AMONG TOP ART ADVISORS FEATURED IN ART+AUCTION MAGAZINE

10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT CHOOSING AN ART ADVISOR

By Eric Bryant, Art+Auction
Published: October 7, 2013

Buying art is an increasingly complex endeavor. Professional art advisors are at the ready to help with all these tasks and more. But with the range of collecting areas increasing all the time and no regulators overseeing the industry, finding the right advisor can be a challenge.

Art+Auction magazine spoke with several leading art advisors, including Megan Fox Kelly, about how clients should go about seeking their best match and maximizing that relationship.

Some excerpts follow:

Collectors of all stripes can benefit from working with an advisor, but they may require different services depending on their level of knowledge at the outset. “Many new collectors dive in too quickly,” says Megan Fox Kelly, an advisor who has run her own firm for nearly 15 years. “Taking the time to look, read, learn—to go to museums, private collections, galleries, studios, and art fairs with your advisor and to really learn what kind of art is truly exciting to you—will make for a much more meaningful collection in the long run.” Once you establish your tastes, introductions to top dealers and access to works not available to the man off the street are the basic starting points.

For those whose walls are already crowded, an adviser can provide a clear eye to help analyze the quality of holdings and identify gaps. Maintaining diverse holdings of art can involve many tasks—some esoteric and some mundane—that may be unfamiliar to collectors, and advisors can help.

Advisors can also bring experience to bear on a range of questions touching on charitable donations and estate planning. “A great deal of my work focuses on museums,” says Megan Fox Kelly. “For many of my clients, the most rewarding aspects of collecting involve supporting shows and making loans and gifts. I research where the gifts will make the greatest impact. On the financial planning side, we explore options for bequests to museums or family members, [or for] designating works for eventual sale to benefit a charitable institution.”

Read the full Art+Auction article.