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The Art of Collecting

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The Art of Collecting

The ever-changing global landscape of today’s art market, with its international art fairs and dizzying calendar of live and online auctions, presents more opportunities than ever to buy art.

The Art of Collecting introduces valuable strategies for focus and discernment as you build your collection and offers professional insights around how to navigate this fast-paced international marketplace as a collector.

Discussions include how to determine a collection focus, differentiating price from value, understanding due diligence checklists, issues surrounding authenticity and forgeries, as well as simple tips for inventory management. Using a variety of art historical resources and price databases, students will embark on a virtual “shopping trip,” applying basic collecting guidelines and comparative strategies to make a hypothetical acquisition for your collection.

Faculty

Betsy Thomas

Adjunct Faculty, MA Art Business, New York and Online Premier

Betsy Thomas is the founder and director of Thomas Art Advisory LLC, an art advisory and appraisal firm based in New York. She works closely with private collectors and institutions advising them on how to build high-quality collections as well as managing sales of estates, private and corporate collections as well as helping them navigate the charitable donation landscape.

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  • About Flexible Courses

    About Flexible Courses

    This flexible online course is delivered in weekly modules consisting of recorded lectures, instructor-guided discussion boards, and supplementary resources. The course will include a final project with personalized feedback from the course instructor. All participants will have read-only access to the course materials for an additional 90 days after the course end date.

    Review the online course Terms and Conditions.

  • Students Will Learn

    Students Will Learn

    • To identify and assess key aspects of collecting in order to confidently acquire artworks within the parameters of a budget and vision.
    • To identify and implement art historical research skills and tools as well as online resources to understand potential art acquisitions.
    • To perform comparable price research in order to assess artwork valuation.
    • To recognize the legal complexities and consequences of artwork forgeries and to understand how to perform basic due diligence before acquiring a work of art
  • Course Completion

    Course Completion

    For successfully completing this course, you receive a verified Certificate of Completion from Sotheby’s Institute of Art as well as 2.3 IACET Continuing Education Units. *

    Our digital certificates allow you to share new skills with various social media platforms, including LinkedIn. Successful completion is defined by each instructor in the course syllabus and consists, at the least, of regular, thoughtful participation in online activities and timely submission of assigned papers or projects.

    *As an IACET Accredited Provider, Sotheby’s Institute of Art offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard