A prominent Texas jurist that I know is fond of repeating an aphorism that goes as follows- ‘if you don’t know your jewels then you had better know your jeweler.’ As this judge is also an astute collector of period furniture, within this context what he means is, if you don’t really know what you’re looking at, rely on the advice of a dealer who does. Sage, and I have often cited this in very many blog entries by way of explaining how collectors from the novice to the experienced are well served by dealing only with members of the accredited trade in art and antiques.
It has then taken some time to bring myself to blog about the more recent round in the continuing vicissitudes of Galerie Kraemer, the redoubtable Parisian family firm now embroiled in controversy over the sale of a number of pieces claimed to be fudged up. One recent claim has resulted in a lawsuit brought by an Italian collector who purchased 13 pieces for a reputed €13,500million.
I say that it has taken me a long time to blog, warring as I am with thoughts and emotions specific to this dealer and the trade generally and not easily dissembled. Kraemer heretofore has a spotless reputation wrought over centuries and my direct knowledge of them is of the highest probity. Indeed, a man of my long acquaintance who is one of the preeminent scholars in the furniture field, and whose reputation is likewise above reproach, often consults with them, and occasionally works in their fair stands at TEFAF Maastricht and elsewhere. It is very, very hard for me to believe that they would be involved in something as nefarious, duping not only the public on such a large scale, but also the heritage industry, and in a manner that requires the complicity of so many other dealers and restorers and scholars. With all that, the notion of an involved and long-time conspiracy is in itself suspect, for as the saying goes, three people can keep a secret so long as two of them are dead.
Vincent Noce in The Art Newspaper recently quotes Laurent Kraemer who believes that not only is the controversy overblown and lacking in any firm technical analysis that would support the claims the disputed pieces were other than as represented- but also thinks the matter a ‘settling of accounts’ amongst dealers and is at least partly aimed at undermining the gallery’s reputation.
Perhaps so. I have to say, in this toughest of tough times for those in the trade- retail dealers and salesrooms- there is an appalling and enduring lack of esprit de corps amongst those for whom the trade is their livelihood. We were reminded of this sad fact just this week, looking at a piece of fine quality that had been damned fairly recently by two dealers well known in both London and New York. While they both hinted to a client who had purchased the piece that it might not be authentic, they had failed to note to the client that they themselves had prior to his ownership eagerly sought to acquire it. We’ve also seen this same sort of thing happen on many occasions at some of the most famous fairs, where a fine quality piece was criticized within the vetting process, only to discover that one of the experts vetting the piece had something similar to sell.
Savaging a dealer and the dealer’s stock, whether openly or more generally with sub-rosa hints, might seem an easy way to eliminate the competition but at what cost? The high-profile troubles of one dealer negatively impacts all of us. If there were ever a time for those of us in the accredited trade to behave with some collegiality, it is now.