Rule number one: Establish a conceptual framework

 

Louisa Buck is an art writer, Judith Greer a collector. If seen from the point of view of contemporary art their book about the art market is a sort of manual for passionate beginners. But it could be even enlightening if read with the mind of a collector of old masters. Suggested.

 

A close examination and interrogation of personal responses to the art can help collector to build a conceptual framework for the collection. Consideration of its overall composition and the relationship between its component parts can govern how acquisitions are made and the collection defined. It is a general rule that the more resolved the criteria, the greater the credibility of the collector.

Establishing these guiding principles is a complex and personal process, involving a mixture of intellectual awareness and intuitive soul searching.

 

Louisa Buck and Judith Greer, Owning art: the contemporary art collector’s hand book, 2006.

 

 

September 22, 2014