Many people love art and consider creating a collection. Yet, the thought of managing art collections is still a bummer that stops many art connoisseurs from building their personal galleries. Is this activity that complicated and challenging? Or is it easy to master the art of collection management, at least, for personal use? Here is a detailed breakdown of the main activities that art management involves.
What Does Managing Art Collections Entail?
Here are the main aspects of day-to-day art collection management that you may handle on an amateur level without involving certified professionals.
Understanding of Fine Art
To become a capable art collection manager, you need to build a solid understanding of the fine art sphere. It’s not necessary to go back to college to get a degree in art; you may either take a fast-track course to capture the basics or study openly available materials online.
Record Keeping
As soon as you start acquiring your first art objects, you need to establish a well-organized, standardized record-keeping system. It will keep all your information in order, making retrieval and tracking fast and easy. By means of entering detailed data about the artwork’s origin, value, and condition, you will keep a close eye on the collection’s value and will know when it requires your input, such as conservation or restoration.
Condition Audits
All art is degradable to this or that degree, and you should monitor the condition of your possessions to take timely action. You may either evaluate the artworks on your own by comparing their current state with the photos and videos from the previous audits or invite an expert evaluator for a close assessment.
Financial Planning
Collecting art is an expensive hobby, and you should be ready to allocate substantial sums of money for art purchases, trips to art fairs, and other activities. You may also invite investors to the project if you find people sharing your collecting passion and the vision of the collection’s theme and focus.
Managing Your Art Is Manageable
As you can see, the process of managing art collections is not as complicated and nuanced as you might initially think. It, however, requires thorough planning and discipline, but with the proper approach and a bit of help from art management software, you can handle the majority of tasks on your own. Besides, you can always hire professionals as your collection grows or if you need specialized help, such as insurance appraisal or professional art conservation.