NEW YORK, NY.- Brett Gorvy has been named Chairman and International Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s. In an expanded role, Gorvy will be the sole leader of the Post-War and Contemporary Art business on a worldwide basis and at the highest level. He continues to report to Chief Executive Officer Steven Murphy and be based in Christie’s New York.

Since transferring from Christie’s London in 2000 to lead the International Post-War and Contemporary Department in New York with Amy Cappellazzo, Gorvy has pushed the boundaries of the market to new heights. Under his direction, Christie’s has achieved continuous leadership in the field and market. He has consistently spearheaded the intelligent and creative curatorship of sales, insight into pricing and a harnessing of our global client base to achieve record results. He has also been responsible for augmenting private sale initiatives, as well as being one of the most effective deal makers in this crucial area of our business.

“Brett is known for his exacting standards, an extraordinary eye for detail, as well as a profound knowledge and commitment to the art and to his clients,” said Steven Murphy, Christie’s Chief Executive Officer of Christie’s. “His creativity is felt in the authority and design of the Post-War and Contemporary catalogues and in the museum-quality presentation of the sale previews. He continually challenges himself and those around him to achieve new levels of success and the results of that commitment and focus were fully evident in the results this week”.

Over his tenure, Gorvy has been responsible for many notable consignments and records including the 2004 sale that broke the $100 million barrier for the first time in auction history and the record for a single auction at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale which totaled an impressive $384.7 million. In May 2008, Gorvy oversaw the sale of Lucian Freud’s Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, 1995, which sold for a record $33.6 million and set a world auction record for a living artist. Gorvy’s passion for the work of Andy Warhol and knowledge of this market resulted in a world record price of $71.7 million for Warhol’s Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) in May 2007 against an estimate of $25-35 million. Moreover, this week he oversaw the consignment and sale of Warhol’s first seminal Self-Portrait, 1963-1964, which sold for $38.4 million after a dramatic 16-minute bidding war. In May 2010, Gorvy led the sale of Works from the Collection of Michael Crichton, one of the most successful single-owner sales in this category totaling $103 million, doubling its pre-sale aggregate estimate.