OLD MASTER & DECORATIVE PRINTS
On the morning of the auction and the day before I had already been slightly nervous and self conscious. Just walking towards the auction house in South Kensington and standing in front of it, I felt maybe I was out of place but the reassurance that I had three people beside me made it better right away. I was actually a bit surprised they let us in, even though I had called the day before and asked. The place was a weird mixture of colonial like feel to the architecture together with a peculiar feeling of being surrounded from practically floor to ceiling by drawings and paintings. With parts of the space having low ceilings, it felt as if I was being drowned in art. We scattered around looking at some works before sitting down in one of the rows at the back.
I was completely amazed by how many people are physically involved in the auction. There were about 5 people on phones and the main auctioneer on a podium, that looked more like a pedastal and a somewhat aristocratic tone swept the room.People curiously positioned themselves around the room, some standing at a distance, some had moved their chairs away, as if to separate themselves from the rest, creating their own private world that eliminated any distractions. Many seemed quite anxious and some seemed as though it is a regular part of their day.
Once the auction started, there was a certain excitement and when biding started I had wished I could have sat and some other end of the room, to better observe the bizarre techniques of bidding: the most common...the paddle raising, then there is the nod, the finger, the reverse nod, the hand and some other twitching ones that actually left me thinking I should sit on my hands, not to accidentally make some sort of bidding gesture. In a way, cutting the sound and adding some music, the whole situation might have actually looked like some kind of dance of gestures.
I was completely amazed by how many people are physically involved in the auction. There were about 5 people on phones and the main auctioneer on a podium, that looked more like a pedastal and a somewhat aristocratic tone swept the room.People curiously positioned themselves around the room, some standing at a distance, some had moved their chairs away, as if to separate themselves from the rest, creating their own private world that eliminated any distractions. Many seemed quite anxious and some seemed as though it is a regular part of their day.
Once the auction started, there was a certain excitement and when biding started I had wished I could have sat and some other end of the room, to better observe the bizarre techniques of bidding: the most common...the paddle raising, then there is the nod, the finger, the reverse nod, the hand and some other twitching ones that actually left me thinking I should sit on my hands, not to accidentally make some sort of bidding gesture. In a way, cutting the sound and adding some music, the whole situation might have actually looked like some kind of dance of gestures.
Manca Bajec
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