A new exhibition opens tomorrow at The Metropolitan Museum of Art that I am really looking forward to seeing. The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art showcases 228 Dutch paintings from its collection including 20 by Rembrandt himself. This show will be up through January 6, 2008 and promises to be a popular one with both visitors and New Yorkers. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue (at 81st Street).

The exhibition is organized according to the formation of the Met’s collection or the acquisition of Dutch paintings from 1870 to the present through the generous donations of major American art collectors and titans of industry as well as through acquistions by curators and the leadership of the Met.

I have recently added additional links to artists and organizations mentioned on this site. You may now navigate to the websites of the artists featured here as well as to the various museums that appear in this blog from the “Links” box.

The contemporary art market boom has meant good fortune for many big name artists and for those dealers who sell their work. There are also many contemporary artists out there whose names are not so well-known and whose works are not bringing six figure sums at auctions. Many of those artists produce wonderful work, however, and there are many collectors out there snapping up their pieces. But how to know what to buy…

In general, art world people tend to say that if something is under $5,000 you should buy it if you love it and not worry about its future resale or what it might be worth down the road. It would be far too difficult to speculate that some unknown artist whose work sells for $1,500 would ever rise to prominence in the art world and that the investment in such a piece will be profitable in the long term. Of course that does happen in some instances, but it is almost impossible to know who will be the lucky ones. I firmly believe that no matter what the price point one should buy a work of art that speaks to him/her, that sticks in his/her mind long after he/she has seen it. The higher the prices get for an artist, however, the more one should be able to identify markers of quality (not just popularity).

If you are going to purchase contemporary art there are things you can look for in an artist or in a work of art that make for a good quality piece of art. Though you may or may not make a fortune on your portfolio of contemporary art you can’t go wrong by purchasing works that you really enjoy and which are good quality. Here are five basic things to look for in contemporary artists indicating quality:

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The Brimfield Antique Show, a tri-annual event, begins September 4th in Brimfield, MA. The show is known across the country and frequented by collectors, bargain hunters and many interior designers and dealers looking for great material. I recently had a conversation with my friend Amy Lombard who is a seasoned Brimfield veteran, and I asked her for some advice on attending and buying at the show. She had such great insights and useful information that I thought I would share it.

LPDM: How often do you attend Brimfield?
AL: I go once a year. I go to the May show, when the dealers bring their best stuff and the show is apparently the biggest. The July and Sept shows aren’t nearly as good.

LPDM: What is your favorite thing about this particular fair?
AL: I love the excitement of seeing what the dealers bring. Many of them have museum-quality pieces. Ask lots of questions. If you can’t figure out why a bowl is priced at $12,000, ask the dealer, and he’ll tell you all about it. I also love meeting people from all over the country who attend the show.

LPDM: Describe for me your first visit there.
AL: I went with my friend Amy Zapton who I was working with at Domino magazine. She had a Brimfield article tacked to her bulletin board. She’d never been to a show either and right then and there we planned to go. We booked a hotel. It was expensive–and a pretty bad hotel. That’s what happens to hotel rates in the area during show time. I drove to Massachusetts from New York City and got stuck in horrible Connecticut traffic. We got into town at about 1 am. We slept about 5 hours before leaving for the show fields. The minute we got to the show I thought, AHA! This is what it’s all about. It was brilliant!

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When deciding how, when and where to sell works of art collectors often consider selling works of art at auction. Though in theory the process is simple (you deliver your work of art to an auctioneer and they sell it on your behalf) in practice it is more complex. There are are a variety of factors, fees and issues which a seller should know about and consider when consigning a painting to auction.

Venue

When I work with a client to sell artwork(s) I sometimes recommend selling at auction because for some pieces of art auctions are likely to produce the quickest sale, the best price for the seller and the most fun for seller as well. For example, often very large groups of artwork, say from an estate, are best sold through auction houses who can manage a group sale rather than a piecemeal sales process through a private dealer. Other times auctions make sense when the works for sale are very specific in nature and would fit well into a particular sale and when that auction will be marketed to a particular group of qualified buyers. For example, when I was asked to sell a group of 20th Century Middle Eastern paintings for a client a few years ago I suggested that they be sold at auction. I knew there was an upcoming auction of that very type of artwork in London, the appropriate venue for these works and one likely to involve intense auction house marketing in the relevant buying population, and that the auction was the best chance for this material to find an interested audience.

Once one has decided to sell a particular work(s) at auction the choice of venue also then involves the question of whether to sell through a big auction house such as Christie’s, Sotheby’s or Bonham’s or a smaller regional auctioneer known for its expertise in a particular sale category or geographical location.

Contract Terms

When negotiating a consignment agreement one should assume that there are going to be numerous contract terms which are set in stone and which the auction house legal counsel will insist upon keep intact such as warranties and guarantees. Other terms (such as the fees, the wording to appear in the auction catalogue, the use of the piece of art in advance of the sale such as in traveling auction previews, etc.) are more negotiable at the option of the department head. These terms should all be agreed upon in writing, in the consignment agreement, prior to delivering the work of art to the auction house for sale.

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