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Pauline Karpidas

lines on the record: 26
first: 2025-09-16
most recent: 2025-09-16
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“And I can imagine if you're Pauline Carpidas, who's still alive living in New York, there must be something really thrilling about the, especially as she saw herself as a custodian, that all of these works upstairs suddenly getting this big public outing. I mean, that's the extraordinary thing about collections, isn't it? They're behind closed doors. And when you can come to these free exhibitions at Sotheby's, you can get to see these things before they disappear.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sort of your take, I mean, having spent time upstairs, we've had a gorgeous time up there earlier on together taking it in independently and together as a group. What are your takeaways? What do you think makes this special Tiki if you're going to go home tonight and tell someone about this extraordinary collection? How would you characterize it? What do you think?”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“With her pictures in them. And I think the way that you've recreated that is really special, reminding us that this is the touch and the passion enthusiasm of one person. There were real photos that went in those frames telling a real life story, which I think is gorgeous. So as we wrap up, I want to just ask you each.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“His art on art series, and this is such a terrific example. And I think it's, you know, we always think of Andy Warho as being so sort of upbeat and glib and pop and bold and colorful and superficial and all these sort of very clever ways that he predicted the world in which we would live. But actually here I think we see an image which is much more psychological, much more introspective. He borrows the kind of philosophy and poetry from this giant monk and I like seeing that conflation. I love how it hangs in the home as well, how fabulous. She had great choices for her interior design, I think, as well. And then finally, speaking of sort of interior design, it's just the way in which I was so touched by the way that there are some staggering things upstairs, enormous things, expensive things, physically large and imposing things. But then there were also just some really intimate, lovely objects like these Le Land picture frames.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This sort of religious undertones, but they go into more mythic territory. Again, I feel like it's a very contemporary painting. There's lots of contemporary artists working in such a fashion. And actually, she's working in Egg Tempera, which is amazing. So she's really sort of thinking about the Renaissance. And I love seeing it there on the wall. I think a lot of the pictures that I've been really taken by, and I think there's another theme that emerges in this collection, is, and I think Jasper made this point actually, which is that there are things which have got so many layers and complexities to them that she could keep getting more and more out of them. And it's almost sort of, she's challenging herself to acquire things is how I see it. And the moment she rehanks, you get another whole bounty of people that advice actually, is to don't buy the one that you get straight away, buy the one that confounds you. Your money's worth that way. Exactly. And then here, the Andy Warhol, I mean, I love Monk. I love Warhol and I love.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Fabulous. I love that. A quick refresh. Well, I couldn't resist picking my own as well because it just seemed too far not to. I had to be allowed to. And of course I chose Leonora Carrington, who's one of my all-time favorite artists. That's the one I wanted. The error of the Angelus. And I was just so taken with this painting because I think it really speaks to this particular moment in Leonora's Carrington's life. She's in Mexico. And she's long had an interest in things which are like mythical and mythologies of her Catholic upbringing. And then she arrives in Mexico and everything she sort of thought she knew about Catholicism slightly turned on its head. And so I think this is just such a extraordinary fusion, really, of this sort of renaissance medieval imagery that she's been inspired by.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You should say I think the things that she's selecting here are really ahead of their time, actually, and they're all really holding up. And I think, yeah, we'll come on and talk about that in a moment, but I think that's such an excellent point”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And it's always so wonderful when you see such a great representation of Fontana's sculpture. Of course, we're so used to the paintings, but when you see these bronzes, the very, very physical objects want to grab them. Okay, what else is on your list?”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I really completely agree with you. It's so ahead of its time, and I often think as with a lot of the surrealists, you forget just because there's so much of the surrealism in our everyday vernacular, that you almost forget just quite what a bolt out of the blue this was, how staggering it was, how...”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think one of the things that I've been very struck by is the sort of almost the ease at which she lived with this collection, you know, going upstairs and seeing the recreation, the books on the bookshelves next to the art, the beds, the paintings above the beds. When you look at the imagery of the installations, this is not a collection which is, you know, you could imagine this is not a person who wants to put things away into storage to hide things away. She was incredibly generous and treated these things as things to be lived with. And I worry that we're entering into an age where this is happening less and less. And I think it's particularly fascinating to look at her in the context in that regard with Dominique and with Peggy of these other two people that created a lifestyle just seems like a derogatory word, but a life without, a life filled with art. Tiki, how do you feel about living with your collection? I mean, you've got...”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I think what I find really fascinating as well is having not had the great fortune of going to that London home is going upstairs and seeing it recreated just how contemporary and how relevant the collection feels. And that there are lots of distinct objects, and we're going to talk about some of them. But you do sort of, you start to get a sense of her taste walking through the spaces. And sort of by the third room, Pauline, my old friend, you know, who you've never met, you feel like you know her through her choice. There's lots of brilliant depictions of women. There are lots of great women artists in the collection. I mean, she's not the kind of woman collector focusing only on women artists. That wouldn't have been something that was her motivation principally, I think primarily because she was finding things that appealed to her exactly as Jasper says, regardless of the label. It's very object-driven. Tell us about some of these figures that we see and these sort of either depictions of women or works by women.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And we also shouldn't forget, especially when you read sort of the many biographies of Peggy Guggenheim, for example, there was a real prejudice against women in the art world and that there were, you know, Peggy's family themselves would write to her in really patronizing terms and sort of the implication being she didn't really know what she was doing and actually oftentimes she was told she was being slightly embarrassing and there was bigger things happening in New York and could she sort of just stop what she was doing so can we talk a little bit about this sort of prejudice against the woman collector in the 20th century because I suppose today sitting here in 2025 we sort of take it for granted that you could have agency and acquired these extraordinary things that's just simply not the case in the past”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I've just published a book which has got an eye on the front. I mean, it's very interesting, and I think we keep referring to this phrase, you know, this woman who has an extraordinary eye. Jasper, you mentioned earlier on that Duchamp was one of the greatest art devisors of the 20th century. I completely agree with you. And of course, he was advising none other than Peggy Guggenheim. And Pauline Carpidis has been likened to these other two giant women collectors, Peggy Guggenheim and Dominique de Manil. Can you sort of talk about the three of them and what it is to be a great Collector, and in the tradition of those three, I suppose, all these staggering women collectors, and the advisors that they've had.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's an interesting word we keep coming back to. I mean, there's these fantastic eyes on the front of the facade. I mean, the building's been transformed as this love letter to Pauline Carpidas' collection. And Tiki and I were talking about eyes earlier on. You've got it on your belt, in your bag. I've got them on my nails.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, you can't do it in a vacuum. So, Tiki, you said, you know, we know that you began collecting when you were 18 and you said that you only really saw yourself as a collector once it had been sort of spelt out to you that other people wanted to see your collection. So therefore, by default, you had become a collector. This is quite an interesting way of putting it. How would you characterize yourself as a collector? What are the things that interest you? What inspires you?”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We touched on these extraordinary collaborations you've done with contemporary artists and the great relationships you've been able to forge. That's quite common in museum in the museum world and for gallerists, have great relationship with their artists. How common do you think it is for a collector to sort of forge those kind of deep and lasting direct relationships with artists?”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But also, what must have been fundamental to her was the relationships that she started to have directly with artists. And I think when you go upstairs, you see that she obviously became what she is very respected and loved by artists and that they'll do things for her, make things for her. I mean, tell us about some of the extraordinary relationships she had. I mean, she knew Warhol?”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So tell us a little bit about her advisor. I mean, it was a very special relationship we tend to find with these collectors that at the beginning there's someone that is a great introductory for someone who takes that passion and sort of directs it. Tell us about.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The answer phases in the room. Helena, what do you think it is about Pauline Carpidas from a sort of your perspective at Southey's that makes her particularly stand out amongst her generations as a significant collector? I mean, I think it's so interesting what Jasper just said about the idea of collecting itself being a creative act. I think she demonstrated that.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I have another tig on that one, which is how do you consider, when do you consider yourself a collector? You were just talking about that. I really never considered collecting, I mean, as a collector. I loved things. I wanted to have them and live with them and breathe.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“He says it in such a beautiful way. I actually asked my daughter yesterday if we could clear out some of her shells because she's got so many. So now you've just made me feel really guilty. Yeah, no.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Go to their homes, interview them. I interviewed 150 or more than 150 collectors. And so I wanted to learn everything about them, hear their stories, what their opinion was on the art markets, although I don't deal with that because I prefer to just talk about their personal and emotional connection with art, not the other part, which I'm sure Jasper you can talk about. What do you think it is, Jasper? Where do you think how would you characterize it? It's a strange phenomenon in many respects, but it's something so fascinating and fabulous for all of us.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What is it to be a collector? What is it to have to amass a collection? What do you think it is, Tiki? Do you think you need sort of money, a good eye, a particular personal enthusiasm? Where do collectors come from? Well, that's a magnificent question because, and I'm happy that you asked it because I've dedicated many, many years in trying to find out exactly how to answer the questions, how they see the world of art, how they live in it, how they collect, how they tick, what makes them really collectors, what the goals and strategies and motivations. And I find that there are many different ways of collecting and many different collectors. And so that motivated me to write books and to actually”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Of modern contemporary art in their history. And there's shows that you've put on there have been staggering, and the invitations you've extended and the things you've managed to get there, which are very unique collaboration. So you've done great shows for Lucian Freud, Mark Rothko, Joseph Cornell. We've just been talking about your collaborations with Ed Rouchet, no less. Edmund Duval, Wes Anderson and Human Malouf. On groundbreaking presentations, and Helena Newman, which is thrilling. So Sotherby's very own chairman of Sotherby's Europe and Chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art worldwide. Since joining Sotherby's in 1988, she's been at the forefront of development of the Impressionist and Modern Art Market and has been absolutely instrumental and been our fabulous guide this evening, telling us wonderful things that she'll now share with you about Pauline, who really is just such a special person. So let's kick off then and talk about this idea of being, you know, a custodian of taste. Some people feel a bit nervous about this word collective.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because actually, what's a key point of tonight is to look not just at Pauline Carpidas, but think about the context of women who have shaped art collecting and been custodians of taste themselves like you have. So we're very keen to hear from you. Jasper Sharp is joining me as well, who's a British curator and art historian. He worked as the head of exhibitions and collections at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, which is a nice gig, but then has got a fantastic gig because he's at the Kunch Historics Museum in Vienna, where he's the first ever curator.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Eye and a well-honed eye. And we're here tonight to talk about this extraordinary collection, which includes things like Jeff Kuhn's, Leonora Carrington, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warr, or Rene Magritte. I could go on and on, and you'll all have your own favourites and we have our favorites, which we'll share with you. And we're going to tell the story tonight, really, of Pauline Carpetas, who came from humble beginnings and went to go on to have these fantastic relationships with artists and to acquire such staggering things. And I have very distinguished guests joining me for this conversation this evening. We've got Tiki Atencio de Mersian with us, who was a Venezuelan-born collector. She's been collecting since she was 18, how fabulous. And she's written three books. Wait for this title. I love it. For art's sake, could have, would have, should have. Inside the homes of art dealers and inside the homes of artists. So thank you, Tiki. It's so brilliant to have you with us and get your perspective.”
2025-09-16 · Intelligence Squared · Sotheby’s Talks | Custodians of Taste: Pauline Karpidas and the Women who Shape the Art World · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT