Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc.

Biography

1937 - November: Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc. is established at 742 Fifth Avenue with Hiram H. Parke as President, and Otto Bernet and Arthur Swann as Vice President.

1938 - January: First auction is held in Fifth Ave. gallery.

1939 Parke-Bernet is able to buy the assets of American Art Association-Anderson Galleries and move into AAA's premises at 30 E. 57th St. Swann is no longer Vice President.

1945 - Otto Bernet dies.

1949 - 110 East 57th Street is used for temporary galleries. The galleries are eventually moved to 980 Madison Avenue, between 76th and 77th Streets.

1950 - Hiram Parke (Major Parke) retires.

1957 - Hiram Parke dies. Parke-Bernet is by now under the directorship of Leslie Hyam, Mary Vandergrift and Louis Marion.

1964 - Parke-Bernet is bought by Sotheby and Company, London.

1980 - Sotheby - Parke-Bernet moves to E. 72nd St. and York Ave.

1983 - September: Sotheby - Parke-Bernet is bought by A. Alfred Taubman. Name change to "Sotheby's" ensued as a result of private ownership. New board members include: Henry Ford II (Vice Chairman), Max M. Fisher, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza (Switzerland), Seiji Tsutsumi (Japan), Ann (Mrs. Gordon) Getty; with Taubman as Group Chairman and CEO, and John L. Marion as Chairman and President (America).

Bibliography

1970

Towner, Wesley. The Elegant Auctioners. New York, 1970.

1980

Herrmann, Frank. Sotheby's: Portrait of an Auction House. London, 1980.

1985

Faith, Nicholas. Sold: The Rise and Fall of the House of Sotheby. New York, 1985.

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