Bio

In her eighteen years with Phillips, Vanessa Hallett has led the most senior and longest tenured global photographs team in the field to the forefront of the international market. Having joined Phillips in 2005, Vanessa’s leadership of the Photographs department has been defined by the successful introduction of emerging photographers to the secondary market, as well as historic sales for classic and contemporary photographers. She oversaw the auction of the record-breaking sale of Helmut Newton’s Sie Kommen, Paris (Dressed and Naked), 1981, for over $1.8 million, and Edward Weston’s Circus Tent, 1924, for $788,000. She also worked directly with the family of Dorothea Lange to bring works from their collection to auction. In her time with Phillips, she has been instrumental in the consignment of works from several prestigious collections, including works from Joy of Giving Something Foundation and the collection of Susie Tompkins Buell. The Buell collection set multiple world auction records for some of the most classic names in the medium, including Tina Modotti and Consuelo Kanaga. Specializing in global markets, Vanessa lectures regularly and is frequently interviewed by leading publications on collecting at all levels. She has been a featured speaker at many international institutions, including Museum of the Moving Image in Moscow, Fosun Foundation in Shanghai, and the Fotografiemuseum in Amsterdam. She was also named as one of Art + Auction's most powerful people in the art world. A member of the Getty Photographs Acquisition Council, Vanessa has also served as a juror for the International Photographs Awards and a reviewer for the Palm Springs Photo Festival Portfolio Review. Lastly, she can be seen on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow, where she appears as a photography appraiser. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University in Art History/Studio Art and a post-graduate degree in American Fine and Decorative Arts from Sotheby’s Institute of Art. She brings to her role at Phillips a deep understanding of the history and aesthetics of the medium and a high degree of connoisseurship.