The people making million-dollar art deals for the super rich

CNN — “I’m always flying by the seat of my pants,” says Lisa Schiff with engaging and, I suspect, characteristic honesty. “You want to be part of art history.” On the line from New York, she is still buzzing with excitement from the previous night’s opening at Pace Gallery’s vast new flagship location in Chelsea. Alex Welsh/The New York Times/Redux Murphy, who served as Chief Executive of Christie’s between 2010 and 2015, and now heads his own art advisory company, Murphy & Partners, says that you should take as much care choosing an art adviser as you do choosing “your personal banker, attorney, physician or psychoanalyst.” One of his clients refers to the agency as his “art shrink.” “The art world has exploded and like any other endeavor, why wouldn’t you have a trusted guide to help you?” says Murphy, teasing out a metaphor. Pollen, who has been art advising for longer than most, says it’s “a highly unregulated industry.” She believes in greater transparency and a code of ethics. Also an important part of the job, she says, is to restrain clients from paying too much and advising them “what not to buy.” Pollen spent nearly 22 years at Sotheby’s, rising to senior director of Sotheby’s Europe and head of 20th century British Art.