Every specialist in Episode 6 agrees: size definitely matters. But not the way you might think. In some categories, diminutive objects can be highly valued – in a Chinese works of art sale, the most expensive pieces will fit into the palm of your hand. But in a category like postwar painting, larger scale works can be highly desirable. Frances Christie of Sotheby’s London cites the example of pioneering British artist Alan Davie, who was introduced to painter Jackson Pollock by art dealer Peggy Guggenheim. “The story goes that Alan Davie learned from Pollock to be confident on a large scale,” Christie explains. Important collectors noticed. Decades later, when one of Davie’s ambitiously scaled works sold for a record price at Sotheby’s, “it showed that actually, size does matter,” says Christie. Specialists in this episode: Nicolas Chow, Frances Christie, Julian Dawes, Frank Everett, Meredith Kirk, Courtney Kremers, Connor Kriegel, Mee-Seen Loong, Michael Macaulay, Yamini Mehta, Jonquil O’Reilly and Edoardo Roberti.
