Middle Eastern art on display ahead of auction

(9 Oct 2018) LEADIN:
Famed auction house Sotheby’s is exhibiting Middle Eastern art at its Dubai gallery ahead of its global auction in London this month.
The company’s experts say the artwork is becoming increasingly popular with collectors outside of the region.
STORYLINE:
Avid art collectors in the UAE have a chance to see some of Sotheby’s auction pieces up close.
The famed auction house is holding a week-long display of some of its prized possessions for art connoisseurs and art newbies to see.
The 20th Century Middle Eastern art exhibition gives the region a space to show its varied artistic styles.
From Iranian artist, Monir Farmanfarmaian to Iraq’s Mahmoud Sabri and Egypt’s Ramses Younan, these works will go up for auction in Sothebys’ London Gallery on 23 October.
Ashkan Baghestani is the Director and Head of Sales at Sotheby’s for Middle Eastern Art. He says that this is a great chance to expose art from the region to a bigger audience.
“We have more and more buyers from America, Europe, Asia that are looking at our artists that have no particular connection, nationality connection, to the region,” he says.
“I think the last sale we had in London about 28 percent of buyers are from non-Middle Eastern countries and that’s very gratifying for us, being able to again promote these artists to non-Middle Easterners.”
Edward Gibbs, Chairman of Sotheby’s Middle East and India, says buyers from the region have varied tastes and the auction house has noticed lots of new customers recently.
“Collectors might start perhaps collecting Middle Eastern art in their own national categories but they quickly branch out. We have noticed there’s a huge upsurge in interest in watches, for instance,” he says.
“In our most recent sale, 62 percent of the buyers from the Middle East were completely new to us, so that’s a notable uptick in participation from the region.”
The exhibition is on until October 11.

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