Oakley worked at CSK from 2004-2013 and then at Sotheby’s as director of British & Irish Art until 2016.
At Sworders, Oakley is charged with further developing Sworders' Modern British and 20th Century Art auctions.
Her first move will be to launch an auction series titled ‘Sporting Art, Wildlife and Dogs,’ at the Stansted Mountfitchet rooms in Essex on April 24 next year.
Sworders chairman Guy Schooling said Oakley’s appointment “will enable Sworders to expand the scope, quantity and most importantly quality of works we offer”.
About the 'sporting' series for launch next April, Oakley said: “No one else is doing this format in London since South Kensington closed. Good quality pictures in these areas will always find buyers, and in particular the market for dog pictures is strong.”
The sale will encompass oil paintings, watercolours, prints and sculptures from the 17th Century to the present day.
CSK tenure
Oakley spent nearly 10 years at CSK, working there from 2004-2013, rising to become head of Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist, Maritime and Sporting Art sales.
Highlights of her tenure included the £1.6 million Lehman Brothers’ Artwork and Ephemera Sale in 2010 and the auction of the Langan Collection two years later, which almost topped £2 million.
She then moved to Sotheby’s as director of British & Irish Art in 2013, where she re-introduced Scottish Art sales.
Oakley has worked at all of the 'big four' auctioneers in her career so far. She worked at Bonhams as a fine art specialist from 2002 to 2004, starting out as a specialist in 1998 at Phillips.
