Alma mater University of Manchester | Residence London, United Kingdom | |
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Occupation Art Advisor, former Chairman, Sotheby's Europe | ||
Melanie Clore (born 1960) was chairman of the auction house Sotheby's Europe for the period 2011-2016, and the worldwide co-chairman of Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern art department 2000-2016. In July 2016, it was reported that Melanie Clore and Henry Wyndham (also a former chairman of Sotheby's Europe) are to launch an art advisory business in September 2016.
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Career
Clore graduated from the University of Manchester with a degree in Art History. She began her career at Sotheby's in 1981, working as a graduate trainee on the front counter and then as a junior cataloguer in the Impressionist and Modern art department. In 1985, Clore conducted her first auction and in the process became Sotheby's youngest ever female auctioneer.
Clore became the first female auctioneer to take a major evening sale of Impressionist and Modern art in 1990. In 2000 she became co-chairman worldwide of Impressionist and Modern art at Sotheby's.
In 2010, Clore presided over the sale in London of Alberto Giacometti's 'L'homme qui marche I' for $104.3 million, at the time the highest amount paid for a work at auction.
In 2011, Clore became chairman of Sotheby's Europe alongside Henry Wyndham. In February 2015, Sotheby's held the most successful auction ever to have taken place in any auction house in London - the Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist sale, which achieved a total of £186.4 million.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom appointed Clore to the board of trustees of Tate in 2004. She has been an honorary member of the Tate Foundation since 2009.
In 2010 Clore became a trustee of the Clore Duffield Foundation, founded by Sir Charles Clore, which supports cultural learning, arts and heritage organisations and social care in the UK. She was a trustee of the Whitechapel Gallery from 1988 until 1999.
Clore announced her departure from Sotheby's in February 2016. At the time Sotheby's was suffering staff losses reported to relate to the company's acquisition of Art Agency, Partners.
Personal life
She is married to Yaron Meshoulam. They have two children and live in London.