Shipping Fine Art

March 22, 2006 11:16 PM

Let's say I wanted to have some fine art (paintings) shipped professionally. That's museum-style professionalism I'm looking for. Going to NYC, coming from various parts of the country/world. Where they're coming from isn't important - this is entirely made-up, a small part of a budget as part of a hypothetical project. Can you give me any sort of ballpark figures, considering various sizes and various points of origin?
posted by thejoshu to Work & Money (6 answers total)

Surely it's too hard to answer if you can't even give a rough idea of the countries involved? It'll be more expensive in Paris than Saigon, and in Kabul there probably isn't anyone equipped to do it at all. So, even generally: Europe? Asia? Big cities? Developed countries?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 12:43 AM on March 23, 2006

Well, as just a single data point, my SO has had a couple of paintings shipped from Russia to the States, and the shipping was (IIRC) a couple hundred dollars for a medium-sized painting (a couple of feet^2).

My suggestion would be to go to Paintings Direct, then do an advanced search by country and size. The shipping rates are quoted in the price of the painting.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:10 AM on March 23, 2006

In an age of terror and war, soaring shipping and insurance costs force cutbacks in art shows:

In the past 18 months [written in April 2003], museums' insurance rates have shot up as much as 50 percent, and in New York, where museums borrowing works from abroad have had to buy costly terrorism coverage, they've doubled. At the same time, the price of shipping art is rising, in part because of higher air freight costs and the increased demands of lenders reluctant to let their art travel at a time of global unrest.

"I think we're going to be doing fewer exhibitions," said Harry Parker, director of San Francisco's Fine Arts Museums, where shipping and handling costs for some shows have risen by a third.

The museum recently canceled "The New Barbarians," an exhibition about the roots of Russian abstract art that was scheduled to open at the Legion of Honor in June. Coming from Russia by way of Baltimore, the show was going to cost about $250,000 to bring in and about $150,000 more for marketing, installation and additional insurance. (Like many international shows, it was covered by the National Endowment for the Art's indemnity program, without which many exhibitions probably wouldn't happen.)

Etc. There's some useful stuff there for you. (Source: Museum Security Network and Museum Security Mailinglist)
posted by pracowity at 5:33 AM on March 23, 2006

A 44" x 66" painting going from San Francisco to Texas or Florida cost close to $1000 in shipping and insurance. This was paid by the purchaser and arranged through my gallery. At this size, you are looking at having crates specially made for the individual piece and shipment by a private company. This price is from 2 years ago. A lot depends on whether or not your piece can be shipped by UPS/Fedex or if it has to go private carrier due to size and weight.
posted by 45moore45 at 5:38 AM on March 23, 2006

Oh I think you can factor it a bit cheaper than some of the above, if you're leaning towards barely museum quality. Paintings up to, hmm, I think 24x24 or 30x30 I've sent within the U.S. via FedEx for like, 70 bucks, as I recall. You just pack the living holy hell out of them.

Also you want to get prices from BAX Global. They're cheaper than Fedex; they do both international and intra-U.S. I'd say you could get a good-sized painting from Europe for... $260, not including whichever, crating or packing. (Much easier to get things into the U.S. than the other way around, I find.) But as 45moore45 said; crating and art handling is where it gets pricey.

There's a number of people who run trucks within the U.S.; you just have to wait a couple weeks and they'll put it on their regular runs; that's generally a couple hundred bucks (maybe $300? A little less? Most of them have prices on their sites) for a crated painting. They definitely go up the east coast (Miami to Boston) and there's some crosscountry LA/SF to NYC runs as well.

If you want to just get a figure on shipping a whole show, talk to some of the people who do management at ICI.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 2:32 PM on March 23, 2006

I had a Harry McCormick oil painting crated and shipped, sent from Georgia to Connecticut, for $460, including insurance. The painting was roughly 20 inches by 24 inches.
posted by Maisie Jay at 3:02 PM on March 23, 2006