About a month ago, I discovered Invaluable and was inspired to make a blog post about buying art.
Invaluable is a platform that works with thousands
of independent auction houses to get their products online. I'm sure they receive plenty of questions with regards to "buying art". After all, I hear this question a lot too. Maybe I'm asked this question because my husband, Steve Dingman and I have been buying original art for
a lot longer than I’ve been a professional artist. Plus, our “day
jobs” (for the last thirty years) are as certified, professional
picture framers. We’ve seen plenty … from clients collecting
Wolf Kahn pastels to souvenir caricatures from Disney World to 18th
century antiquarian maps to hand stitched molas from Central America
and more. Unfortunately, we've also know too many clients who have bought reproductions but thought they were making a wise investment choice. So, I actually do have an opinion, advise, and food-for-thought
with regards to buying original art.
First and foremost
(and you don’t really have to read beyond this bullet point), BUY
WHAT YOU LOVE. Let’s face it, artwork is personal and you are the
one who will be looking at it every day.
Let me tell you
about a framing client who came to my business, Mouse House, with a
big blue bird picture she found in her husband’s attic. His first
wife liked it; he hated it and put it in the attic. He was surprised
that his second wife thought it perfect for over the sofa … if it
got a new mat. It was stuck to the old, acid-laden mat with
double-faced tape. My client said, “Just pull it off”.
“NO! This is an
original Havell double-elephant folio Audubon lithograph. It needs
professional conservation! NOW!” I dialed Ginny Newell at
Renewell Conservation and managed to get my client in her door
immediately.
A couple months
later, my client returned. She was grateful and elated. The work
was valuable. It had been restored properly; I framed it; it went
over her living room sofa.
The moral of the
story is this: My client loved that blue egret before she knew it
had any value. She wanted to live with it, enjoy it every day. Her
husband hated it; he was happy for his new wife but that didn’t
mean he liked that blue bird any more than when he put it in the
attic. The value was just icing on the cake, a rationalization for
why it was once again hanging in his house. When buying art, be sure
you love it. If it has value, let it be the icing. If it turns out
to have no value, you’ll still love it … because that’s the
prime reason for buying art.
Second, be informed.
I started framing artwork when the rage was “signed, number,
limited edition prints”. These are NOT original artworks. During
the late 20th century (and continuing into the 21st
century … because there’s still a “fool born every minute”),
unscrupulous and/or utterly naive art dealers and greedy/naive
artists touted these “prints” as investments. They often came
with certificates of authenticity. Some were “artist’s proofs”
and said to be “better”. None of this is true … not in the
least. It was a contemporary ploy using 19th century and
earlier print-making vocabulary. In the process, the very work
“print” was undermined. (By the way, I never peddled any of
these “prints”. I stuck to antiquarian images … real prints
pulled from a real press.)
Real “prints”
are pulled from a press. They fall into two categories, intaglio and
lithography. There are all sorts of them … etchings, mezzotints,
chromolithographs, woodcut and lino-cut engravings, steel and
copper-plate engravings, stone lithographs, etc. Multiple images can
be pulled from the same “plate” but no two are exactly alike.
The confusion comes
with the fact that 20th century advances provided perfect
ways to reproduce images … by “off-set lithography”. This is a
four-color process and should not be confused with “real
lithography”. Off-set lithography is easily detectable with even
low magnification. A dot-matrix is obvious. (Get a photo loupe or a
good, hand-held magnifier and take a look!) This printing process is
exactly the same as a magazine, newspaper, most contemporary poster,
etc. Thus, signed and limited edition prints are all exactly alike.
The “artist’s proof prints” are exactly like the rest of the
edition. The first print is the same as the last. There is no
“first state” or “second state” … and the lower numbers
aren’t “better” than any other image in the run. In fact, all
of these prints are simply reproducing an image made by an artist in
other medium … an oil painting made available for mass consumption
or a mixed-media work in multiples meant to be sold for a profit.
Sure, I understand
why they are made. Artists need to make a living. (I need to make at
living … but not this way!) They can sell “reproductions” of
their best work and don’t have to call them “reproductions”.
They call them “signed, numbered limited edition prints”.
Artists and publishers agree only to produce a certain number … but
they can still use the image in another size or format … like a
calendar, coffee mug, note cards, etc. The artist/publisher is not
handing over a guarantee, copyright, or binding contract of any kind.
They are selling copies, period. (By the way, photographers often
number their images. If made in a dark-room, a numbered photograph
should always be considered “real” art!)
The moral of this
story is: Buy original … and know what the word “original”
means. When it comes to “prints”, original does NOT mean a
four-color off-set lithography.
Finally (“finally”,
so to speak, as I might want to write another post with additional
opinions with regards to buying and selling original art), buy the
best you can afford and don’t be afraid to use the Internet to vet
an artist. Most artists working today have an Internet presence.
Look them up. Look at their exhibition record. Look for their
gallery representation. Send a potential artist an email or contact
him/her on Facebook. Artwork can be so much more personal when there
is a connection to the artist. If a direct connection isn’t
possible, research the artist to see whether other works also
resonate. The more a person learns about the maker, the more
enjoyment is possible when living with one of his/her creations.
Personally, I have artwork that has absolutely no possibility of
acquiring any future, monetary value, but I still love the story
behind each piece and the individual personality that is shared
through the work. I have no regret over any such purchase. I also
have artwork that has increased exponentially since my initial
investment. I bought each work because I loved the image and wanted
to support the artist. Every time these works rise in price, I
simply feel lucky. It doesn’t change a thing about how I view the
actual artwork. Investing in artwork is risky but if every
investment is a work that brings daily joy, the risk is minimal.
As for me, I am
writing this blog post from Florence, Italy where over the last few
days I’ve seen the works commissioned by long-gone wealthy
dynasties ... works I studied when earning a BA in Medieval and
Renaissance Studies with a concentration in early Italian Renaissance
art. I love the work of Giotto, Simone Martini, Duccio, Gentile da
Fabriano, Botticello, Donatello, Brunellschi, Masaccio, Lorenzo
Ghiberti, etc. I will never know if anything I ever make will last
like these masterpieces. (Probably not!) It doesn’t matter. Many
of these Renaissance artists were working in different directions at
relatively the same time. They had patrons … people who loved
there style and wanted to possess it. Everything didn’t last
through the centuries. The future cannot be perfectly foretold, but
the investments made back then were decisions made by people who
loved the work they were paying for. That’s the important thing!
I stitch pieces that
reflect my passion of architectural patterns, layers of fabric,
textural surfaces, and environmental concerns. I put together
installations meant to touch those who enter the space, probing
questions about mortality, remembrance, and personal legacy. I live
with artwork made by friends and creative personalities that are
attuned to my soul whether I know them or not. I’ve run out of
wall space but will continue to purchase … because I love and want
to live around these works of art.
