Credit Suisse international Art & Entrepreneurship Auction
Published December 23rd, 2008
Eight months and seven cities after its launch, a global tour of the Credit Suisse international “Art & Entrepreneurship” exhibition reached it finale in London on November 24 with a charity auction of pieces from the show, contributed by some of the world’s most noteworthy new artists.
The auction, held in the stylish hall at the London office of Phillips de Pury & Company, raised around 105,000 pounds.
Half of the total raised was donated to Room to Read, a not-for-profit organization that provides access to education in developing countries through the funding of new libraries, schools and scholarships for girls. The remainder went to the artists themselves. “Credit Suisse has worked together with Room to Read to provide education for those in need for several years. We are delighted that we have been able to donate half of the proceeds of this innovative exhibition to this worthy organization,” James Leigh-Pemberton, Chief Executive of Credit Suisse in the United Kingdom.
he exhibition took 40 works by 19 artists from 16 countries to Dubai, New York, Berlin, Moscow, Geneva Milan and London, providing global exposure for up-and-coming talent, as well as some well-established names. They created art for the exhibition based on a brief to focus on five core values of entrepreneurship, as defined in a Credit Suisse client survey – vision, knowledge, network, family and social responsibility. The works they came up with ranged from oil paintings and sculptures to media installations and collages. The highlight of the auction was the 50,000 pound (77,000 dollar) sale of “Metropolis”, a painting by Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra, the New Delhi-based collaborative artists, whose works are already highly sought after. Another notable work that raised sizeable sums for Room to Read included a painting from Michael Bauer which sold for 15,000 pounds .
