Art collection management is a complex process aimed at documenting, arranging, and maintaining art pieces to preserve their financial value and cultural significance. It also seeks to ensure that the collection is prepared for any manipulations, including auction, exhibition, transportation, research, and restoration. Given the stated goals, it is unsurprising that the collection management process must be performed by trained professionals. However, if you are starting an art collection or seeking to enhance the management of an existing one, you also need to be aware of the key steps and activities included in collection management.
Collection Management Process: Key Activities
Collection managers working with art collectors engage in many activities connected with logistics. These include artwork packing, selecting optimal shipping routes, dealing with documents and insurance, and making sure that art pieces are safe during every step of the transportation process.
Cataloging each work is also incredibly important, especially in the context of large collection management. Managers document all essential information about each piece, such as:
- Artist’s name
- Artwork title, creation year, and medium
- Purchasing history and invoice
- Date
- Seller
- Provenance
- Estimated value
Collection managers working at art galleries need to follow strict statutory requirements regarding documentation. In contrast, smaller art collections might have less stringent demands, giving managers more space to decide how to catalog each work. Numerous digital platforms are available nowadays to facilitate this process, helping ditch paperwork that may be time-consuming and unreliable.
Physical maintenance is another important element of the collection management process. The manager is responsible for ensuring that artworks are kept in optimal conditions and are protected from humidity, direct light, and accidental damage. Dedicated storage spaces, such as Fine Art Shippers’ art storage facility in New York, are available to help with this task.
Other Collection Management Activities
In addition to the basic activities described above, collection management may involve a narrower set of skills. For example, people managing private collections may need to engage in auction activities or be able to navigate the market in order to help sell and purchase artworks for their clients. Up-to-date knowledge of artwork values is particularly important for art collectors who view art as an investment. This is where the expertise of collection managers can be of great importance. In this area, soft skills such as communication and negotiation matter as much as technical knowledge about artwork protection and management. To conclude, collection management involves a great degree of planning, decision-making, and information management.