WHEELING AND DEALING
• THE ROLE OF THE ART DEALER TODAY IN THE ART MARKET
• Dealers play a critical role in maintaining the integrity and viability of museum acquisitions and donations with proper provenance and correct art appraisals for art purchases by museums and private collectors. (Important for tax deduction purposes)
• Provide a strong counterattack to forgeries • Help return and locate stolen works • Dealers can also destroy credibility of a museum’s or
gallery’s collection, reputation of an artist and/or gallery, and con people out of their money.
Art Dealers Yesterday and Today
• Birth of the Art Market in 17th century Holland
• The historical mother of estate sales: The families of the deceased would sell everything from clothes, paintings, furniture, etc. to pay off debts and/or make extra money
Art Dealers Yesterday and Today
• By the 18th century, the dealer was the main middleman for expanding art market.
• Europeans wanted experts who could evaluate and manage art works
• Most famous of these Frenchman named Gersaint: Self-Promoter, Benefactor who shelters and encourages the artist in a disinterested fashion, wrote his main artist’s biography in 1744 (Jean Antoine Watteau 1684-1721) placing himself in a wonderful light.
• In France, stigma surrounded the dealer profession-society felt they were only driven by money, not to mention that artists from the Royal Academy and Noblemen were not permitted to engage in open commerce of their art works.
Jean Antoine Watteau L’Enseigne de Gersaint, 1720Oil on canvas; 163 x 308 cm; Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin
Art Dealer
Characteristics of an art dealer
• Collector, lover of art, possesses personal relationship with the artist, fundamentally-businessman/businesswoman
Mary Boone in her NY gallery today
Art Dealers in America
• Long History of Art Dealing in Europe
• While there were Art Dealers since colonial times in America, Art Dealers became officially organized only in 1962 after the postwar era, becoming The Art Dealers Association
• Today the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) is composed of 160 member galleries in more than 25 U.S. cities.
How does one become an ADAA Dealer?
• Invitation only• Minimum 5 years
experience• Reputation for honesty
and integrity• Expert knowledge of the
artists and periods• Substantial contribution
to cultural life of arts community through good exhibitions, scholarly catalogues, and other documentary materials
Dealers are important because……
• Fight against fraudulent art appraisal practices
Tax Deductions for donated art-Federal Government suspicious of estimations since the early 1960s
Currently donations are what you paid for the work not what it may go for in the art market
Dealers are important because….
• Fight against Forgery• ADAA helped Walter P. Chrysler Jr. (Son of
Chrysler founder) remove several fake masterpieces (Cezanne, Van Gogh, etc.) that were sold to him before he opened his new museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1962.
• ADAA prevented C.B. Charles Gallery in Pompano Beach, FL-1997 from selling fakes of Frankenthaler, De Kooning, Schiele during an auction
Dealers are important because….• Fight against stolen art• They are important figures in provenance (historical
record of artwork) by providing documentation of works sold.
• Can help return stolen art to rightful owners through the maintenance of proper records and activism e.g. Holocaust survivors
• ADAA was the central source of information regarding stolen art until 1987. Without them the Art Loss Registry (based in London) would not be what it is today.
Three Bad Dealers
• Ely Sakhai-owner of the Art Collection, Inc. sentenced to 41 months in Federal Prison for multi-million dollar international art forgery scheme involving more than 11 forged paintings.
• Bought authentic pieces, placed them on auction, then he had forgeries made of those same pieces and provided fake documents to art collectors in Tokyo and New York.
Marc Chagall La Nappe Mauve,
Vincent van Gogh, Fleurs dans un Vase
Marie Laurencin
MARIE LAURENCIN (after)Three Girls with a Mandolin.Color collotype, circa 1935. 250x330 mm; 9 3/4x13 inches
Michael Cohen
• Self-made man-never attended college• Independently wealthy by early 1990s-Lived between
New York and Malibu, California• Swindled dealers and auctions houses out of $40-$50
Million dollars• Given millions to purchase works of art he never
purchased• Hiding out in Cuba• Some want him to return and pay his dues to them-
without jail time• Some want him arrested and financially ruined.
John Drewe
• From Surrey, England
John Drewe
• From Surrey, England• 1986-1996 sold forgeries and provided fake documents
to Christie’s, Sotheby’s, West End Dealers, Tate Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert Museum (Ben Nicholson, Graham Sutherland, Alberto Giacometti-140 still at large, 60 Forgeries Recovered
John Drewe
• From Surrey, England• 1986-1996 sold forgeries and provided fake documents
to Christie’s, Sotheby’s, West End Dealers, Tate Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert Museum (Ben Nicholson, Graham Sutherland, Alberto Giacometti-140 still at large, 60 Forgeries Recovered
• Accrued 1.8 Million Pounds during his ten year scheme
John Drewe
• From Surrey, England• 1986-1996 sold forgeries and provided fake documents
to Christie’s, Sotheby’s, West End Dealers, Tate Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert Museum (Ben Nicholson, Graham Sutherland, Alberto Giacometti-140 still at large, 60 Forgeries Recovered
• Accrued 1.8 Million Pounds during his ten year scheme• Jailed for six years
Conclusion
ART DEALERS
FORCE OF GOOD FORCE OF EVIL
Art Dealers Today