Gallerist
Categories: Company Management
A gallerist is a person who owns and/or operates an art gallery. That may sound simple, but gallerists need to be oh so much more than just art lovers. Gallerists often advise art buyers, sellers, and investors, so they’ve got to know their way around the art industry.
They need to have an eye for business: they need to know how much art is worth so they can buy and sell responsibly, and they need to also manage the ins and outs of the gallery’s business operations. They need to understand economics, so they can predict how well—or not well—certain types of art will sell at a given time. And they need to understand the art itself: Is a piece authentic? What is its provenance, or verified history? How should it be curated? Which kinds of buyers are interested in this type of art, and how much are they willing to pay for it?
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but the business of art? That’s in the brain of the gallerist.