Michael Baptist
Vice President, Specialist, Co-Head of Day Sale | Post-War & Contemporary Art
Michael Baptist is a Vice President, Specialist, and Co-Head of the Day Sale in the Post-War and Contemporary Art department in New York. He previously served as head of sale for the Gerald Fineberg Collection, as well as the Collection of Thomas and Doris Ammann day sale auction. Michael was also the Head of Online Auctions for the Post-War and Contemporary Art department in New York from 2020-2023, during which time he drove the name-brand First Open online auctions to new heights, and conducted a number of online auctions dedicated to prominent private collections. From 2016-2020, Michael served as a junior specialist for the post-war and contemporary Evening Sale auctions in New York, and assisted in the sales of masterpieces such as Jeff Koons’ Rabbit and major collections such as the Robert B. Mayer Family Collection and the Barney A. Ebsworth Collection. Prior to joining Christie’s in 2013, he worked for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Michael specializes in a range of post-war and contemporary artists, including the post-war period of American abstract expressionism, pop art, and 1980s New York artists. He earned a B.A. in English from Northeastern University in Boston, and studied art history at Studio Art Center International in Florence, Italy.
