A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (March 2017) |
Cheyenne Westphal | |
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Born | 1967 (age 56–57) Iserlohn, Germany |
Nationality | German |
Alma mater | |
Occupation(s) | Chairwoman, Phillips |
Children | 1 |
Cheyenne Westphal (born September 1967) is a German businesswoman who is the global chairwoman of auctioneers Phillips.[1][2][3][4] She was worldwide head of contemporary art at Sotheby's until April 2016, having joined the firm in 1990.[5][6] Westphal joined Phillips as Chairman in 2017.[2]
Westphal joined Phillips from Sotheby’s where she served as Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art.[7] She led sales that resulted in world records for Gerhard Richter (Abstraktes Bild, $46.3 million), Sigmar Polke (Jungle, $27.1 million), Piero Manzoni (Achrome, $20.2 million), and Alberto Burri (Saccho e Rosso, $13.2 million), among many others. Westphal presided over every Sotheby’s contemporary sale in Europe since 1999,[8] including the most successful contemporary art auction in Europe in July 2015, which achieved a record-breaking $204.7 million.[9]
Westphal brought a number of single-owner collections to market, including the Damien Hirst sale, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, which raised $200.7 million in 2008.[10] This was followed by the $140 million Helga and Walther Lauffs Collection of Post-War European and American Art[11] and The Lenz Schoenberg Collection in 2010, yielding £23 million and setting nineteen auction records, many for art from the ZERO movement. She negotiated the sale of Count Duerckheim's Post-War German Art in 2011, which raised a record $92.2 million and set records for German artists.[12]
In 1990, Westphal joined Sotheby’s[6] after graduating from University of St Andrews in Scotland and studying contemporary art under Professor Anne Wagner at UC Berkeley in California.[13][14]
Westphal lives with her partner and has one son.[15]