Carly Murphy, Christie’s head of client strategy for the Americas, will depart the auction house for Art Basel this month, where she takes up the newly-created role of global head of collector and institutional relations. The Switzerland-based fair powerhouse aims to offer exhibitors stronger engagement with core, high-spending collectors, museums and other cultural institutions as the art market remains challenging—particularly at art fairs, where sales have not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.
“Her appointment comes at an important moment for our field,” Art Basel’s chief executive Noah Horowitz said in a statement. “Deepening relationships with private collectors and cultural institutions, shaping the conditions for galleries to grow, and cultivating the audiences of tomorrow are all critical to our role and to the wider ecosystem we support.”
Murphy previously worked in client relations at Sotheby’s and Phillips. She will start in her new role later this month and report to Vincenzo de Bellis, Art Basel’s chief artistic officer and global director of fairs.
“The creation of this newly-titled role reflects the broad spectrum of connections our galleries count on us to help foster—from private collectors to museums and cultural institutions,” De Bellis tells The Art Newspaper in a statement. “The market is evolving, and we want to make sure those relationships are actively supported, not only during the fairs but throughout the year.”
The most recent Art Market Report published by Art Basel and UBS, released in April, found global sales of art and antiques dropped for the second consecutive year in 2024, falling by 12% to an estimated $57.5bn. The report also found that while sales at fairs and other live events rose slightly, those transactions still have not returned to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels. A survey of top collectors published last year found the industry’s most important clients were attending fewer art fairs, citing reasons like overcrowding and too many pre-sold works on stands. At next month’s Art Basel Paris, the fair will hold an extra preview day for collectors invited directly by exhibiting galleries.
The new invitation-only preview slot for the Paris fair “is a good example of [supporting relationships]: giving galleries a more intimate window with their clients before the First Choice opening, and creating the right conditions for meaningful encounters between galleries and their most committed supporters”, De Bellis says.
Murphy is the latest high-ranking auction house employee to move over to the private sales side of the market. Christie’s then-chief executive Guillaume Cerutti stepped down in January to take a job with the Pinault family, the firm’s billionaire owners. Last year, Sotheby’s rainmaker Brooke Lampley took a director job at Gagosian, and Christie’s global president Jussi Pylkkänen left to pursue independent art advising. Horowitz himself initially left Art Basel after running its Miami Beach fair for years and took a job at Sotheby’s, before returning to take the top role at Art Basel in 2022.
“Joining the Art Basel team is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I look forward to bringing my auction world experience to this new and exciting role,” Murphy said in a statement.