Conserving and sharing art (naïve question).

January 26, 2009 9:19 PM

A piece of art given me some years ago might be of historical interest. How do I get in touch with someone who might want to take a picture of it, or catalogue it, or whatever?

This is really two questions. I was given this watercolor by the artist's son-in-law twenty-five years ago. It is not a picture I would sell. It might have escaped detection since it was handed around a bit and wound up with me in a very informal way, so anyone looking for it wouldn't know to contact me. There aren't any appeals for people who own the artist's work to get in touch with so-and-so in a Google search for the artist's name (Yngve E. Soderberg). How would I know if someone were looking for examples of his work to catalog?

Given that a lot of hits for the artist's name are art auction houses, should I have the work appraised? The painting's value isn't of much interest to me, but are minor works insured such that they can be restored? It's a lovely work (to my untutored eye) and it has a special significance for me.

posted by jet_silver to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Best answer: To the first question: You might not ever really be able to tell if someone's looking for Soderberg's art or not, but the best thing to do would be to contact the galleries which currently handle his work and simply ask about the value / collector interest in his work, and leave your contact information should anyone be interested. He doesn't appear to be regarded as an "important" enough artist to garner the kind of historical interest (as you put it) that many other artists would - his appeal is mostly sentimental, it would seem.

To the second question: From what I could find, there's some interest in Soderberg's original art. Many of his watercolors are on offer for around $1500 or so; apparently when these come up for auction they tend to sell for around $1000. This isn't anything to sneeze at, but it wouldn't make you rich, either. His appeal seems pretty regional and largely specific to those interested in his subject matter (you don't say what your watercolor depicts, but most of the watercolors that sell tend to have sailing / marine subjects as their content.) His prints - which go for much less than original watercolors - are still reproduced and sell to people with vacation homes by the sea and that sort of thing.

Whether to insure it or not is your choice, but I wouldn't imagine that the watercolor is worth so much as to make an appraisal worth it. Art is pretty famously expensive to insure relative to value, and this piece wouldn't break you if it were stolen or damage (at least in financial terms.)
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 10:01 PM on January 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

It sounds like this is an American artist. If so, you should get in touch with the Archives of American Art. They have a catalog of the works as well as correspondence, etc. of hundreds (thousands?) of American artists. You can get in touch with them via the Ask Us page. They won't tell you what the painting is worth but they might be able to direct you to a museum collection somewhere or know someone to contact. Standard Disclaimer: I used to work for them, so I can tell you without reservation that they are awesome.
posted by Deathalicious at 11:39 PM on January 26, 2009

Sometimes, it's easier to make it possible for the interested people to find you, than to track them down.

I'd try posting the image to Flickr or a blog and ask people to contact me via my profile page if they're interested in it.
posted by zippy at 2:20 AM on January 27, 2009

Give Christie's or Southeby's a shout, you can ask to talk to their Art department and will find someone there that can answer your question. Yes, they may try to convince you to consign, but feel free to tell them that you aren't currently interested in doing so.
posted by legotech at 12:08 PM on January 27, 2009

Response by poster: Dee Xtrovert, you're right, it has mostly sentimental value to me; and yes, it is a sailing picture.

I don't want the money - the picture has much more value to me than a few piastres. I'll take a picture of it and post it up, to see if anyone wants a better picture.
posted by jet_silver at 12:58 PM on January 27, 2009