The Colourful History of the Art Dealer
Advocates, moguls and pioneers
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Nursemaid, fixer, connoisseur and capitalist, the figure of the art dealer has worn many hats. Most essentially a conduit between collector and artist, the profession’s history reaches back as far as the Italian Renaissance with Giovanni Battista della Palla (1489 – 1532) who, acting as a double-agent between the Medicis and their rival family, wound up beheaded. In the centuries since however, art dealers have richened into something more complex and vital – an array of advocates, moguls and pioneers.
Philippe Le Miere – ‘after jean pablo michel basquiat picasso heads’
The Advocate
Art dealer as advocate comes in the form of Paul Durand-Ruel (1831 – 1922) who in no minor way, helped make the Impressionists famous. When he came across the group, they had been derided and ignored for decades but Durand-Ruel saw something in them, buying up their output, giving them solo exhibitions and out bidding their work at auction. As Monet once wrote, “Without Durand-Ruel, we would have starved, all of us Impressionists.”
Australian SCHOOL (Mid Century) – ‘Impressionist Beach Scene’
The Mogul
The first mega-dealer was Joseph Duveen (1869 – 1939), an Englishmen who knew something few else realised: “Europe has a great deal of art and America has a great deal of money”. Responsible for selling what was then the most expensive artwork ever sold, his clients included Henry Clay Frick, J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller. Duveen would initially refuse to sell a work, claiming his wife loved it too much. After several rounds of price-raising theatrics, however, he would reluctantly relent, lamenting that his wife would simply have to understand.
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The Pioneer
The 20th century saw the centre of the art world shift from Europe to New York, thanks in part to art dealers like Peggy Guggenheim (1898 – 1979) and Edith Halpert (1900 – 1970). Through her New York gallery, Guggenheim held the first solo exhibitions of American heavyweights Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Hans Hofman, while Halpert pioneered American artists at the fringes of the canon. She opened the first gallery exclusively dedicated to living artists, particularly Asian, Black and Latinx Americans, finding novel ways to connect with middle-income art lovers.
