About Heritage Auctions - Art: 20th Century Design

Karen holds a Master’s Degree in Decorative Arts History from Parsons’s School of Design and the New School for Social Research through the Cooper Hewitt Museum.  Her career began in the curatorial departments of distinguished collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts where responsibilities included the reinstallation of the decorative arts collections and period rooms as well as establishing the collecting direction of the Norwest Modernism Collection.

She went on to Gallery Directorships in Chicago, Atlanta and Birmingham, MI, accepting opportunities to continue to curate exhibitions while buying extensively and developing private collections of furniture, ceramics and glass.  Beginning in 2003 she developed curriculum and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the History of Decorative Arts for institutions including Georgia State University.

Karen has been with Heritage Auction since 2007, and has been involved with the Fine Silver & Vertu Auctions sincere their inception in May 2008.  She is currently Director of Silver and Decorative Arts.

Brent Lewis is an art and design specialist based in Los Angeles and the director of design for Heritage Auctions.   He has spent over fifteen years in the auction business, working with both East and West Coast firms as a specialist and auctioneer.  In his role at Heritage, Brent oversees the department of 20th Century and Contemporary Design, focusing on building Heritage’s market in mid-century and postwar design.

Prior to joining Heritage, Brent was the director of Wright auction house’s New York gallery, and was formerly a Vice President and Auctioneer at Christie's, New York.  Previously he was the Gallery Director of Moss, New York and held roles at Freeman’s auction house in Philadelphia and Bonham’s in Los Angeles. Brent has appeared on PBS’ Antiques Roadshow and is a contributing editor of Cultured Magazine.  He has published widely on the subjects of art and design with recent subjects including Frank Gehry, Robert Wilson, Gaetano Pesce, Tom Sachs, Carlos Cruz-Diez and Los Carpinteros.