BUYING NAMES

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 118, 21 May 1930, Page 16

BUYING NAMES

AMERICAN ART LOVERS

DANGEROUS PRACTICE

INVITATION TO FRAUD

"Buying names," the tendency in the art work! which made possible the Millet frauds which havo just been reported in the cables, is analysed by E. E. Tatlock, the art critic of the "Daily Telegraph," in a recent article. The commission system, says Mr. Tatlock, is one which tends to invito abuse. Tho exhibition of Italian art lias demonstrated to the world how rich and varied aro tho private art collection of England, says the critic^ Tho wonderful contributions from these sources caused -ho surprise so far as professional art experts were concerned, but this is much less true as applying to the general public. The profoundest effect of all, however, is that made upon the minds of tho most extensive and eager community of art collectors in existence, that of the United States. In recent years, so vast havo been America's acquisitive powers that many people in that country had, naturally enough, concluded that the great majority of important Old Masters owned by the English had already crossed the Atlantic and. found • homos either in public or private collections there. One is. frequently asked by Americans if there is much resentment here regarding the wholesale exodus of our art treasures. The Italian exhibition has given pause to that notion, and it is now realised more fully in America that, notwithstanding the many millions of dollars that have been paid to us by Americans for ancient works of art, the collections of England are still probably the finest in existence. COLLECTORS AND STUDENTS. Many thoughtful people in the United States have been turning over this matter in their minds, and are asking for some explanation of the phenomenon. .What puzzles them most of all is the high standard, especially of early paintings of all schools, that have accumulated in so many English homes. Tho question is an interesting and curious one, and it usefully draws one to consider/the methods by which our collections were formed, as compared with the prevailing practice in the United States. The chief distinction is obvious to anyone who has troubled to discuss art and the art of collecting with American collectors. The old English collections were, in the main, formed by people -who actively studied art and passionately loved it. Consequently the collector found himself in possession of works of art painted by artists with whom he, at any rate, had something in common. In nearly every case some connection, psychologically and particularly aesthetically, existed between artist and purchaser. The primary impulse on the part of the best type of English collector was towards a special sort of spiritual satisfaction which could not be obtained through any other channel. But as time passed moreaiid more attention came to be paid to questions of attribution, and the age of the learned art expert and historian tended to supplant that of the' unsophisticated art lover. The- authorship of old masters in this and other European collections was discussed and rcdiscussed, photography came to the assistance of the research worker, and scientific catalogues were compiled'in numbers. Gradually the community of art experts organised itself into a special profession. .. SHREWD BUYERS. Until after this process was' completed Americans did not become art collectors. When at last they did begin to acquire works of art, wisely or otherwise, they formed the habit, unlike the English collectors of the past, of depending on the opinion of the professional art expert rather. than on their own aesthetic judgment, and so they have tended more and more to buy names rather than pictures. The majority of American collectors to-day avo busy business men who make, no claim to have devoted any considerable part of their lives, as our old collectors did, to the study and enjoyment of works of art. Almost any American to-day who can afford to do so will buy an Old Master, but he buys it in nine cases out of ten only if it is accompanied by a professional expert's certificate in which the authorship is "guaranteed." It is easy to see how destructive such a system is to art collecting in the original sense of the term; and vrhen we know that most experts' fees depend upon the market value of the work of art for which' a certificate is given it will be readily understood.that abuses sometimes occur. In view of these circumstances, the surprising thing is that American collections contain such a large proportion of fine works. On this side of th 9 Atlantic many people assume that ©very other Old Master in America masquerades under a false name or is a "fake." This is actually far from being the case, and the artistic standard attained by American collectors as a whole constitutes a tribute to their shrewdness as it does to the prevailing honesty of art dealers and of those who assist them in etablishing the authorship of the works of- art passing through their hands.