Phillips Is the Latest Art Seller to Court Ex-Manhattan Collectors by Opening a New Viewing Outpost in the Hamptons

Phillips has followed the growing ranks of high-end art market players migrating from New York City to the Hamptons.

The auction house opened its new Southampton outpost today, where it will exhibit works from its forthcoming sales in Manhattan, but will not sell art at the location. The architects studioMDA designed the nearly 6,000-square-foot, two-story space at 1 Hampton Road, which was formerly home to Southampton’s town hall (and a Pottery Barn).

The move comes as several blue-chip galleries, including Gagosian, Pace, Skarstedt, and Hauser and Wirth, expand en masse to the Hamptons, where wealthy collectors have decamped to their summer homes during the lockdown. Christie’s, too, struck up a Long Island arrangement by holding a pre-sale exhibition of its hybrid “One” relay sale at the Parrish Museum in Water Mill in July.

“We’ve seen a seismic shift both in the art world and in the ecosystem of New York City,” said Phillips CEO Edward Dolman in a statement. “Our new location in Southampton will allow for intimate in-person viewings of exceptional works of art, jewels and watches, as well as the flexibility for our top collectors to experience artwork in person; that visceral experience is still such an integral element to appreciating art.”

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Portrait of A-One A.K.A King (1982). Image courtesy of Phillips.

Among Phillips Southampton’s first exhibitions is a preview of 70 works that will appear at its November 20th century and contemporary art sales, including those by Ruth Asawa, Joan Miro, Robert Rauschenberg, Pablo Picasso, and Jean DuBuffet. Leading the sale is Basquiat’s Portrait of a one A.K.A Kings (1982), which will also be on view in the preview and is estimated to go for $10 million to $15 million.

The new space will also host previews for Phillips’s “New Now” auction, which includes works by Nicholas Party, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, and Matthew Wong, as well as for a sale of high-end jewels from Graff, Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, and others.

Phillips Southampton will be open Tuesday – Sunday 11a.m. – 6 p.m.