CHRISTIE’S SELLS $9.4 MILLION OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN DUBAI

Christie’s International, the world’s biggest art seller, sold $9.4 million of contemporary works by Arab, Iranian, and Indian artists in Dubai, where it set up shop ahead of rival global auction houses, reports Bloomberg‘s Linda Sandler. Enriched by a ten-year boom in art prices, auction houses are expanding in emerging markets including Hong Kong and Moscow, where newly rich billionaires are snapping up paintings. London-based Christie’s is betting that the Gulf region will become a $250 million art market faster than the twenty years it took Hong Kong, said Jussi Pylkkanen, president of Christie’s Europe. Rival Sotheby’s, whose main salerooms are in New York, said it will announce moves to enter Dubai soon.