Considering Collecting: Collecting Today

What inspires people to collect art? How do you decide what to collect? And what do you do with it once you’ve bought it?

Whether it’s the love of an artist, a medium, a period, or an individual work, the chance to invest in something that might increase in value in the future, or the opportunity to gain fame and influence in the artworld and beyond, people and organisations are driven by different motivations to find, collect, and display artworks today.

Join us for the first in the online series ‘Considering Collecting’ where we hear from our panel about what is means to be collecting art today. Thinking not only about what drives people to start collecting, but what the legacy of these collections might be, our chair and speakers will get to the heart of their own experiences with collections – both their own and those they work with – and share insight, advice and guidance for those interested in collecting, whatever the scale.

This event is part of the Open Courtauld programme, organised by The Research Forum.

Chair:

Michael Findlay is a Director at Acquavella Galleries and author of ‘The Value of Art: Money, Power, Beauty’ (Prestel, 2012). He has previously bought and sold Impressionist and Twentieth-Century art for European and American collectors, was the first dealer in the United States to show the work of Joseph Beuys and Sean Scully, among others, and worked at Christie’s auction house for over 25 years firstly as Head of the Impressionist and Modern paintings department, then later as International Director of Fine Arts.

Speakers:

Charlotte Appleyard is the Director of Development & Business Innovation at the Royal Academy of Arts. She is the author of “Corporate Art Collections: A Handbook” (2012), a history and survey of corporate collections. Before joining the Royal Academy, she was a member of the curatorial team at the National Gallery, London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian is a collector of Latin American, Modern and Contemporary art and design. In 2016 she published the book ‘Could Have, Would Have, Should Have : Inside the World of the Art Collector’ which included interviews with over 80 influential, international collectors. She is Chair of the Tate’s Latin American Acquisition Committee and member of the Tate’s International Council, as well as Chair of the International Director’s Council of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. In 2020 she published her second book “For Art’s Sake: Inside the Homes of Art Dealers’ which showcases the interiors of the world’s most prestigious art dealers.

Anthony Shaw is a collector of ceramics, drawings and paintings, as well as art objects make from wood and iron. He began his career as a clothing designer, holding his first exhibition at Primavera, Cambridge in 1969. His extensive collection, originally on display at 11 Billing Place, London, was moved permanently to the Centre of Ceramic Art in York when it opened in 2015 and has been the subject of numerous guest curated displays since.
The Considering Collecting Series

Collections of art and artefacts can be found everywhere, from major museums and galleries to the lobbies and offices of international businesses to people’s homes. Some collections are made by committee, influenced by trends and investments, while others are driven by personal taste and choice. Decisions about who and what to collect can be made strategically, based on gaps in an existing collection or the increasing value of a type of work, or can be more spontaneous and subjective, dependent on an affinity with an artist, medium, or period.

The six online events in the ‘Considering Collecting’ series explore collecting from different perspectives, lifting the lid on the behind-the-scenes of the art market and the museum sector. The series will cover a broad range of issues including: what motivates people and organisations to collect; the impact of digital technologies on collecting; caring for collections, including documenting, cataloguing, and labelling; how ephemeral artworks can be collected; the historical and contemporary position of women in the world of collecting; and how organisations are working to create more representative art collections.

Supported by Laurence C. Zale Associates, Inc., a visual arts advisory company