Tweet

Art Buyers Must Be Art Detectives

Guest post by: Barbara Garro

Article Overview: Buying original art can be fraught with problems that learning the ways and means of art detecting can help solve. Buy with knowledge and own with pride.

Art Buyers Must Be Art Detectives

Art Lovers as Detectives Artist/Teacher Barbara Garro says, Seeing as an Art Detective can be amazingly rewarding for perfectionists and great conversation for everyone.

How many times have you looked at a painting and felt something seemed not quite right. Of course, not being an artist, you may have trouble figuring out what it is. Still, you're confident that something is wrong.

Remember, good artists are first-rate detectives. How so? Before signing, the painting is checked:

1. Do all the people have all their parts?

2. Do all the animals have all their parts?

3. Do all the flowers have all their parts? For me, as The Painter of Flowers, that means I go from flower to flower checking if it has a stem. Then, I go from leaf to leaf checking to see if it comes from a stem.

4. Are realistic shadows in place? Realistic by whose judgment? Two judgments: the artist's and the viewer. Both judgments are important. Why? Those who do not paint, like those who do not write books, are wise in the ways of how things are. I go from petal to petal, leaf to leaf, stem to stem, checking.

5. Is the perspective reasonably correct? Vincent van Gogh becomes an example of his own idea of perspective. No architect would agree with him. His room at Arles can make a perfectionist positively dizzy. The artist aims to create paintings that have a painterly character without being so realistic they become PERFECT bores. Still, too much off perspective and the painting looks goofy.

6. Is there enough contrast to give the painting some tonal variety?

7. Does the composition guide the eye on an exciting journey throughout the painting or jar you in and out of the picture?

8. Does the positioning of the horizon line in a landscape make sense within the composition?

9. Do all the colors, tones, and subjects work well together?

Next time you go into an art gallery or museum, think about some of the artist's check points to see where even the Master Artists got distracted and forgot a leg here, an arm there, put one eye to high, made a limb too big or too small, made the trees too big or small for the rest of the composition.

Artists are human. Too much absinthe or opium can distract. Many Master Artists, like the famous writers imbibed in substances. Some swore that the substances made them better artists or writers. Were they right? They have left their oeuvre for you to be the judge.

Should your detective work find mistakes in Master Artists' work, I would love to do another Garro Talk citing them. Please provide the full name of the painting, the artist, and where you were looking when you discovered something missing, something that should not be there, something too big, something too small or otherwise out of whack.

Your detective work can become fun for other Art Detectives in Training.

I would love to hear from you.

Related Articles
  Business Brokers - How to Deal With Them As a Buyer?
  The Nine Types of Art Buyers
  Record Level US Home Sales Bodes Well for Home Stagers
  3 Simple Reasons that Will Help You Sell More
  How to Advertise your Business for Sale
  Will You Choose Sales Success or Sales Distress?
  How the Law of Supply and Demand Affects Home Stagers – Part 2
  This is a Sales Emergency & You Can Win
  Finding Qualified Buyers for your Business
  What are the 3 biggest challenges faced by supply chain/purchasing professionals today? (Survey Result 20)
  Don’t Forget to Answer this Question When Selling
  One Thing You Could Do Today to Instantly Increase Your Sales
  5 Critical Shifts for New Economy Success
  Why Buyers Don't Like Salespeople
  Selling to Hostile Franchise Buyers is Never a Good Idea
  I'm Selling my Business... But What do Buyers Want?
  Use Amazon.com to Get to Know Your Buyers Intimately
  Preempting Perception
  Who Else Wants to Get Rich Slowly Selling Insurance?
  Network Marketers Can Avoid A Tsunami Of Tire Kickers With These 3 Simple Steps.

Article Tags: Art Fakes, Buying Art, Detecting Imposter Art, Discernment in Art Buying



Related Forum Posts
Re: Are You Complying with the FTC? - A lot online marketers will run to Cyprus and other Islands to do their businesses. FTC rule or no rule the Internet is a global thing and still a wild wild west. Buyers should be careful and do due diligent before buying anything online
Re: Are You Complying with the FTC? - [quote="ideasuniversity":2shwf6gr]A lot online marketers will run to Cyprus and other Islands to do their businesses. FTC rule or no rule the Internet is a global thing and still a wild wild west. Buyers should be careful and do due diligent before buying anything online[/quote:2shwf6gr] Exactly. The consumers should have enough common sense to check out a program or product before buying it if they're worried it might be a scam. There's plenty of resources available to aide them in the process. But, unfortunately, everyone must suffer regardless.
Re: Trade Shows - Are They Worth It? - Hi, Tradeshows are attracting different types of people. First, the visitor, which is the main reason of putting it on. Visitors come from all types of background: Buyers, prospective buyers, people who had a business and failed, directors, shopkeepers and even the public. Secondly there are people who just like to meet new people, that is the best place to be. Exchange of business cards, make new contacts for future use. Thirdly, the exhibitors are mixing with one another either help one another or just want to fine out the newest trend. It is also a good place to meet with competitors and learn from their strategies. Finally, there are numerous seminars with excellent speakers, covering a wide range of information. Taking these points in consideration, they are beneficial. Of course, not every exhibitor has the same success.
Re: need pricing help please - I think you could be selling yourself short. Plus you may be focused on the wrong things when it comes to pricing your products. What will your buyers be able to do or get as a result of your product? How much would that be worth to them? Buyers will gladly pay over $100 for a one page report because it tells them exactly what to do to overcome a specific difficult to solve problem. Even when that information can be found free elsewhere. I know it's hard not to compare your eBook to a physical book. Yet, that may not be a fair comparison. Another thing to consider is the perceived value when a product that sounds great comes with a very low price. Some potential buyers will doubt the value of your product because the price seems way too low for the result it promises. There's a quick and easy way for you to discover the right price though. Open a Google Adwords account ($5) and then set-up a multi-variant test for different price points. If you have a decent amount of traffic you'll quickly discover the best price.
Pre-Registering for Events - Hi Kevin! You have gotten some great advice on this thread. I think a combination of all the above, without sounding trite, would be appropriate. Your marketing should be very targeted and very consistent, once a week or whatever in order to lead up to the event. Take a tip from the information marketing world, and send them new notes about what they are going to learn and how its going to change their lives. Buyers specifically want to do 4 things 1) make more money 2) save more money 3) alleviate some pain or stress 4) reduce their workload (or minimize their efforts) (sounds like a great bunch eh?? ;0)) I would also mirror Beat's suggestion. When we are hosting events for clients we do take credit card numbers, and attendees are told that they will be charged a fee for no -shows. (This helps maintain the integrity of the event). The rate can change depending on the event topic or something. We typically charge $99 for no shows so its enough to get people to honor their commitment. ($25 and they didnt care. ;0)) Your client could also promote the expert a bit more, right now their seminars are a bit bland from a 'who are we going to hear from..." perspective. J


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Self Employed Business Ideas

How To Be Happy at Work? Acknowledge Yourself

If I Were Starting A Network Marketing Company...

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.