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The Art World Online Q&A: No. 2 IS FINE ART REALLY SELLING ONLINE? By Bill Fine, President Q: I see you have galleries online as well. Are the gallerists on artnet selling directly on the Internet? A: Yes, and we don't charge a commission! Log on to www.artnet.com, then click on "about us," then "Testimonials." Read about the $3,000,000 Impressionist painting (a Monet) Tom Segal sold directly off his site...or about the $450,000 Buttersworth New York dealer Ian Peck sold to an English collector... or about the works by Polly Apfelbaum and Robert Feintuch that Italian dealer Helene de Franchis (Studio la Città) sold to American collectors... or about the Jane Peterson(s) that sold at Edwin Andrews and Howard Rehs galleries...or about the Theresa Bernsteins that sold at Joan Whalen... Q: All the galleries are selling? What percentage of the dealers actually selling works directly off their sites? A: In a survey of a third of our 2,200 member dealers, 40% reported direct sales. That's increasing because artnet now has critical mass and over 90% of our fine art galleries renew. Q: But I've got to think most of the sales are at lower price points. A: Clearly not. In fact, the longer a dealer is on our site, the more likely he is to list his expensive inventory with us. Check out Frank Berndt's (Cologne) site, and you'll see some pretty pricey inventory, and if you ask him if his confidence in artnet has been misplaced, he may tell you about the Kaethe Kollwitz he sold to an American museum directly off his site. Q: I'll bet most of what you sell are "brand name" artists like Warhol and Picasso. A: Peter Gwyther (London) will tell you he sells Warhols online, but a member of the Private Art Dealers Association tells us, "I think a dealer is better served by an artist like Esteve, who, unlike Picasso, has limited representation. I sold one of his lithographs to a collector who was thrilled to locate the work. In fact, he was so anxious to see me that he came over on a Saturday and purchased the piece on the spot." Q: Esteve has some international currency. What about local artists? A: Clearly, a dealer has a leg up with artists who have some following, both online and off-line. Q: It seems to me the Internet is a search-driven technology. How does someone find an artist of whom they have never heard, someone they don't even know exists? A: Sometimes, a collector will search for a specific category of work, a certain style. And, in many instances, a collector will find an artist, Tim Gardner in the case of 303 Gallery, in the "Exhibitions" splash, or browsing artnet magazine. Q: OK, so tell me how the sale happens? Walk me through it. A: Read John Driscoll's (Babcock Galleries, New York) testimonial..."Here's this guy sitting in an office...he's looking for a specific artist (presumably, in one of search engines or, if he's on artnet, he could be using our own search engine or the artist index). He finds our site...calls... asks if we can do any better on the price, and I tell him we publish our lowest prices on the Internet Q: You mean he publishes his prices on the site? A: Yes, and, if you're smart, you will too. Collectors tell us that if they don't see the price they will often assume the piece is out of range. Q: And so he ships the artwork right then and there? A: Normally, a dealer will secure the piece with a credit card and ship with 48 hours approval. Q: You mean the client doesn't even ask for a transparency? A: In most cases, no. The quality of artnet's illustrations is excellent. Early on I remember Martha and Dennis Gleason (Gleason Fine Art, Inc., Boothbay Harbor, Maine) were surprised when a collector asked them to ship oils by Charles Woodbury and James Fitzgerald without so much as a second look. Today, the reproduction is not really an issue on the Internet because of advanced digital image technologies. Q: And what percentage of the gallery sale do you take? A: Not one cent. We don't want to interfere with your client relationships, nor do we want to claim part of your profit margin. Q: I've heard dealers are also able to buy works on the Internet. A: Yes, and that's really good news in a seller's market! In many instances, a collector will offer a dealer works he knows the dealer sells. James Lloyd, Director of Burlington Paintings, Ltd., London, told us of an inquiry from a client in Zimbabwe who was searching the Net for galleries representing a particular artist whose painting he wished to sell. "Following our correspondence via email, he traveled to London with the painting which we subsequently purchased." Dealers have operated secretively, in small cartels. Now, with easy access to artnet's illustrated artist index, they can find the work they're looking for with a keystroke. It's really about communication. Log on to www.artnet.com, click on "artists," then Frederick Childe Hassam, for example. There are four pages of Hassams from as many different dealers . . . click Mary Cassatt . . . or Kounellis. With 2,200 galleries representing 39,000 different artists and over 166,000 individual artworks, no single medium (or institution) has aggregated as many quality artworks by as many important artists. artnet has four times as many galleries as the biggest art fair in the world, and all year round too. Let me share two final stories with you. Marine art dealer, Ann Marinakos (Quester Gallery) wrote about a 36 year-old from Colorado who made a special trip to her Stonington, Connecticut Gallery. The young man evinced an obvious interest in marine subject matter. The problem is that there are very few Buttersworths or Salmons for sale in Denver, Colorado. Ann Marinakos (Quester Gallery): "What was really interesting is that we had enough on our site with regular updates that this young man was able to develop preferences at price points, which is where collecting starts. He bought a William Yorke, not one on our site at the time of his arrival, but one of several we'd had on our site in the past year. This new collector was completely unfamiliar to me, but he knew us, and when he arrived at our gallery, he was knowledgeable and motivated to buy." And, finally, a note from Frank Fowler (Lookout Mountain, TN), Andrew Wyeth's most successful dealer, who had this to say about artnet: "I've been with artnet for three years and, in the past two, I've had an amazing success with the site. Last year, I got six new clients solely from artnet. One new client bought two works. Another bought three. To date this year, I've sold eight picturesexpensive onesto fresh clients. artnet far exceeded my expectations. Increasingly, too, I have found artnet invaluable in acquiring Andrew Wyeths for sale as well." Bill Fine: |
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