Reprinted from the New York Times / June 14, 2021
David Teniers the Younger - “Archduke Leopold William in his Gallery at Brussels” 1651 painting of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm's Italian art collection by the Flemish Baroque painter David Teniers the Younger, now held in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
THE QUESTION POSED BY THE HEADLINE is, in theory, easy enough. The sheer volume of art being sold across the world each year is far greater than at any point in human history. There was a 22 percent drop in global sales of art and antiques in 2020 — to all of $50.1 billion. Those figures, the most credible data on this topic that exist — and this alone will say a lot about the art world for the uninitiated — come from an annual report by the economist Clare McAndrew funded and released by Art Basel, a contemporary art fair, and its corporate partner UBS, the Swiss multinational financial services company and one of the largest private banks in the world, which by comparison reported $32.39 billion in revenue in 2020. But let’s just say it’s a lot of money changing hands. For one last comparison: $50 billion is also the cost proposed by the International Monetary Fund to cover its global plan to combat Covid-19.
But the fact is that buying art is not so obvious. Having an expendable income at all in the year 2021 is a difficult proposition for the vast majority of people. But if you are someone who has been lucky enough to maintain steady employment during the pandemic (last April, the U.S. unemployment rate reached the highest level since the Great Depression), and you have some extra money lying around and have spent the last year looking at the blank walls of your home with encroaching angst — simply having that money doesn’t automatically translate into owning a work of art. Where do you begin? What should you look at?
The art world is no picnic, either, and if you’ve ever felt alienated or intimidated walking into a gallery, take comfort in knowing you’re not alone. It’s not unusual for a first-time art buyer to approach a gallery and be asked, without any irony, what other art they have in their collection. And given the extreme variability of prices, which can rise substantially overnight based on the results of a secondary market sale at an auction house, it’s hard to even know what something should cost, and why. Trends arrive quickly and burn out just as fast. (If you can’t remember any of the names associated with something called zombie formalism, or if you’re even a little fuzzy on the term itself, once again you’re also not alone.)
Speaking of which, the world of cryptocurrency entered the high end of the art market for the first time this year, when an NFT — honestly, don’t ask — created by a 39-year-old artist known as Beeple sold for $69.3 million at a Christie’s auction. Ten days later, Cameron Winklevoss, who, together with his twin brother, Tyler, has been estimated to own over $2 billion in cryptocurrency, posted a message on Twitter: “NFTs liberate art. Traditional art is confined to time and space. You have to be in the right city, go to a museum, be invited to someone’s home, etc. Anyone, anywhere with an internet connection can view NFTs and take them in. This is a huge breakthrough.” Anyway, I’m sure all of that is going to end well for everyone involved. What I mean is, there are a lot of ways — even new ways — to spend money on art, and maybe not all of them are for you!
As an introduction and guide to this world, we’ve asked experts — collectors, gallery owners, art dealers, artists, advisers — a theoretically easy question: How do you buy a work of art? Here’s what they had to say. — M.H. Miller
Interviews by:
Andrew Russeth and Megan O’Grady
With advice from:
Lorenzo Atkinson, Collector
Ashley Carr, Co-founder, Modica Carr Art Advisory
Eleanor Cayre, Art adviser
Brian Donnelly, a.k.a., KAWS, Artist and collector
Bridget Finn, Co-founder, Reyes | Finn gallery
Heather Flow, Art adviser
James Fuentes, Owner, James Fuentes gallery
Denise Gardner, Collector and board chair-elect, the Art Institute of Chicago
Ebony L. Haynes, Director, David Zwirner gallery
Alexis Johnson, Partner, Paula Cooper Gallery
Maggie Kayne, Art dealer, Kayne Griffin
Monique Meloche, Art dealer, Monique Meloche Gallery
Suzanne Modica, Co-founder, Modica Carr Art Advisory
Valeria Napoleone, Collector and patron
Mary Rozell, Global head, UBS Art Collection, and author of “The Art Collector’s Handbook” (2014)
Ann Schaffer, Patron and collector
Jessica Wessel, Attorney and collector
Figure Out Your Taste and What You Like
Hendrick Bloemaert, “Old Woman Selling Eggs” (1632). The Picture Art Collection/Alamy Stock Photo
Ann Schaffer
First of all, you have to visit a lot of galleries and museum shows and meet with artists. I guess if I were to pick one word, it would be “exposure.” And you never should limit yourself to art that you think you’re going to like. When you get this constant exposure, especially to things that you don’t think you’re going to like, it leads to a certain discovery, and so then you learn what it is that you react to.
Brian Donnelly
You just have to follow your lead, you know? I think the only reason to collect is to follow your own interests. And it’s funny, once people know that you collect, some things kind of shake out of the trees and land in front of you.
Ebony L. Haynes
Maybe you don’t feel connected to — or you don’t enjoy speaking to — gallery staff, or you still feel like there’s a barrier there for you, then maybe you look online. Don’t get too caught up in the definitive purchase and invoice moment, but really enjoy the process of discovering what it is you can afford, or you’d like to live with. It takes a bit of time.
James Fuentes
I used to tell people just to pound the pavement, and to see as many galleries as they can possibly see — if you want to be a very informed collector, just try to develop an encyclopedic knowledge of what’s going on, get the lay of the land. That’s very time-consuming, and if you’ve got a 9-to-5, it’s gonna be a slower process. But now I would suggest that, in addition to pounding the pavement, they should also be doing the equivalent with researching and learning about artists’ O.V.R.s [online viewing rooms, accessible through most galleries’ websites], where content is offered beyond the galleries’ physical spaces. A lot of people have stepped up their presence online, and it was only a matter of time. When I opened in 2007, even back then we used to check how many people were looking at the website every day. And while we would have maybe three people in the gallery on a good day back then, I could have maybe 300 people look at our website from all over the world. So the O.V.R. is just an acknowledgment of that. And then there are the more general, immersive opportunities to learn about art, which are the biennials, the fairs, the Bushwick studio art day [Bushwick Open Studios] or something like that. There are always opportunities to see a hundred different artists in a single day. Time is very precious, but a collector can get into the mind-set where looking at art can be beneficial to their wellness — the time spent doesn’t matter because it can be a joy.
Ann Schaffer
I really can’t mention the artist, because if you ever print it, I’d be in trouble. But we bought one artist at a gallery and paid very little, and I said, “I don’t understand what anybody would want to buy this for,” but I had this instinct that it was going to be something that was going to be hyped up. So I bought it, and I put it in my closet. And then I sold it. … And I made a really nice profit. And that same piece has since gone for well over a million dollars. But I didn’t like it. It was the only time I ever bought something that I didn’t like, but I bought it for a reason. And it was just to see if I was right about the hype.
Eleanor Cayre
People say buy what you love, but I don’t find this to be such helpful advice when talking to a new collector, especially one who is collecting the art of our time made by artists of their own generation. You need to find what you love, of course, but the process shouldn’t end there. I often tell my clients: “If you love an artist or artwork the first time you encounter it, it’s probably because it reminds you of something else you can’t afford!” When it comes to new art, familiar is not the feeling we should be looking for. If we look back at history, we can see that the best art of its time was never comfortable or familiar. Don’t be scared to buy something you don’t fully understand.
James Fuentes
It’s so cliché, but if you follow your heart, if you make a purchase of an artwork that doesn’t increase in value but is something that you love and brings you joy, then you’ve won. The fact that the market is here or there doesn’t matter.
Lorenzo Atkinson
I’ve had moments where I was like, “OK, you should buy this because it’s a good investment, and you never know where it’s going to go.” And then that piece is never something that I enjoy looking at.
Monique Meloche
There are plenty of lists out there that will tell you: “Here are the top five artists this week on Artsy,” “Here are the top five artists at this auction,” but it’s not like, “here’s the best stereo system.” You have to trust yourself more because you can’t go on Yelp and figure out what artist you’re going to buy.
2. Do Your Research
Rembrandt, “The Money Changer” (1627), oil on oak, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin. bpk-Bildagentur/Art Resource, NY. Photo: Christoph Schmidt
Ebony L. Haynes
Don’t feel like you have to do a lot of research around the market. If that’s what you’re looking at, it’s the wrong reason to start, from my perspective. I know there are people who are in it for that reason, but all you have to remember is to buy what you want to look at and live with.
Denise Gardner
I believe in doing a bit of homework. Educating yourself and reading up about the kind of art you’re interested in is really essential. There are a lot of great books about art. I think of the book about Pamela Joyner’s collection, “Four Generations: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art” (2019). I mean, that’s such a great reference tool. Back when we got started, it was Romare Bearden’s book [“A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present,” written with Harry Henderson and published in 1993], and then there was a book about the Harriet and Harmon Kelley collection [“The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art,” 1994]. The pages are all folded down on that book.
James Fuentes
Irving Sandler’s book [“Art of the Postmodern Era: From the Late 1960s to the Early 1990s,” 1996], a big kind of anthology, was a real resource for me when I was in college and probably got me into this field. I’m having a similar learning curve right now just trying to understand NFTs. Getting your bearings in contemporary art is going to be significantly easier than getting your bearings in cryptocurrency and NFTs.
Jessica Wessel
I go back to the Marcel Duchamp biography by Calvin Tomkins [“Duchamp: A Biography,” 1996]. One of the things that I pulled from that that really stuck with me is that he believed in the aesthetic echo. The idea is that if I ever had a kernel of an eye, I’ve always had it. He thought you were born with it, and that’s my opinion, as well. People like to think you can teach it, but I don’t think so.
Heather Flow
Go to Contemporary Art Daily and Art Viewer [both websites that post pictures from current art shows around the world] and screenshot anything you like. Just create a file for yourself so you can start to see things you like and save them. There’s this book by Michael Findlay, “Seeing Slowly: Looking at Modern Art” (2017), and it explains how to look at something that’s not illustrative per se. Join a museum group because you get a kind of automatic entry into the world. You have someone who’s going to take you on tours, and you have a group of friends who you can see things with.
Bridget Finn
Something that you may be immediately thrilled by upon first viewing may not be something you want to live with forever. Doing your research, in whatever way is easiest for you, is a great place to start. A lot of that is social media these days because people just aren’t able to get to places in person. You also sometimes get unique access to an artist’s practice, right? You can’t always visit an artist’s studio — when you can, do — but seeing the inner workings of those things through Instagram or Facebook or whatever is still kind of a unique insight. What’s difficult in the world of social media is that there are just so many things thrown to you at once, so how do you filter all of that? That is something we’re still learning. Here, there’s something called Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club, which has been going on for years. In the beginning, it was a group of artists that met at a local Coney Island [basically what people in southeastern Michigan call a diner]; now you can access the group through Facebook. Artists share their work all day long, so many people bring things they made together to share with each other.
Alexis Johnson
The volume can be overwhelming. Thankfully, notions of one city, medium, race or gender holding dominion are fading, opening a multiplicity of ideas, but also creating a daunting number of paths for a first-time art buyer. The canon’s expansion is long overdue — it just demands more intentionality.
Brian Donnelly
I mean, the great thing about art is once it’s made, it sits in the ecosystem and it doesn’t matter if it’s young or old, it’s just an object. You just gotta look.
3. Go to a Gallery …
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, “The Parable of the Blind” (1568). Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. Scala/Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali/Art Resource, NY
Ann Schaffer
You see all these cartoons of people walking into a gallery, and the person at the desk has her head down looking at whatever. It’s a very cold thing for people, and that’s the joke all the time. But very frankly, if I walked into a gallery and saw that, I would do my best to wake that person up and make her or him be more alert to the needs of the collectors or visitors or whomever, because I don’t think any gallery would like to know that that’s the impression their staff is giving.
Bridget Finn
I know that all sorts of people get intimidated walking into a gallery. I mean, it happens to me, and I’ve been doing this forever. You get the wrong look at the desk and you’re like, “Oh God. Just gonna keep my head down and blaze through this.” But the reality is, oftentimes, people in galleries are just working at that desk, so the minute you say hello and ask a question or two, you’re immediately welcomed into a conversation, because most people who work in galleries, above all else, want to talk to people about art and artists, so having a conversation where they can share something that they know with you is valuable to them. And if you’re new to buying artwork, share that information with the gallery. I’ve recently had a couple of people approach me about buying artwork for the first time, and it’s exciting, especially given the times that we’re living in.
Ebony L. Haynes
Most galleries don’t want there to be super-crazy barriers between us and the collector. We like talking to collectors, whether you’re young or new, or a veteran of it. If you’re interested in art, this is just a whole world of people who work in that field, so we want to talk about it, too. The optics of it are that it’s transactional only, that it’s buying and selling, but it’s really relationships. It’s important to remember the art world feels insular, but it’s quite nuanced, and nothing is homogeneous. There’re no real steadfast rules that can be applied to every facet of it. So to that point, maybe I’m more transparent than another dealer, and maybe you find you connect with one gallery more than another. Keep that in mind when you’re looking for stuff you like, and give yourself a little break if you don’t find it right away. Keep trying.
James Fuentes
It’s important for people to know that they don’t have to tolerate abuse from sellers or dealers or gallerists.
Alexis Johnson
I don’t know any etiquette other than human kindness.
Monique Meloche
Galleries are much less scary than people think they are, and especially now, the egos have gone into check a little bit. People just need to get over that weird stigma of the gallery as a cold place where you can’t ask questions. Now that we’ve all been doing this virtually for the past year — the transparency is there because now so many more prices are being listed. Collectors can get a lot more access to the data that wasn’t out there even a year ago.
Maggie Kayne
Gallerists can be assholes, but go introduce yourself. If you like someone’s program, go — there’s always a front desk person who is hungry to grow, and they’ll say hi and you just start slowly.
… or an Art Fair …
Eleanor Cayre
Art fairs provide a good opportunity to see a lot of art in one place, and to meet gallerists from all over the world, but if you are new to collecting, they are not an ideal setting to buy art. Impulse buying as a new collector usually leads to regret.
… or an Auction Preview
James Fuentes
I had read and heard about this incredible relationship between a gallery, an artist and a collector. There's an important collector from Puerto Rico named César Reyes, who saw a Times review of a Peter Doig show at Gavin Brown's tiny storefront on Broome Street. He came to the show and purchased his first Doig artwork, and then he just became an ardent supporter of the gallery, and the artist, for decades. A few years later, he purchased another Doig painting ["Reflection (What Does Your Soul Look Like)," 1996] for about $20,000. I don’t know what the circumstances were, but at some point he decided to sell the work at auction instead of through the gallery. Normally, that would have severed his friendship with Gavin Brown and Peter Doig, but he had put so much good will into his relationships with these people, they probably knew that if he makes a killing off this, he’s going to continue to buy art from us and support us. So Peter Doig decides to attend the auction, along with Brown and Reyes. And they see the thing soar — I think it was $10 million that it sold for. That’s always been a really fascinating story for me. People are so afraid of the auction houses, the boogeyman or whatever. This whole field is an ecosystem, and the more you are a nurturing and positive presence in it, the better off you are.
4. Ask Questions and Establish Contacts
Gerrit van Honthorst, “The Tooth Puller” (1627), oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris © RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY. Photo: Stéphane Maréchalle
Eleanor Cayre
People in the art world love to talk.
Heather Flow
If you actually really like an artist and want to buy a work, just nag the gallery as much as possible. Follow up and don’t stop, because they will eventually remember you and help you find something.
Maggie Kayne
It could be easy to give up on somebody fronting like, you know, “I’ve got this big fancy house and I’m gonna buy art eventually,” but they just want to ask you questions for two years and they don’t buy anything from you. I’m not an art adviser — I have a shop. If you need your hand held in that way, then you should probably talk to an art adviser, and there are some great ones. There are some bad ones, too.
Bridget Finn
I like people who tend to be very open: “This is what I think I like, this is what I don’t know, this is where I’m starting.” And then, I love it when people really get involved, when they really do their research, when they really develop a connection with an artist’s practice and are out there advocating for the work as well.
Jessica Wessel
The more I started practicing law, I realized that it just wasn’t for me. It didn’t fire me up. I didn’t want to read Hedge Fund Today. So what I first started to do was, I would just go to art openings. I would go after work. But, you know, I was a loser. I’m in a black suit, I’m in the corner. But that was really, at that point, just learning. Developing my eye, seeing things. Being like, “Oh, I’m seeing a lot of that.” And just learning pricing. I was bold. I would just ask for anything. I have that wheeling and dealing business background — the boys that I went to business school with wouldn’t hesitate to walk in anywhere and ask what something costs.
Ebony L. Haynes
I teach at Yale School of Art, and I teach some other students for free. Everybody’s often surprised that you can ask for prices anywhere. There’s some legal requirement to have the prices available for anything that’s on display. [New York City’s “Truth in Pricing Law,” which requires all retail establishments to post prices of their merchandise in plain view.] I think the bigger issue is people feeling not welcome to ask, or not understanding the art world in general. But maybe with the advent of online platforms, they feel more comfortable or understand that the price isn’t meant to be a complete secret to everyone. I had an assignment for the Yale students to find an artist or a show that you like and call to get the prices. Because we’re talking about pricing their own work. And they didn’t know you could even do that.
Jessica Wessel
Make friends with people and learn about what they’re seeing. I’m constantly asking, “What have you seen lately that you like?” Or “what do you think of this person’s work?” And now I’m snobby enough that when people say, “Oh, have you heard of this artist?” My first step is to go on Instagram, and if none of my artist friends follow that person — no thanks. The artists know before we do.
Valeria Napoleone
Many times, I’ve asked artists I trust, “Should I collect this artist? Should I touch it?” And they tell me, “No, no, no.” Or they tell me, “Yes.” These are the people I trust.
Lorenzo Atkinson
I love Derrick Adams’s work, and I’m never going to be able to afford it, but he posts a lot of artists on Instagram that he enjoys. So look at artists that you love and see who they love, because they usually are the biggest supporters for younger artists and want to see them succeed as much as they have.
5. So You’ve Been Put On the Waiting List
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, “Two Chained Monkeys” (1562), oil on oak panel, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin. bpk-Bildagentur/Art Resource, NY. Photo: Jörg P. Anders
Lorenzo Atkinson
A lot of galleries, I would email them, email them and no response. It’s just like, “I’m willing to pay you money, why won’t you just sell me the art?” And so I would just reach out to the artist and be like, “Hey, I’m trying to get in touch with your gallerist.” And they would be like, “Oh, that’s so crazy,” and they would [email the gallery and] CC me. And the gallery would be like, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see this.” Crazy. Like, “How do I become a collector, a valuable collector, if you don’t respond to me and sell me work?” But it’s the name of the game. They want their artists sold to the best collector — but that same artist might think I am the best collector. A lot of artists that I’ve reached out to, they’re like, “We’re so happy to see this sold to a Black person because it would be weird to see this hanging in a white person’s house.” And a lot of galleries are startled that I reach out to the artist, but I’m like, “It’s the 21st century, there are emails on the website — it’s not that hard.” And they also want to get their work sold, so. …
Mary Rozell
There are plenty of galleries where one can walk in and buy whatever one wants, as long as one has the means to do so. Other galleries are not merely selling artworks but placing them in the right collections. That means that, for desirable works, a gallery will rank buyers according to who can further advance the artist’s career. Some gallery exhibitions are reserved entirely for museums before they even open to the public; in other words, not available at all to collectors. In the contemporary market, it is not uncommon for a collector to express interest in a work and be told that this interest will be evaluated in the context of other offers — and ultimately be offered another, less desirable work, if anything at all.
Ebony L. Haynes
Wait lists are often used when there’s high demand for someone. It’s not really necessarily about exclusivity, but giving people time. You have to just go through the process. It’s almost like a first-come, first-serve lineup, so you have time to assess if you really want it. If you pass, then we go on to the next person.
Heather Flow
I’ve explained to people who know more — how can I say this? — who have some income and kind of understand what things cost, and the way certain things work. They tend to understand the same thing works for a Ferrari. The way it works with a limited-edition Ferrari is that you don’t walk into the Ferrari dealership and say, “I want that Ferrari.” You say, “Hello, I’m your client.” Then they’re like, “Do you already own a Ferrari?” If you’re like, “No,” you’re going to be put on a waiting list, and you literally have to work your way up to getting the Ferrari. I even had a client once who was like, “Let’s just offer them over retail.” I’m like, “I don’t mean to be rude. I know you’re very wealthy, but actually, the thing is, there are people much wealthier than you, who could offer a million dollars over retail.” So I said, “If you really want this work, let’s get creative. The gallery has no liquid cash. I’m guessing they’d love to make a catalog for this artist. If you’re willing to pay over for the artwork, why don’t we offer to pay for the production of the catalog?” And that’s what we did. We got the work we wanted, and then it helped the artist and the gallery, and everyone was happy in the end.
Maggie Kayne
There are always artists that do have that type of demand. If there’s an artist that’s like that who you’re really into, you might want to look at that gallery’s program and see if you gravitate toward other things, and only if you do, then start supporting that gallery and developing that relationship. There are moments of trends and heat and, you know, they change. If you play the long game, it will come around eventually because it’s not going to be trendy forever. And it’s a good thing to understand that, if it’s five years later and you still love the work, then that’s right.
6. Success!
Rembrandt, “Rembrandt and Saskia in the Parable of the Prodigal Son” (circa 1635), oil on canvas, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, Germany. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
James Fuentes
Galleries are open to payment plans, too, you know. If it would help to make a sale to receive payments over a stretch of six months, that’s still income coming in every month — so the good galleries are creative and flexible about meeting the clients where they need to be met.
Ashley Carr
If a work that the collector likes is available, they shouldn’t be shy about asking for a discount, or even a payment plan. After all, the worst that can happen is that the gallery says no.
Jessica Wessel
I’d say in 2015 I started collecting more. It was at a lower level. This thing above me — that’s made of thermostat wire. I got that in a bar in Jersey City that sold art called LITM. I used to live in Jersey City, and I would stop at the bar on my way home to have a drink. And that was 300 bucks. And when I have artists over, they all gravitate to that. They really like it. The guy who made it, his name’s Norman Kirby. He’s a street artist in Jersey City. You’ve never heard of him. But I was like, “Whoa, that’s a really cool object.”
James Fuentes
Last month we had an O.V.R. by David Leggett, and his drawings start at $600, and the prices were public on the O.V.R. And then we had a painting show in the physical gallery by Izzy Barber, and her paintings start at $1,000. So, yeah, it just so happens that recently we had on offer work that was probably at the absolute lowest price point in the New York market.
Suzanne Modica
We recently placed a work on paper by Linda Stark with a longtime client of ours. Stark is an established artist who has shown at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and was included in the Hammer Museum’s 2018 edition of “Made in L.A.” Her paintings are above the $10,000 range, but her works on paper are at a much more accessible price point.
Jessica Wessel
I bought an Alina Perez for $1,200, and Max Marshall at Deli Gallery let me pay in four installments. I left corporate law to go into art, so my pay went down, but I still get a salary, so it just makes it like, “OK, if it’s going to be $300 and some a month, that’s not going to break me.”
Monique Meloche
Contemporary art has become so much more accessible in a broader landscape, right? It’s there. It’s on “Empire,” it’s in the movies, it’s a much more important thing just in pop culture. So it’s more at people’s fingertips than people think, and they should have a little more confidence in their opinions. It’s not, “What should I buy?” It’s more like, “Can you help guide me?”
Jessica Wessel
You have to be sincere if you’re making inquiries and you’re asking about someone’s work, or you’re thinking about acquiring it. This is someone’s life’s work. This might be $1,000 to you, but this is someone’s soul. So don’t be like, “Oh, hey, I’m interested in that piece,” and then disappear. You may not think of it like this, but it’s someone’s livelihood and their business, so treat it respectfully.