Art dealers' inventory strategy: the case of Goupil, Boussod & Valadon from 1860 to 1914

Proper inventory management is crucial for art galleries. Yet, despite its importance, inventory management has been overlooked in the literature. We distinguish four main strategies used by art dealers to manage their inventory and use this classification to set the inventory strategy of Goupil, Bo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Business history Vol. 65; no. 1; pp. 24 - 55
Main Authors: David, Geraldine, Huemer, Christian, Oosterlinck, Kim
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Liverpool Routledge 2023
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
19th century
Art galleries & museums
art gallery
Art market
Artists
Boussod & Valadon
Classification
Goupil
Inventory
inventory strategy
N14
Preoccupation
Strategies
ISSN:0007-6791, 1743-7938
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Proper inventory management is crucial for art galleries. Yet, despite its importance, inventory management has been overlooked in the literature. We distinguish four main strategies used by art dealers to manage their inventory and use this classification to set the inventory strategy of Goupil, Boussod & Valadon, a major art gallery active in France at the end of the 19th century, into perspective. Goupil's books cover the sale of more than 25,000 artworks between 1860 and 1914. Rapidity to sell was a key element in Goupil's strategy. Out of the sold artworks, almost 75% were sold within a year. Goupil required a slightly higher mark-up for artists from which he held a large inventory. Mark-up for artists in residence and the likelihood to sell their artworks at a loss were lower, signaling a preoccupation for their long-term market.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:0007-6791
1743-7938
DOI:10.1080/00076791.2020.1832083