ARTNEWS—COLLECTORS’ TOOLKIT: SHOULD ARTWORKS BE SHIPPED DURING A CRISIS?

Goods in transit. JOEL CARRETT/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Jonathan Schwartz, Atelier 4 CEO and the chairman of the International Convention of the International Convention of Exhibition and Fine Art Transporters ICEFAT) speaks to ARTnews about art shipping during a pandemic. In that latter capacity, he has spent the past couple of weeks calling his colleagues, to offer support and tips. In the former capacity, he over sees the reduced daily operations at Atelier 4.

Atelier 4 has a skeleton crew working at its facility, making sure that the climate control systems are running and ensuring security in addition to video surveillance. At this difficult time, Schwartz has one word for collectors: “patience.” (Most collectors, he said, are fairly understanding.) And that piece of advice ought to be well-heeded, as not all collectors have halted their art-buying habits. With galleries switching to online viewing rooms, many collectors are staying active, carrying out transactions in virtual space. And yet, Schwartz likes to remind them, “Even with the digitization of the collector experience, there will still need to be the transport of work.”

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