In a moment of history marked by a thin line separating the boundaries between art dealers and auction houses, Phillips de Pury seems even more determined to confuse these roles, by undertaking a new mission: to represent Annie Leibovitz, as a reseller for US photography.
According to the chairman of the renowned auction house, Simon De Pury, Leibovitz approached Phillips de Pury thanks to Charlie Scheips, international director for the department of photography since 2007, who has known the famous artist since 1987, when he worked as chief assistant for David Hockney. After this approach De Pury met Leibovitz to discuss this particular “alliance agreement”, which will certainly offer better opportunities to the photographer. Indeed, Phillips de Pury will curate Leibovitz’s “master set”, that is a selection of the 200 most representative works of her poetics, and her archive, while the New York agency Art+Commerce will continue to manage her more commercial works. 
The auction house will present most of the 30 works of its first sale at its London venue (until 22nd November), in concomitance with the inauguration of the personal exhibition entitled “Annie Leibovitz: a photographer’s life 1990-2005” at the National Portrait Gallery, until the 1st February. Each large-format photographic shooting belonging to Phillips will be printed and signed, and offered to art collectors and lovers for 20 thousand pounds (equivalent to 37 thousand dollars or 25 thousand euros). The auction house did not want to declare its commissions, although economists presume that they will not diverge much from the usual 50% of galleries. Obviously there will not be a flux of works between the exhibition-sale and Phillips’ auctions, which Simon De Pury considers two very different activities.
It is not the first time that Phillips has hosted exhibition-sales. The first ones started in New York in 2005 and since then the auction house has gained ground as an important dealer of great authors such as Helmut Newton (through its Zurich offices) and Guy Bourdin. However, the agreement with Leibovitz is something particular: this is the first time that Phillips de Pury has curated a living artist’s oeuvre. Moreover, it is happening in a period when the auction house is dealing in initiatives of “contemporary culture”, as the chairman defined them. All of this also includes the new glamorous offices in London; its sponsoring of a new Charles Saatchi gallery, in the English capital, with free entrance; and the launching of new sales categories to attract new gallery owners to auctions, for instance “Toy Art” at Saturday@Phillips. But how can we interpret these novelties? Some people believe that these initiatives are a good way to knock down the boundaries between galleries and auction houses; others think that Phillips de Pury is taking chances and that this could damage the economy. Simon De Pury claims that he does not know what outcome these initiatives will have. He is aware that Phillips de Pury is risking considerably, but he also admits that innovation is essential in the field of contemporary culture intended as a single body.
Another question that arises is how much this is costing Phillips de Pury. Unfortunately these financial data will never be published, but considering the latest changes in society we can claim that it is a rather important figure. Indeed, this private firm whose majority shareholder is Mr De Pury, together with ten partners, has received a large amount of money from a new Russian investor. In the first days of October, an announcement leaked out about a “strategic partnership” between Phillips de Pury and Mercury Group. An agreement entailing that the auction house has practically been sold to the wealthy Russian company, and that the profits will cover outstanding debts. De Pury refuses to make comments on the structure of Phillips de Pury but claims that it will be “able to self-support itself with the earnings from all the activities”, without needing external investments.
Besides these financial issues, we can say that Annie Leibovitz is being offered a breakthrough for her extraordinary career. As a successful portraitist, the US artist has a style characterised by the close collaboration between photographer and model. She became famous as a photographer for the magazine Rolling Stones. In the Eighties she started collaborating for advertising campaigns and as a portraitist for Vanity Fair.