GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: A WOOLY MAMMOTH GOES TO AUCTION

Damien Hirst, Gone but Not Forgotten. Photo: Simon de Pury

Auctioneers bear witness to all sorts of displays of extravagance. Simon de Pury, the "Mick Jagger of art auctions," is a masterful Swiss auctioneer and founder of Phillips de Pury & Company, one of the largest auction houses in the world. In his new column for Artnet, Simon's World, he dishes on the latest blue-chip auctions, giving us a glimpse into one of the more glamorous corners of the art world.

His latest, on the Cinema Against AIDS fundraising gala held in Cannes, takes a look at how Damien Hirst's Gone but Not Forgotten came to fetch $15 million on the block. (Spoiler alert: he compares Hirst's lack of pre-auction marketing to the surprise launch of Beyoncé's album.) What better reminder of the arcane workings of the art market than the gilded skeleton of a ten-thousand year old mammoth? Read de Pury's article here.

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