In less than a year, Christie’s postwar and contemporary department in London has lost virtually all its key specialists, leading to speculation that Pilar Ordovas, its hardcharging and high-spirited head, has somehow triggered a stampede of her colleagues to competing houses. The latest departures include those of 13-year veteran and head of sales Anthony McNerney, who bolted to Phillips de Pury London in February, and Alma Luxembourg, the daughter of private dealer Daniella Luxembourg, who will join Sotheby’s private-sales team once her no-compete clause expires. McNerney follows his former Christie’s colleague Laetitia Catoir, who went to Phillips in New York last year. Reached in Madrid, where she was business getting, Ordovas gasped and then laughed when asked what might be causing the exodus. “We’ve become a target for people to come and poach our talent because we’ve been the market leader,” she says, adding that new hires will be announced in the near future. “It’s also an opportunity to rebuild our department.”

"The Great Exodus" originally appeared in the May 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's May 2008 Table of Contents.