Art Gallery Archives: Professionalization of a Commercial Sector

The authors describe the recent professionalization of archival practices in three large commercial art galleries based in Los Angeles: Gagosian Gallery, Blum & Poe, and L.A. Louver. Within the last three years, each of these galleries hired for the first time a dedicated, full-time MLIS archivi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Art documentation 2014-03, Vol.33 (1), p.81-94
Main Authors: Bunting, Lynda, Allison, Virginia, Handler, Ben Lee Ritchie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archives
Archivists
Art dealing
Art exhibitions
Art galleries
Art photography
Cataloging
Commercial art
Modern art
Museum exhibits
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Summary:The authors describe the recent professionalization of archival practices in three large commercial art galleries based in Los Angeles: Gagosian Gallery, Blum & Poe, and L.A. Louver. Within the last three years, each of these galleries hired for the first time a dedicated, full-time MLIS archivist. The three pioneering Los Angeles gallery archivists share their collective experience of working in the commercial art world. Topics include how the archivist role fits into a commercial gallery organization, the challenges of working with non-traditional collections, and the merits and value of such collections for the long-term documentation and preservation of the contemporary art world.
ISSN:0730-7187
2161-9417
DOI:10.1086/675708