Robert Woolley (1944–1996)

“Provenance is a French word that is used to describe this: how much potentIal buyers want to overpay for something that either belongs to a venerable gallery, shop, or institution, or belongs to someone a lot more famous than they are.”

That’s typical of Woolley’s irreverent humor as he describes his career at Sotheby’s ("you must be psychologically unstable to work in this world"), where he ultimately became head of Decorative Arts, as well as his personal story of his life as a gay man living with AIDS. (I hadn’t read the cover blurb before I took a look at the copyright page to check the date of publication; it was a bit of a shock to see that the copyright is held by Gay Men’s Health Crisis.) Woolley practically invented the “fantasy auction”, those charity events where the bids are for items that will never again be available (my personal favorite example here is the opportunity to have David Hockney paint your swimming pool - not a painting of your pool, but painting the pool itself!).

The politics and machinations of auctions and charity events are deftly described, though Woolley did not live to see the indictment of Diana Brooks and Alfred Taubman (both of whom he speaks highly of) on charges of price-fixing. He also writes of his own part in creating the concept of specialized auctions, and in bringing glamor to the world of auction houses.

About his own life, Woolley speaks candidly. He was in a relationship for many years with Jeffrey Childs, who died of AIDS. Because the last several years were a marriage blanc, Woolley was HIV-negative, until he fell in love again. Attempting to engage in safe sex, he and his lover used the most expensive condoms available; unfortunately, these were lambskin, which does not protect against HIV.… (meer)