Guillaume Cerutti (born March 20, 1966, in La Ciotat, France) is a French business executive and former senior civil servant. Since 2017, he is Chief Executive Officer of Christie's.

Guillaume Cerutti
Guillaume Cerutti
Born (1966-03-20) March 20, 1966 (age 58)
La Ciotat, France
NationalityFrench
Alma materSciences Po
Ecole Nationale d'Administration
OccupationBusiness Executive
EmployerChristie's
TitleChief Executive Officer

Career in the private sector edit

In September 2007, Cerutti joined Sotheby's as CEO of Sotheby's France. In 2011, he was appointed deputy chairman of Sotheby's Europe with responsibilities covering France, Benelux, Monaco, and Italy. He brought the house from fourth-highest sales to first on the French market during his tenure, particularly with the help of several prestigious French art collections sold in Paris, London and New York.[1]

Cerutti left Sotheby's in 2015 to join Christie's as president for EMERI (Europe, Middle East, Russia and India)[2] and became CEO as of January 2017.[3] In the year 2017, he led the company in a rise of 26 percent in total global sales.[4] In addition, the house has held two majorly successful sales under Cerutti's leadership, including the sale of Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi in November 2017 at Christie's New York with the record-breaking price of $450.3 million[5] and The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller in May 2018 which achieved the highest auction total ever for a private collection.[6]

Other responsibilities and achievements edit

Since 2015, Cerutti has served as Chairman of the Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques (FNAGP).[7] In the past, he has also held the position of Chairman on the boards of several non-profit organizations in the cultural field, including the Accentus Chamber Choir (2007-2012), the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie in Arles (2009-2010) and the Institute pour le Financement du Cinéma et des Industries Culturelles (2010-2016).

Cerutti is the author of La politique culturelle, un enjeu du XXIème siècle, 20 propositions (éditions Odile Jacob, octobre 2016).[8] He is also the contributor of several articles on cultural politics, notably in the review Commentaire as well as the newspapers Le Monde, Les Échos, and l'Opinion.

References edit

  1. ^ "Christie's Poaches Rainmaker Guillaume Cerutti from Sotheby's France". Artnet. 4 August 2015.
  2. ^ "Christie's Poaches Rainmaker Guillaume Cerutti from Sotheby's France". Artnet. 4 August 2015.
  3. ^ Pogrebin, Robin (14 December 2016). "Christie's Chief Executive to Step Down and Hand Reins to Guillaume Cerutti". The New York Times.
  4. ^ "Christie's Guillaume Cerutti on a sales boom — and that Leonardo". Financial Times.
  5. ^ Ashton, James. "Going, going, gone — the musty old image of the modern art auctioneer". The Times.
  6. ^ "Christie's Rockefeller auction becomes most valuable private sale in history". The Times.
  7. ^ "Guillaume Cerutti nouveau Président de la Fondation nationale des arts graphiques et plastiques". Le Journal des Arts.
  8. ^ "La Politique culturelle, enjeu du XXIe siècle".