Foreword

Why and How This Book was Written

"What" somebody once asked Gertrude Stein, "is your attitude toward art?" She answered, "I like to look at it!"

You will readily understand that when the contract was signed for this book I felt a pleasant sense of satisfaction. On the day following the affixing of signatures to the necessary covenants of publishing, I lunched with an old friend. Naturally, I was anxious to convey news of my work-in-progress. Nor could I have expected a more interested audience.

For not only is Dan G. a friend of long standing; he has always admired my collection of prints, paintings, and sculp­ture. Many times he has dropped in to talk about a print or a picture he considered for himself. On occasion, he has tele­phoned to ask some question about a choice for his own apart­ment. From time to time we have talked about framing, hang­ing, lighting, buying, bartering, and many other facets of the collector's pursuit. Usually, I have been on the counseling side.

So, as our meal was ended, I summoned up a casual air and remarked: "Oh, by the way, Dan, I've just made a contract to write a book. It'll be published in the Spring."

Dan looked up from his peach melba. "Great! A novel, I suppose."

"No, it's a book for art collectors. I'm thinking of calling it How to Start and Build an Art Collection."

He looked at me fixedly for a second or two. Then he bent forward, peered over his glasses, and said, "Ah! And just what makes you an expert?"

Since Dan had not yet purchased the book ... in fact, rather expected a free and autographed copy ... I was a bit taken aback by his pointed query. But

 I recognize that it is a question you, the reader, are fully entitled to ask. You have decided to give these pages your time, interest, and attention. Certainly you should know if the author knows whereof he speaks. I will, therefore, attempt to tell you why I hope you will follow me to the very index of this volume.

Since my soul is as much in need of a tonic as the next fel­low's, I should prefer to start with a confession. My own work­aday world is not art. Nor am I a wealthy dilettante who spends all his time in pursuit of the collectible. I am what you might call a "Sunday collector," but one who has spent many a year of Sundays in such activity. Thus, in a severely technical sense, I may not qualify as an expert at all. However, let's think about experts for a brief interlude and decide on their relative value. I say relative most advisedly. For there are very few absolutes in the art of art collecting.

Experts are the rare people of the art world. They are the distinguished art critics, curators, scholars, and teachers who have made the study of art their lifework. And often the greater the expert the more specialized is his knowledge. For this is not an all-inclusive word: a man is an expert in this aspect of art or that. No man is the final authority on everything.

Beware of the soi-disant expert. There are as many fake experts as there are fake Corots.

Perhaps you have read about the "Art Bismarck" of Ger­many. This unquestioned scholar purchased a wax figure of Flora and dispatched it to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin on the assumption that it was a creation of Da Vinci. When undeniable proof revealed the piece as an imitation, this expert doggedly maintained its authenticity.

The famous Edward T. Stotesbury was led to amassing a huge collection of alleged masterpieces by certain authorities. When the collection went to the auction block the total of the sale was a crushing disappointment.

If you prefer examples from our own day and age, I refer you to the recent rhubarb between two sets of experts over a Van Gogh that had been bought by a prominent motion-pic­ture producer. You probably read about this fine-arts fracas in Time or your newspaper. One coterie of savants declared the work an outright fake. Batteries of very highbrows were brought up on the other side to declare that no more genuine Van Gogh existed.

My own reaction was a highly personal and emotional one. I had seen the buyer's films many times, and I decided for myself that the painting was a fake! Because obviously for me, this fellow knew nothing about pictures! Certainly this is an emotional decision. But there you will, I trust, take a cogent —although greatly exaggerated—lesson. Such emotional judg­ments can often be the best kind. For when you select a print, a water color, or a piece of sculpture your own emotional complex is very much a part of the picture or bronze.

Naturally you must have some concrete criteria to buttress you. You will want solid background and a reasonable degree of information so that you do not permit your emotions to run away with you to the nearest auction house where you wag wildly at the fellow on the platform only to drag home a daub. There, then, is the prime purpose of this book. It will make a valiant effort to pack as much knowledge on buy­ing art as I can put into these pages.

I shall probably wander a field from chapter to chapter in relaying the facts to you. And please look again at that word . . . relaying. For this is no one-man book. Who opens this, opens a synthesis ... a gathering together of information from many minds and many places.

There is one guarantee I can make. You will find in these pages advice and knowledge passed along to me by some of the most seasoned collectors in America today. Several of them own paintings of such outstanding quality that museum di­rectors breathe hotly down their necks in the hope of one day acquiring their pictures. Others are in a more limited area with small, but choice, collections, such as a friend who has only Prendergasts ... but what Prendergasts!

You will also find a distillation of talks I have had with art critics, art teachers, and artists themselves. You will come upon comments, caveats, and hints by gallery owners, dealers, cu­rators of important museums . . . and even an "expert" or two! And then you will find my personal experiences and the anecdotes I have gathered in the slow process of building my own collection.

What I have done is to put all these fragments, stories, ideas, and facts together to try to equip you with enough knowledge to send you off into the galleries, the auctions, the exhibitions, possessing the confidence energetically demanded in putting together a valuable collection.

Now I shouldn't be at all surprised if there is a question, or at least the suggestion of one, lurking there at the back of your mind. It is of the same cloth as my friend Dan's.

"How wise a collector are you, author of this book? Why should I look and listen?"

Well, that question certainly deserves an answer. It simply depends on how you create your particular set of standards. Take a quick look at the illustrations in this book. They are all from my own collection. Do you find them aesthetically pleasing? Then, I pass muster in your eyes.

Now, again, you may well be a person who thinks even beauty should have a practical side. I should prefer not to bring up the matter of money, but I can say unabashedly that my collection has increased in value many times over. I recog­nize that the general tone of the art market had a great deal of bearing on the rise of my own particular choices. But I had quite a few stocks, too, in the general rise, and am not a penny richer therefrom.

I want to make it clear that, despite my momentary preoc­cupation with "carrying the shekel to the Temple" of Art, I will devote most of my time, and direct your attention to the fundamental aesthetic aspects of the matter. I trust that by the time you have finished this book you will, as almost all collectors of esteem have done, put the love of collecting, and the desire to own and observe beautiful things, far above the purely financial aspects.

Now, the first step, as we proceed to the heart of the art matter.

Irwin W. Solomon

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