Will Russell
Specialist Head of Department
For almost 20 years, Will Russell has worked in the Decorative Arts and Sculpture Departments at Christie's. He joined Christie’s in 2000, just in time for the spectacular sale of French decorative arts from the Riahi Collection that realized $40 million, the highest total for a single-owner sale of French furniture at auction. Two years later, Will organized the Malmaison Sale of Roger Prigent's iconic collection of decorative arts from the 18th through 20th centuries. Since 2005, Will has been responsible for sculpture and works of arts - objects ranging in date from the 12th through early 19th centuries - for North, Central and South America.
Will works closely with his London and Paris Sculpture Department colleagues and, together, they have sold some of the most important sculpture ever to come to auction or private sale. In 2015, Will organized the sale of the Abbott-Guggenheim collection which totaled $14 million and remains the largest sculpture collection sold at auction. In 2014, Christie’s, New York, sold the Rijksmuseum the Bacchic Figure by Adrien de Vries which, at $27 million, remains the world record price for a piece of European Sculpture at auction. Will, drawing on his years spent in the curatorial departments of 3 major museums, has also worked closely with almost every important United States museum on their de-accessioned sculpture and works of art including the Harvard University Art Museums, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Louisville’s Speed Museum, the Toledo and Columbus Museums of Art, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, among many others.
A graduate of Connecticut College, Will received his M.A. degree in 1991 after graduate work at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts and Princeton University. This was followed by fellowships in the Sculpture and Decorative Arts Departments at the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. From 1996-2000, Will was the curator of the most important private collection in the Czech Republic, the Lobkowicz Collections, at Prague Castle and Nelahozeves Castle.