubai and presents the art of Iran even better than us. They can also draw and persuade art dealers to whom we have little access here,” Sami-Azar told the Persian service of MNA on Monday.

“We do not want to compete with Christie’s since they can do a better job,” he added.

“It is better that an international organization represents the values of Persian art rather than the Iranians themselves. What auction houses like Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonham’s do for the art of Iran is extremely valuable, because they are introducing the art of Iran to the world,” he explained.

“Christie’s has over two centuries of experience and we need to offer our help to them if we can,” the art critic asserted.

When asked his opinion about the second edition of Iran’s National Auction, which is dedicated to artworks by classical Iranian artists, Sami-Azar said, “I was not present at the auction (held in October) and cannot evaluate the event. However, I believe an auction is one of the few artistic events that either needs to be held with great fanfare or it should not be held at all.

“A good auction should be full, complete and successful. That is, a bad auction has a negative effect. If the prices are not accurate, the value of the art and the reputations of the artists will be damaged,” he added.

He continued that they could have held the Tehran auction a few years earlier, but preferred to gain experience from world auctions like Christie’s in order to be able to hold a world-class auction.

Sami-Azar also pointed to the great success of the Tehran auction and said that the reason lies behind the great interest of several young private collectors who began their work with the Tehran auction.

Photo: Tehran Auction Director Alireza Sami-Azar (L) and auctioneers Hossein Pakdel (C) and Reza Kianian flash the victory sign at the Parsian Azadi Hotel on May 29, 2015 after the auction grossed over $6.4 million during its 4th edition.

RM/YAW
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