Buying art and antiques is unlike purchasing anything else. Buying guides and consumer magazine ratings do not exist for these objects as they do for appliances, automobiles, clothing, colleges, food and so much else, and collectors are forced to rely on the knowledge and integrity of the private dealer or gallery owner.
Finding out who is a reputable dealer or gallery is no easy task, as the Better Business Bureau will only know of complaints filed with the agency (an unlikely place for dissatisfied collectors to go) and local museum curators may never have had dealings with the gallery. Word-of-mouth references are not always at hand. Perhaps, a collector’s only source of information about a gallery is the association to which it may belong.
There are dozens of these associations in the United States (some regional, others national), and the number is growing. Many differences exist between them, but they all share a common belief with regard to prospective collectors: that they practice the highest ethical standards in their field.
“People have trepidation about where to buy art, whose word you can believe,” said Robert Henry Adams, owner of the Chicago gallery of the same name and a member of the Chicago Art Dealers Association. “Our association says to them, `If you come to one of our members, you can be sure of getting a fair shake across the board.’ “
The view is echoed by other associations elsewhere. “The association assures a collector that the highest levels of business practices and ethical standards have been set for the members,” said Christopher Addison, director of the Addison-Ripley Gallery in Washington, D.C. and a past president of the Washington Art Dealers Association.
Noting that even though “non-members may be perfectly reputable,” Sylvan Cole, president of the International Fine Print Dealers Association, said that “when a collector is interested in prints, he or she will know that this organization represents print dealers you can trust and who are the best in the field.”
Satenig St. Marie, executive director of the Antique Dealers Association of America, also stated that “if you are buying something valuable, of course collectors would want to know if a dealer is a member of this association, because that means they are of the highest integrity.”
For most of these associations, accepted business practices and ethical standards are a matter of bylaws, voted on by members and published in the membership directory and other promotional material of the group.
However, some associations have no formal means of handling a complaint about a member, while others may have an ethics committee that hasn’t met in years.
“I’ve never head of any complaints coming in,” said Douglas Lydon, owner of Lydon Fine Art in Chicago, which is also an association member. “Maybe they don’t want to publicize problems.”
Gilbert Edelson, administrative vice president of the Art Dealers Association of America, also noted that “we don’t hear complaints about members very often. I can’t remember the last one.”
Because these ethics committees are not advertised by the associations, collectors may not even be aware that there is a means by which a dispute with a member gallery can be resolved.
Adams, who heads the ethics committee of the Chicago Art Dealers Association, noted that his committee “has no legal standing in the world. You can’t force members to do something you think they ought to do. Theoretically, members can be kicked out, but that’s never happened and it is difficult to imagine it happening.”
The primary purpose of these groups is to promote their members and their common ethical goals, rather than to enforce certain practices. Members are assessed dues, usually ranging from $100 to $1,200 annually, that pay for the publication of a directory of brochures (complete with descriptions of the member galleries, upcoming shows and a map with members locations highlighted), which are placed at hotels, restaurants and other popular sites.
The money may also be used to run an annual art fair (available only to members, who each get a booth) as well and to take out advertisements (listing all or some of the members) in local newspapers or national magazines.
The Chicago Art Dealers Association, for example, has closed off the block of Superior Street between Wells and Franklin for simultaneous openings of shows, as well as created an annual exposition. The association has also arranged to hang banners on the streets near member galleries and created an affiliate Friends groups that takes the public on tours of the galleries.
Informing the public that these galleries exist is a central objective of many associations. “We want to draw the attention of the community to what we’re doing,” John Pence noted, “collectively getting together to draw on strengths.”
The basis of admission into a dealer or gallery association is, essentially, acceptance by other dealers or galleries. The Art Dealers Association of America extends membership by invitation, and most others do the same or require applicants to submit letters of recommendation from two or three current association members. “The art world is really very small, and everyone knows everyone else in the field,” said Sylvan Cole.
Having a good rapport with one’s peers may be a reason that disciplinary action against association members is rare. With the exception of the Art Dealers Association of America and the Chicago Art Dealers Association, both of which have paid staff, there is also no neutral party within most gallery associations to whom one may complain if there is a problem.
“The Art Dealers Association of America is an old boys club,” said Victor Wiener, executive director of the Appraisers Society of America, which requires applicants to submit examples of their past work for review and to take an eight-hour-long examination in appraisal methodology and individual areas of expertise. “They’re very protective of their own, while we are very protective of the public.”
He noted that the society’s ethics committee is active in reviewing complaints from collectors, of which they receive three or four per year on the average. “We do kick people out.”
Dealer and gallery associations represent the hopes and best interests of their members. Often, those interests are the same as collectors, such as the print disclosure laws that the International Fine Print Dealers Association lobbied to see enacted in 11 states around the country, requiring dealers reveal all relevant information to would-be buyers about the limited edition graphic prints they are selling.
As any trade association, these membership groups also attempt to promote and protect their members’ profitability, which is where conflicts with collectors and artists may arise.
“First and foremost, these organizations set standards, and their members by and large comply with these standards,” Sylvan Cole said. “Not everyone lives up to these standards all the time, but the standards are there, and that gives confidence to the collector that these are dealers you can trust.”
