Publish at November 18 2014 Updated March 13 2025
When it comes to art, auction houses have sounded the death knell for art dealers. Largely focused on speculative transactions, they are hardly conducive to creation. As a result, it is now difficult to free oneself from financial considerations and put forward an artist for his or her artistic interest, rather than for his or her propensity to be attractive and the object of substantial capital gains.
For a time criticized (sometimes justifiably, because their approach was modelled on that of auction houses), real art dealers, also known as gallery owners, are also passionate, visionary, behind-the-scenes workers, who are today regaining some of their nobility through the current state of the art market.
Several years ago, in an article dedicated to the art market, the French Senate presented a historical and commercial approach to the evolution of the art market. This resource emphasizes the dichotomy between what used to be the art trade and what it is today. It is in the study of commercial practices that we must situate the art dealer, and return to his role in the dissemination of masterpieces such as those of the Impressionist painters.
"The aim is no longer simply to produce more cheaply, given the state of the art, or to meet demand as effectively as possible, given existing consumer tastes. The aim is to innovate, to find the technologies and products of tomorrow, and thus to engage in a form of radical competition that restructures the entire production apparatus. This process of creative destruction, which, according to Joseph Schumpeter, characterizes capitalism, can be seen in the art market. The art dealer's role is less to act as an intermediary than to shape his customers' tastes in a process of subversion of dominant aesthetic values.
Admittedly, this marketing vision of art can be shocking, or at least questioning, given that art has always sought to free itself from such mercantile ends.
However, behind this process of adding value to artworks in order to market them more effectively lies the emergence of new talent. The art dealer enables the artist to exist, indeed "makes the artist". Because to exist (and survive...), you have to make yourself known, communicate and use the media, advertising and critics. Paul Durand-Ruel clearly understood the importance of this strategy, which enabled him to bring many artists of his generation into the limelight and foster their artistic creation.
The role of art dealers should not be reduced to selling a work at the highest price. To sell a work is to allow the artist to exercise his talent, to ensure the evolution of his production and the revelation of his genius. It also enables collectors to indulge their frenetic passion for art, which the general public benefits from sooner or later, thanks to donations made to museums, usually by the collector during his lifetime, or by his heirs who prefer to leave their parents' posthumous inheritance to the community rather than give in to the lure of the speculative market. What's more, if we look at the role of these talent scouts, they have forged close links with museums and thus fostered the discovery and awareness of art among the general public. Who discovered Degas, Monet and Cézanne? Who collected them? Who owns these works today? The originator of public property is often an art dealer.
The art dealer reveals and acts as a conduit. Behind the contemporary artists whose renown extends beyond national borders, as they win prizes in Venice or Cologne, there is often a gallery owner who, through artistic events, has been able to introduce these men and women who will be tomorrow's classics. For example, contemporary artists such as Sophie Calle and Tatiana Trouvé, whose names are closely associated with Galerie Perrotin, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot (the artist chosen to occupy the French Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale) and Galerie Xippas, or Anri Sala, whose photographs light up the walls of Galerie Chantal Crousel.
The artistic avant-garde needs to find the means to deploy itself, both financially and artistically. Of course, not all these artists can claim laurels. Some will be recognized by the public and their peers during their lifetime, while others will be forgotten. Today's trends will be overturned by tomorrow's originality. There is no such thing as permanence in art, and the art dealer is part of a movement. This movement is at the crossroads of artistic, economic and historical developments.
Illustration: Andersphoto, Shutterstock.com
Gaillard, Yann. "Marché de l'Art: les chances de la France." Accueil - Sénat. Publication date 1998. http://www.senat.fr/rap/r98-330/r98-330_mono.html.
Robert, Martine. "L'univers impitoyable des galeries d'art contemporain." lesechos.fr. Publication date May 29, 2013. http://www.lesechos.fr/29/05/2013/LesEchos/21445-049-ECH_l-univers-impitoyable-des-galeries-d-art-contemporain.htm.
RMN - Grand Palais. ""Paul Durand-Ruel, le marchand des impressionnistes" this Sunday on France 5 "Paul Durand-Ruel, le marchand des impressionnistes" this Sunday on France 5." Viewing date November 18, 2014. http://www.grandpalais.fr/fr/article/paul-durand-ruel-le-marchand-des-impressionnistes-ce-dimanche-sur-france-5.
MOOC Impressionism, from scandal to consecration. Associated with the exhibition on Paul Durand-Ruel at the Musée du Luxembourg. RMN-GP - Orange, October 20 to December 14: impressionnisme.solerni.org
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