Fair Game
January 2007
Eli Broad is calmly cruising the fair. Casually, in a yellow cotton pullover, khakis and boat shoes, |
Opening night preview reception |
First Choice is from noon to 2 p.m., before Preview, from 2 to 5 p.m., which is before Vernissage, the VIP-only grand opening bash, the night before Art Basel Miami Beach opens to the public. Ever wonder why those disappointing little stickers indicating “sold” are already on some works minutes after the fair opens? It’s because Broad and his world-class collecting peers have been there long before you.
This month, as the 2007 fair season kicks off with the Winter Antiques Show in New York, it will be no different. Even if you splurged for $300 patrons tickets for the gala opening night benefit, the collectors who paid $500 will be admitted an hour ahead of you, and the benefactors and philanthropists who paid $1,000 to $2,500 will be shopping the booths two hours before you check your coat. So, how do you step to the front of the line? Following are seven pointers on how to get the most out of a fair and shop as the VIPs do.
1. JUST GO
If you’re the type who’s always penciled fair dates into your annual calendar, you’ve probably noticed you’ve been using more lead over the past few years. Yes, there are more shows, especially satellite events clustered around the dates of the major international fairs. And then there are those gallery openings, design events, museum exhibition openings, art book parties … so much going on that you ask yourself, “Am I really missing something if I stay home?”
The truth is, yes, you are. In an age of gridlocked NetJets, people in the art, antiques and design worlds think nothing of crisscrossing the globe to do business, and it’s at the fairs that the murmur of “what’s next” bubbles to the surface.
2. TRAVEL SAVVY
Being a collector doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice all of your vacation time to accommodate the world’s fair calendar, but it is worth staying involved by attending at least one major fair a year.
Many of the most important, such as Art Basel Miami Beach and TEFAF Maastricht, offer packages through designated travel agents. Go to their Web sites and contact their organizers for details.
If you’re not booking through an agent, be savvy with your hotel choice. Headed to London during The Season? The Athenaeum, for example, has relationships with Olympia and The Royal Academy of Arts; they’ll secure complimentary tickets for you.
And don’t forget about major biennales or triennials, which can easily slip through the planning cracks since they don’t take place every year. This summer the art world will be headed to Germany for documenta 12, an important contemporary fair held every five years in Kassel. Then, collectors will be off to Muenster for Sculpture Projects, a spectacular event that happens once a decade.
3. DEVELOP RELATIONSHIPS WITH DEALERS
For many collectors, dealers are more than business associates; they become friends, and as they travel the world’s fairs, they become the collector’s eyes on the marketplace. Dealers are always looking for new clients, so don’t hesitate to tell them what you’re looking for, your budget and your long-term collecting goals. You just might get a pleasant surprise when, a couple of months in advance of a major international show, a dealer contacts you about the treasures that he’ll have in his booth that might be perfect for your collection.
If possible, invite a dealer to your home. When many international dealers are stateside, they make home visits to places like Washington, D.C., or Boston. The visit can be useful, because the dealer can see how you live with your collection or evaluate pieces you’re considering selling.
“I always send show tickets to my serious collecting clients,” says Bernard Karr of New York’s Hyde Park Antiques, author of the recently released Classic English Design and Antiques: Period Styles and Furniture: The Hyde Park Antiques Collection (Rizzoli). “The art world really is a remarkably small one.”
Top dealers like Karr also work closely with top interior designers such as Mario Buatta, Charlotte Moss and Albert Hadley, who understand how to shop for art and antiques as well as how to decorate with them and live with them.
4. THINK OUTSIDE YOUR COLLECTING BOX 
from Leo Kaplan Modern at SOFA Chicago.
“Contemporary art? Never.” We’ve heard that before from traditional-minded collectors, but we’ve also seen them wander through a contemporary show and fall hard for works that are less than traditional. Fair organizers are wisely clustering their shows around similar dates to encourage crossover collecting. A new discovery—be it a gallery or an artist—can be the highlight of a shopping trip.
Fairs also afford you the opportunity to talk to experts and attend sponsor-organized lectures related to items that you are unfamiliar with and are contemplating collecting. Both of SOFA’s fairs, in Chicago in the fall and New York in June, offer an extensive daily lecture series.
5. SEEK ADVICE
Many of the fairs offer art advisory services to VIP guests and the public. For example, Corfield Morris, a London and New York–based advisory group comprised of Sotheby’s veterans, now has a stand at Olympia’s fairs as well as TEFAF. So, if you’re weighing whether or not to purchase that 18th-century English walnut bureau, you can ask a Corfield Morris expert for his opinion. They also will negotiate anonymous sales. An advisor’s commission is typically 10 to 15 percent of the sale price.
6. SPLURGE ON BENEFIT TICKETS
For serious collectors, it pays to view the fair first. At some fairs, you can literally buy your VIP status, through benefit tickets, but at others, like Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach, you need to prove your elite collector status and be invited to join the club. In some cases, dealers might share their big-spender lists with fair organizers (another good reason to cultivate dealers).
Once you rank, the doors open for you. In Miami, during Art Basel, and in New York, during The Armory Show, private collectors like Craig Robbins, Rosa de la Cruz, Don and Mera Rubell, Nicholas and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, and Laura Stokler open their home collections to VIPs. Other collectors might host breakfasts, teas or cocktail parties.
VIPs also often have their own entrance to the fair, a private champagne lounge and coffee bar, specially arranged shipping services and even access to the global concierge services of Quintessentially, the private members-only service, which will be available again this year to Olympia VIPs during the summer fair.
In addition, elite fair-goers can be entitled to valuable purchasing advice and information on emerging artists. Become a patron of London’s Royal Academy of Arts (starting at as little as £165, this status will gain you entrance to all the events, afford you opportunities to meet with academicians and give you early entry to the fair) and you’ll not only be invited to the party of the summer—The Summer Exhibition Preview—but will also get a tour of the show with a royal academician.
7. DON'T BE SHY
There’s no doubt that fair-going can be an overwhelming, if not intimidating, experience, but even if you’re not in the mood to buy, think of it as an educational opportunity. “There’s nothing that dealers love more than talking about their antiques,” says Jeremy Garfield-Davis, of London’s Ronald Phillips Ltd. “We’re always excited to see new faces, develop new clients. If fact, once you get us talking, it will be hard to get us to stop.”
Sallie Brady is an Art & Antiques New York correspondent. This is a follow up to her “Sophisticated Shopping: How to get the most out of fine art and antiques fairs” (January 2005).