Becoming a collector is possible.
A small budget should not prevent you from becoming collectors, also because the great artists have produced great multiples of art at small costs.
Let’s find out what they are and how to do it …
Author’s multiples are a system of dissemination of artworks, available at a lower price than the single work, and accessible to a wider public since they are produced in controlled, numbered, certified and authenticated quantities.
Artist editions allow many enthusiasts and collectors to own the artwork of great artists such as Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana or Vanessa Beecroft, just to name a few.
It is worth saying that these are always works of art, expressed in the artistic language of the multiple, which follow the most complete production of the same artist; this does not mean having a copy of the original, but a piece that the author has produced specifically for that medium, in dialogue therefore with the rest of his production.
Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) was a German artist, whose multiples are now very popular on the market, and although initially reluctant towards a numbered production, he later stated: “I am interested in the dissemination of works in the form of editions, because I’m interested in spreading ideas. If you have all my multiples, you have everything about myself. “
This thought has partly crossed the mind of Piero Manzoni (1933-1963), when in May 1961 he provocatively produced, boxed and put up for sale 90 boxes that (perhaps) contained 30 grams of his feces because “if the collectors wrote, they want something intimate from the artist, something really personal, that’s the shit of the artist, something really his own ”. An extreme concept of course, but who at the time bought the box for 21 thousand lire (700 lire per gram), today can only be enthusiastic: in December 2016 one of the famous cans reached the auction value at Il Ponte of 220,000 euros.
Even in Italy there are examples of those who have dedicated all their passion as collectors to serial works such as Vittorio Peruzzi who transformed his residence in Tarquinia (Viterbo) into a museum house, home of the same name collection, started in 1980 and still in progress today. Impossible not to mention the collector’s words: “The Peruzzi Collection is the demonstration that, even with modest means, it is possible to realize a great passion in a cultural project that contributes to the characterization and promotion of contemporary Italian art“.
If you really intend to start a collection of multiple works, as always it is good to prepare yourself and not to miss any detail. Here are our three suggestions to consider:
- SIGN: fundamental, but not decisive for the guarantee of authenticity of the work;
- PUBLISHER AND PRINTER: they must always be declared and authorized by the author, as well as the number of matrices used and the date of realization;
- EDITION NUMBER: number of copies established for a work, the numbering of which must be indicated in progressive order.
As always we remind you to never, ever forget to request during the purchase the CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY, the actual art passport.
Starting your own art collection is never easy, but being guided by passion and informed about the details to be taken into consideration can only lead you to become true collectors of works of art.
