This page provides information about the art intermediaries known as 'the art dealer' and 'the art gallery'
This page includes
  • summaries and tips about how the art gallery/dealer world works 
  • links to articles providing more in-depth advice and information on the topic.

How Galleries and Dealers Work
  • Key Facts about Representation, art galleries and art dealers
  • how the art gallery model works - why so many art galleries are closing and how to be mindful of how "fit for business" an art gallery is
  • ​how to get a gallery or agent
  • moving on and moving up - how to deal with rejection and/or end a relationship with a gallery
Starting out as an Artist
Check out specific aspects of a working relationship with a Gallery:
  • An Art Gallery Glossary provides a guide to all those words unique to the art world
  • What Gallery Contracts mean
  • What Gallery Commission means - what it is, why it exists and how it works
  • Exhibition Insurance

Different perspectives
You can also find below various perspectives - and advice - on art galleries and links to further information provided by 
  • art gallery owners
  • art business advisers
  • the art press​​
Picture
The Art Gallery of Jan Gildemeester Jansz
There have been radical changes in the art market and models of how to sell art in recent years.

Art is now sold via art fairs, online and in private transactions between collectors.
ALTERNATIVELY
on other pages you can read about:
REFERENCE:

Key Facts about Representation
​

Important things to know about those who represent you.
Agents/Dealers/Galleries want:
  • to represent people whose art will sell easily. They want artists who can demonstrate a good track record in selling art i.e. evidence that the collectors like the art
  • artists with a steady upward trend on prices charged for art sold (as opposed to prices asked - and the art remains unsold!)
  • artists who have a unique style with a consistent and well developed theme / colour / approach
  • artists with a clear statement about why they produce their art
  • artists who produce good copy for the press releases
  • artists who fill a gap in their portfolio - while being a good fit with other artists they already represent.
  • artists people who know people who buy art - so that they can be introduced and add them to their mailing lists - and sell the art of the other artists they represent to them!
  • to stretch the limits on what and where they represent you. You should ensure representation specifies the type of work (e.g. large paintings) and geographical areas (e.g. 50 miles of a town)
"The art world is tough, the rules are a complete mystery and only the lucky few make money"
Magnus Resch
Facts first: 30% of all art galleries are loss-making.
Magnus Resch - Beyond the Numbers: Advice From the Art World’s Most Controversial Economist | Artsy
The art market is dominated by small- and medium-sized businesses who have historically been at the less tech savvy, more complacent end of the scale.  
Hiscox Online Art Trade Report 2018
Pros
Galleries and dealers can:
  • find a buyer for your art
  • provide a public face for your art in most of business dealings and sales transactions with collectors and clients
  • know better than you how best to sell your art (but this isn't always the case as a lot of galleries are awful at marketing!)
  • handle the licensing and rights issues
  • be better located than you are to draw traffic for your art and are able  to take your artwork to art fairs and a wider audience
Cons
Agents/Dealers/Galleries can:
  • increase business expenses (e.g. gallery commission; agents and dealers fees)
  • charge you for items related to an exhibition of your work which you thought were covered by the commission (KNOW don't think; always check the agreement in writing before you sign)
  • be more interested in your network, family, contacts and mailing list than your artincrease your prices by VAT irrespective of the fact VAT should only be charged by agents and galleries if you are also registered for VAT
  • refuse to tell you who they sold your work to
  • fall short of good practice in the trustworthy stakes! ALWAYS (1) check them out first and (2) make sure you review/have a documented contract spelling out how your relationship works.
  • terminate the relationship if they can't sell your work.
  • Galleries can't help you get rich quick if they can't even make money themselves OR lose money (READ "Why do so many galleries lose money")
  • fail to be tech savvy
  • go bust - leaving lots of your artwork behind locked doors

The Art Dealer
​

An art dealer is essentially somebody who buys and sells art. They have two groups of people to keep happy:
  • A dealer may aim to represent artists in order to secure access to their future artwork
  • a dealer may also aim to provide a service to art collectors by providing access to artwork they might want to buy.  By getting to know their clients, a dealer can often introduce them to new artists and new artwork which the dealer thinks might well interest them.

An art dealer may run an art gallery - but you don't have to have an art gallery to be an art dealer. Nor does owning an art gallery mean that somebody is an effective art dealer.  Many art galleries have shut up shop on the high street to cut their fixed costs and now trade as dealers from non-gallery addresses. Their assets are the art collectors in their books and the artists they know. Their skill is in bringing them together.

An art dealer who wants to exhibit work by an artist might secure suitable premises for a defined period - thus eliminating the overheads associated with running a gallery
Art dealers might operate as a trade association for the purposes of promoting art and maintaining standards and the confidence of art collectors. 

Examples in the UK include:

The Art Gallery
​

Picture
Cork Street in Westminster - the home of very many top galleries
  • An Art Gallery is physical space - a room (or rooms) for the display of works of art - and sale if the gallery is a commercial one.
  • A pop-up art gallery can rent a space for a short period for a specific exhibition or event. Not quite the same thing as a permanent gallery. (see Alternative options for exhibitions)​
  • A Vanity Gallery is an art gallery that charges artists fees to exhibit their work and makes most of its money from artists rather than from sales to the public.
A gallery owner is essentially an art dealer in a fixed location where he or she exhibits and sells art.
Those who are successful know, understand and serve their art collector market well.

An art gallery usually operates out of a proper building.
  • These are often located somewhere where it gets a good footfall from people likely to buy - but they don't need to be. Reputation and the quality of the art is what counts
  • If it's not in a good location, you need to work out which market sectors/art collectors they target and how they generate their visitors and business.
  • It may or may not have a display window (some galleries dealing in high end fine art look like private houses and keep their artwork behind a locked front door!).

They typically sell on a consignment basis (otherwise known as "sale or return".

They always take a commission if your art sells and should return it (in perfect condition) if it doesn't. (Sadly this doesn't always happen)

You must make sure you understand what the commission structure covers - and what it doesn't - before you sign with a gallery.
An art gallery business might do a lot of its business and selling art via an Art Fair(s).

This is because art fairs have become very popular with art collectors. Art Fairs make it very easy for art collectors to see a lot of art via a lot of galleries in a very short space of time. They are ideal for the time-poor art collector.

Do bear in mind that too many art galleries in the past have been run by people who like art and artists but who were awful at business - which is why so many have gone out of business! 

​Before being taken on by a gallery you must check out whether they know how to be business-like - or your art might end up behind the locked doors of a gallery which has gone out of business.
An art gallery might put your art online.

Don't use galleries to avoid selling your art online. The smart galleries have realised that a lot of people like browsing for art online - especially if it's below £10k - and make sure they make their art available to browse.

​
the rate of galleries opening has fallen dramatically over the past decade..... new entrants face increasingly high barriers to entry.
Why Fewer Galleries Are Opening Today Than 10 Years Ago | Artsy

Facts about Galleries - according to Magnus Resch
​

Resch's numbers are based on his anonymous electronic survey to 8,000 galleries. He got 1,300 responses (16%). These included  information about their revenue, number of employees, and location.

This is a summary of his conclusions

FINANCIAL DATA
  • 30% of galleries lose money (40% in Germany)
  • 55% of galleries have a turnover of less than $200k pa
  • the average profit margin was c.6.5%

MARKETING DATA
  • the art market is tiny compared to other areas of the economy
  • 93% of galleries focus on contemporary art (80% in UK)

MYTHBUSTERS
  • ​central locations are very expensive and not essential - collectors will travel for good art (e.g. art fairs)
  • the primary art market rarely delivers enough profit - dealing only in emerging artists and those who have a degree of popularity does not generate enough profit for a gallery to be successful
REASONS WHY ART GALLERIES LOSE MONEY / FAIL
  • many galleries are awful at marketing and branding
  • less successful galleries concentrate on only up-and-coming artists
  • most galleries are under-capitalised and inefficient
  • gallery rents are often too high relative to turnover
  • the 50:50 split gives artists too much; he argues 70:30 for proper representation would be better
  • inexperienced/underpaid staff have no incentive to sell - he thinks staff pay needs to be tied to performance
  • galleries are obsessed with keeping up appearances and averse to discussing money
  • even less interested in doing what it takes to make money


.......why do so few thrive? A simple economic analysis should make any potential gallerist pause to think; it is a textbook inefficient market, with too much supply meeting too little demand. But a further problem is found in the practices of the gallerists themselves; they have never changed their business model, relying on white walls, commissioned art, underpaid (or unpaid) interns, identikit opening events, 50/50 artist deals, and a presence at fairs. While art can be innovative, the business surrounding it is not.
Dr Magnus Resch | The Art Newspaper
RECOMMENDED: Management of Art Galleries (Second Edition)
by Magnus Resch

​First Edition: Rated an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars by 9 customer reviews

Officially a BEST SELLER - it sold out fast in the English language edition

An insight into practices in top end art galleries from the man who created Larry's List - which provides a database of and an insight into top art collectors. This book SOLD OUT FAST when it was first published.

His book analyses how the art markets and art galleries operate, the phases artists go through in terms of economic production and place in the art market - plus he also analyses the new breed of art collectors. He provides case studies to explain key points relating to how to market and sell art to high net worth individuals.

​You don't have to be a gallery to benefit from the lessons he offers. See a summary of some of the key points below - plus links to articles about his work below that.
NEW BOOK in 2015 - SOLD OUT!
First Publisher: Hatje Cantz

​It's sold out and was out of print - I contacted Hatje Cantz (nice publishers!) and while they weren't planning a reprint, demand for the book indicated a reprint would happen

Second edition now published!  I ordered and waited and have been rewarded!  However printing text in pink is beyond a joke!

SECOND EDITION 2016
Paperback: 140 pages
Publisher: Phaidon Press 
UK: 18 Oct. 2016
​USA:​ November 14, 2016

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The Contemporary Art Gallery - a business model that works 
​

This is my summary of Resch's views about how galleries need to change to become effective.
My view is that artists need to align themselves with art galleries that have contemporary business models for selling their art and who understand how to be cost effective and make profits.

​ A Three Tier Trading Structure - Successful galleries diversify their locations according to the life cycle stage reached by the artist. 
  • Garage: Young, emerging artists are shown in a very low-cost off-site location. Unlikely to be profitable. Essential to keep costs low.
  • Gallery: More established artists are shown in a traditional gallery space. Overheads make this an expensive proposition; this level may also be unprofitable. The Gallery limits how many gallery artists it supports seriously and fosters as opposed to displays ad hoc in exhibitions.
  • Fine Art: Living artists of genuine prominence and artists dealt with on the secondary market are represented in a private showroom eg a museum. Level at which profit can be maximised relative to costs incurred. The Collectors operating at this level are those who need to be introduced to the better emerging artists showing particular promise.
The successful business model is underpinned by multiple streams of business income - defined by and related to different stages of the artist life cycle - and cross-financing between different market sectors
  • funds to finance capital and time invested in building up young artists are generated by secondary art market income 
  • profitable galleries all deal in the secondary market for art by artists with a following and collectors

The Artist Life Cycle includes:
  • Shopping Phase - young artists hoping to find a top gallery to take them on, trying different venues, funded by scholarships and side jobs
  • Decision Phase - more mature artists who have a following, sell work and survive - but often also have side jobs - but may not have any or long term representation
  • Final Phase - tiny proportion of artists become successful full time professional artists long term; their work is traded on the secondary market both before and after their death
The above is a summary of his views expressed in public news articles - see articles below
The rationale behind the 50/50 split with emerging artists has never been about economics. What it costs most galleries to promote an unknown artist in a single solo exhibition, ongoing online and back-office presence, and a few art fairs, far exceeds the amount of money they will likely make from selling the average number of works at the emerging artist price points over the course of the first year or two.
Edward Winkelman | The Art Newspaper

CASE STUDY: The Gallery Owner / Art Dealer Perspective
​

This is a salutary take of how the art market has worked over the last decade or so and how an intelligent art dealer, became a gallery owner and then closed the gallery and went back to dealing - and can write intelligently about art.

So far as artists are concerned it's a reminder of why "getting a gallery" might not be the solution to you marketing your art.
I first came across Edward Winkelman via his blog (which he no longer writes). He was providing some excellent advice for those artists who wanted to get a gallery - about how to approach a gallery (see links below).

He opened (and closed) a gallery and now lists himself as the cofounder of the Moving Image art fair and has participated in art fairs such as ARCO, Art Chicago, Independent, PULSE, The Armory Show, and NADA.
edward_ winkleman art | politics | gossip | tough love

I highly recommend reading Ed Winkelman's blog if you want to get your artwork shown in a serious art gallery (those are the ones that don't have gift shop or frame shop on the side). Bear in mind it stops in 2016....
Below is a list of the blog posts written by the American gallerist and art blogger Edward Winkleman for artists who seek a relationship with an art gallery.  Most of what he writes has universal applicability.
  1. Selling solo vs. working with a gallery
  2. Tailoring your resume for an art dealer
  3. Studio visit strategies
  4. Getting your foot in the door
  5. Mistakes to avoid in finding the gallery right for you (the one-size-fits-all myth)
  6. My very best advice for approaching a gallery
  7. The logic behind the 50/50 split
  8. Communicating with your dealer
  9. Dealing with over-protective dealers
  10. Notes on ending a gallery-artist relationship
The only caveat is he works in New York and not everything will be applicable to non-metropolitan situations in countries across the world.
Then he opened an art gallery and converted his blog into a book for all those wanting to go down the gallery route
​
How to start and run a Commercial Art Gallery 
​by Edward Winkelman (published 2009)
Rated an average of 4.4 out of 5 stars by 44 customer reviews
​
BUY THIS BOOK

The blog became a book! This book is essentially written for people wanting to become gallery owners.

However, it's also very helpful for artists who want to research and understand:
  • what a contemporary commercial art gallery does
  • how it functions
  • how to approach them
Then he closed his gallery in 2014 - and went back to doing what he was doing originally. Selling contemporary art as an art dealer.  In 2017 he published his new book.
NEW! Selling Contemporary Art: How to Navigate the Evolving Market
by Edward Winkleman (published 2017)
Rated an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars by 6 customer reviews

BUY THIS BOOK

This is a book about selling art from the art dealer's perspective and is a must read for those wanting to understand the contemporary art market. Sections cover:
  • The rise of the art fair
  • The rise of the mega gallery
  • New online competition
  • Models of post–brick-and-mortar art dealing
  • Art dealers as art fair organizers
  • Collaboration in a new era
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Art Galleries - Starting out as an artist

An Art Gallery Glossary
​

Art Galleries use words which not every artist is familiar with. Here are some of them - let me know which are the ones which have confused you in the past.
  • Gallery artist - an artist which a gallery represents and with whom they have a contract/terms and conditions for that representation. Being exhibited by a gallery does not make you a gallery artist

This Artquest article on  Gallery Agreements provides an explanation of the standard terms often used in a gallery's consignment agreement
  • confidentiality - the contract may require you to refrain from discussing its terms with anyone else. That means you must take advice on the terms before you sign it.
  • consignment - this is the term used to indicate that the art is left with the gallery to sell on behalf of the artist and that the gallery has no ownership of the art. It's important to have this in writing should a gallery closedown and your artwork is inside. It's the proof you need to avoid your artwork being liquidated to pay the art gallery's debts. (See this Artquest article Bankrupt Galleries: A Cautionary Tale)
  • exclusive - this means you are contracting to sell your artwork only through one dealer/gallery. This is unlikely to be the best option for you. However it's not unusual to strike an exclusive deal for a specific geographical area - you just need to make sure that the dealer/gallery can effectively represent you within this area and that it's not too big.  Check also how you can end your contract before signing it.
  • licence - this is permission you grant for the dealer/gallery to do a specific thing with your artwork for a defined period in a defined geographical area. The licence you grant should define very precisely what it covers.
  • original art - this means the work is completely original and there is no scope for any complaint about copyright infringement. You have not copied a photograph or another artwork with or without permission

How to get a gallery
​

How to work with gallery contracts
​
REFERENCE:
  • Galleries in the UK - an index of Galleries in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - including Galleries for Hire
Advice from ArtQuest (University of the Arts, London)
Advice from artists: Check Out the Gallery
"Starving" to Successful ​by J. Jason Horejs
The Fine Artist's Guide to Getting Into Galleries and Selling More Art
This book is about selling art.
It provides pragmatic advice clear actionable steps to help make you more successful in marketing your artwork to galleries.
  • Gain insight into what a gallery owner is thinking as he or she reviews your portfolio.
  • Understand why the most common approaches artists make to galleries are largely ineffective.
Rated an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars by 135 customer reviews

Selling art in a gallery - what's the deal?
​

Gallery Commission - and what it means

Commission is charged by all commercial galleries. There's no standard rate as such. You'll find it varies by type of gallery and geography and often there is no rhyme nor reason for the variations.

Commission is intended to recover the gallery overheads associated with having a building, staffing it and putting on exhibitions.

Galleries vary as to what is and is not covered by the commission. If you intend to do business with or via a gallery, you must always check and get in writing precisely what their commission is intended to cover.

Watch out for the gallery commission that is payable if a collector having seen your work in an exhibition then commissions you to produce a piece of art. Introducing artists to art collectors is the business the art gallery is in and many will seek to recover a percentage from you for so doing.
What the written contracts mean

These are links to pages of advice from ArtQuest about working with Commercial Galleries.

They cover all the different aspects of having a contractual and legal relationship to sell your artwork via a gallery.
Exhibition Insurance

If exhibiting with a gallery you need to check whether or not their insurance covers your artwork.
  • There's no hard and fast rule on this.
  • It varies from gallery to gallery.
  • The important thing is not to assume that they must be covering your art in the event of theft or a fire etc.

Read more about Insurance for Art and Artists
The Artist-Gallery Partnership: A Practical Guide to Consigning Art
by Tad Crawford

Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars by 8 customer reviews

This is a bible for both artists and art galleries who work on the basis of consignment by artist to art gallery!  

Tad Crawford is renowned for writing books which cover the legal and contractual side of the art business. This book provides a comprehensive coverage of the Standard Consignment Agreement including agency, consignment, warranties, transportation, insurance, pricing, gallery commissions, promotion, return of art, and more - PLUS the ways in which the law varies in different states in the USA. It also includes a ready-to-use contract.
Paperback: 216 pages
Publisher: Allworth Press;
​1 edition (May 13, 2008)

What happens when a gallery closes
​

So where does that leave the middle class, those galleries in Chelsea and on the Lower East Side that have been around long enough to be somewhat established, but still have to sell enough to make rent? Now, they have to deal with a perfect storm of gallery-killing factors: a market cooling from top to bottom, plummeting prices for onetime hit artists who minted money for mid-tier galleries just two years ago, the chokehold of fair booth prices, skyrocketing rents in neighborhoods where buying a building is unthinkable.
  • Mom & Popped: In a Market Contraction, the Middle-Class Gallery is Getting Squeezed | ArtNews (Nov. 2016)
The sad fact is that changes in the past model of retailing is also changing the number of galleries around the world. 
  • Many are closing as more and more art is sold via art fairs and online.
  • Major galleries are becoming bigger and more and more corporate.
  • The middle class gallery is the one that is getting squeezed.

Artists need to be aware of what can happen when a gallery closes - and how little notice they may get (if they get any at all).
REFERENCE
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Moving on and moving up
​

Artists move on - up or down the food chain.
  • Galleries need to move them on - because they're not selling.
  • An artist needs to become skilled at wanting to move on - and being moved on.
  • Relationships sour and break down - and then end.
​It happens to everybody from the famous to those starting out on their art careers. 
Even with a consignment deal in place, things can still go wrong. When Yayoi Kusama left Gagosian Gallery in 2012, she asked for all her work to be returned to her within a month. It took nearly a year, according to a source close to the artist, because the gallery was trying to recoup its costs by selling as much of its [ Kusama ] stock as possible.
The Art Newspaper
​How to change / end a gallery relationship

There are good ways - and bad ways - of bringing the relationship between gallery and artist to an end
​
Dealing with rejection 

What should you do when an art gallery doesn't want to work with you any longer?

Advice from Art Advisers - about Galleries
​

Dr. Magnus Resch is a 31-year-old German who teaches Art Management and is a serial internet entrepreneur / art adviser / art market economist. In 2014-15, he rocked the art world with his statistical analysis of the facts behind the market for art and how well art galleries actually manage in the art market.  He also co-founded Larry's List (about art collectors - the name is a pun on Larry Gagosian) with the curator and author Christoph Noe

​The following are articles commenting on the book and/or his ideas and some are written by him.
ArtBusiness.com has lots of useful articles for artists. This is a set of his articles which specifically relate to approaching art galleries, getting an art gallery to worm with and the ongoing relationship with galleries
ArtQuest has some useful articles about working with galleries
I see my relationships with artists as similar concentric circles. Gallery artists are core artists, those at the centre of the circle. We work together and communicate constantly, and I am at their service. Then there are others with whom I have a relationship, but do not represent. Some I show regularly. Then there are others that I might work with just once, or infrequently.
Zavier Ellis, a gallerist, commenting on the levels of working with artists
Alyson J Stanfield of ArtBizBlog has advice about galleries and representatives for artists

Commentary on Art Gallery behaviour by the Art Press
​

Art Net has some useful articles about relationships between artists and their galleries and dealers
The Art Newspaper occasionally has articles which provide insight into how the art gallery world works
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