I am very saddened by how the business of
operating a professional art gallery has changed over the past few years.
The news that Amazon has entered into the art market sends shivers up my spine.
I am equally concerned about the growth of Internet art-selling sites. The
offerings on eBay are driving me crazy.
I came into the art field 30 years ago, when
operating a fine art gallery was a labor of love––and it still is for me. In
early days, it was all about connoisseurship, sharing knowledge and
establishing personal relationships. In the 1970s and 1980s, the great
gallery owner Harry Lunn held court in his tiny Washington, DC gallery, where
potential collectors and clients clung to his every word and benefited from his
advice on what to purchase. That simply does not happen in today’s world,
when a “consumer,” not a “collector” is making purchases––sight unseen––over
the Internet.
The NYTimes August 22, 2013 article, “For Art
Dealers, a New Life on the Fair Circuit,” is just one more confirmation that
the nature of the traditional art gallery, which was a very fabric of my soul,
is fast disappearing. The proliferation of international art fairs is
pulling potential collectors away from the elegant gallery exhibit spaces into
the shopping malls of the vast art fairs.
That said, I am organizing the Second DC Fine
Art Photography Fair for October 4-6, 2013. The DC Photography Fair will
feature 18 of the best fine art photography dealers from across the
country. The concept is to have an intimate Art Fair, which offers an
opportunity for established and new collectors to meet with photography gallery
experts, develop a rapport, and benefit from the gallery’s experience and
knowledge.
I would like to encourage anyone interested in
fine art photography to make a connection with one or more of these exhibitors
and develop a professional collecting relationship.
Find out more about the DC Fine Art Photography
Fair: www.dcfineartphotography.com.
