Wednesday, 29 July 2020

Facts Not Narrative. Who really owned your Artwork between 1933-1945?



 SUMMER NEWS BULLETIN

Dear Clients, Collectors, Colleagues, Supporters & Friends,

Walmsley Fine Art Advisory is using this challenging period of restricted travel as productively as possible to develop the efficiency of our databank for significant European Impressionist & Modern works of Art.

We continue to build our knowledge and capabilities to discover previously unknown, uncatalogued and unanalysed documentation. Our archive is one of the largest in the world and presently contains administration records on 230 art dealers, leading institutions and a growing private collector archive with documentation spanning 1895 – the present.

We use this data to allow Art Collectors to see information impartially and transparently to inform their decisions whether to buy, sell or pursue legal cases. 

Recently completed projects include:
·         Tracking the movement of significant and specific European Impressionist and Modern works of Art that moved through auctions in Germany, Switzerland and Austria-Hungry between 1901 – 1917 and between 1930-45
·         We re-calibrated the Moderne Galerie Thannhauser Munich's stock book, previously considered 'lost'. This has given us a clear understanding of many of the artworks traded by Thannhauser before 1920, in particular those by Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Picasso etc...
·         Research and Analysis of the Fauve period artworks of Georges Braque

 Projects In Progress 2020 - 2021
·         We will continue to track the movement of significant and specific European Impressionist and Modern works of Art that moved through auctions in Germany, Switzerland and Austria between 1917 – 1929.
·        Ambroise Vollard's records are being collated together to form 1 stockbook spanning the years 1900-1933. This will enable us to understand his agent & client network as well as the significant artworks he traded.
o    The project brings together all recorded stock numbers, photographic numbers and sales dates. This allows us to 'read' his records chronologically in terms of sales and also chronologically in terms of stock numbers and photographic numbers that have been recovered from original source materials.
·         We will be piecing together the earliest transactions from Galerie Rosenberg in Paris before 1920. This will accompany the rest of the Rosenberg Archive that we hold in digital form.
·         We aim to collate data from French Auction Catalogues 1880 – 1950.

Current Services
·         We are able to set out budget conscious Research Project Proposals tailored to each artwork's needs. (For example: factual data gathering and report writing for the purpose of authentication).
·         Price Analysis of Artworks – used for valuation for insurance, selling or buying and as part of legal feasibility assessments.
·         Collector Risk Protection - 'Initial Assessments' and 'Basic Risk Analysis Reports' are possible. 'Full Risk Analysis Reports' are proposal-able some delays should be expected if access to documentation requires travel, particularly to the USA.
·         Logistics, Insurance, Conservation and Forensic Analysis quotations and planning is possible.

Contact us to learn more.

We would like to wish our clients all the very best in health and well being through this troubling time, enjoy your Summer!