Information Strategies of Fine Art Collectors, Gallerists, and Trendsetters

Abstract

The objective of this article is to identify the strategies and information sources used by gallery owners and people who are particularly interested in the art market to obtain information about artists and their works, and how they use this information to evaluate an artist's significance. The survey was carried out at the international art fair “Art de Cologne.” One hundred three people participated in this study, of which 25 were gallery owners. The descriptive data analysis reveals many differences between the gallery owners and people interested in the art market. In a second step, a model for trendsetting in the field of arts is proposed. According to this proposal, such a model should be able to identify significant artists of the future at an early point in their career. Key features of trendsetters are their pronounced information-seeking behavior and their intensive use of the media to inform themselves about art. They are able to categorize innovative artists into the correct existing art-trends, and furthermore they are interested in telling people in their sphere about their discoveries. The results of this study show a significant positive correlation between trendsetting and knowledge about art. Major trendsetters inform themselves about arts using specialist journals and the Internet, but reject friends and acquaintances as sources of information.