Art collecting might seem like a cliché if approached from the perspective of conventional wisdom. In reality, there is no single way to collect art, much less in the Latin American context, which is the one that concerns us.
Identify the collector rather than categorize him or her
Talking about types of collecting does not mean reducing or labeling the figure of the collector. A collection rarely stems from a single motivation, and over time, its interests and purposes may change. And yes, its size as well. Rather than pigeonholing, what we can do is identify certain practices that help us understand the ways in which a collection is built and relates to the local ecosystem that concerns us—although, with the international circulation of art and the presence of Latin American and Ibero-American artists at art fairs around the world, that boundary is becoming increasingly blurred—.
But in the world of collecting, there are those who begin by acquiring works out of a personal affinity, and those who build a collection centered on a specific period, scene, or region; ranging from collections that accompany artists’ careers to those that ultimately give rise to archives, foundations, exhibition programs, or museums.
Sometimes, a collector takes a chance on an artist whom they believe will gain value at some point, even though that speculation can sometimes prove costly (the artist stops producing work, their value drops… or they don’t die young).
Approaching Collecting from Different Perspectives
The possibilities go far beyond the simple accumulation of objects. There are even collectors who decide to buy art to fulfill what many outside the art world consider one of a work’s most basic functions: to decorate a wall or a room—no, as much as we wanted to, we couldn’t escape that cliché.
Today we identify five ways of collecting art in Latin America—not as rigid categories, but as points of reference for understanding a practice that is constantly evolving.
1. Collecting Art as a Personal Experience
It is perhaps the most immediate way to approach collecting, but that does not make it any less interesting. It involves buying works that strike a connection—whether aesthetic or emotional. Curatorial processes aren’t necessarily a factor, nor do there have to be expectations of profit: this is a type of collecting that involves buying and accumulating art on an impulsive whim driven by personal taste, rather than analysis. Generally, these types of collections are not very homogeneous and do not follow a particular theme. However, this type of buyer is a fundamental part of the market that sustains the local art scene.
A case in point is that of Cuban philanthropist and businesswoman Ella Fontanals-Cisneros (who, incidentally, was the first woman in Venezuela to obtain a credit card). She herself has explained that she began buying art simply because she liked it, and that her first acquisitions were works by Venezuelan artists—the artists closest to her. Over time, her interests shifted from painting to photography, video, and installations. Her collection eventually grew to over 3,000 works, and in 2002, she founded CIFO, the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation in Florida—a space that serves as a home for a vast collection that began purely for her own enjoyment. “Art isn’t meant to decorate walls,” she said recently on her Instagram account.
2. Collecting as a Form of Support: The Collector as Patron
Here, the acquisition process does not end when a work enters a gallery or a storage facility. Some collectors maintain long-term relationships with artists, acquire works early in the artists’ careers, and contribute directly or indirectly to making certain projects a reality.
Chilean curator Alexia Tala has specifically highlighted this issue in her discussions of Latin American collecting, and one of her many writings describes the tradition of close relationships with living artists and notes that numerous projects are made possible thanks to the support of these collector-patrons.
A Mexican example that illustrates this point is that of Eugenio López Alonso, president of the Jumex Contemporary Art Foundation. When he opened Galería Jumex in 2001, the space served as a platform for experimentation and exhibition for a new generation of artists. Years later, that initiative would lead to the creation of the Jumex Museum. Its collection includes both Mexican artists—such as Gabriel Orozco and Gabriel Kuri—and international figures.
3. Collecting to Build a Narrative: Collecting as Research
Curiosity may kill the cat, but it makes the art collector stronger. And there are collections that take on meaning when they are built around a period, movement, region, medium, generation, or event. The collector then begins to act as a curator or guardian of a moment in time. Often, private collectors help preserve works of art and ensure that a movement or art scene becomes part of history.
Patricia Phelps de Cisneros is a well-documented case. Her collection is not a haphazard assortment of Latin American art: it comprises a vast, well-defined collection dedicated equally to modern geometric abstraction, contemporary art, colonial art, traveling artists, and objects and documentation from at least twelve indigenous peoples of the Orinoco Basin. More than 250 works have been donated to MoMA, and in 2016, the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America was established there, dedicated to producing and disseminating research on Latin American art. Thus, a collection ceases to be a matter of personal taste and can transcend the private sphere to become a research tool and even take on an institutional dimension. This leads us to the next type of collecting.
4. From Private Collections to Institutions
This tradition is undoubtedly particularly significant in Latin America, where private collections have come to occupy public spaces such as museums, foundations, research centers, exhibitions, publications, and educational programs. One case worth mentioning is that of Argentine businessman and collector Eduardo Costantini, founder of MALBA (Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires). He himself has recounted that he began collecting Latin American art on a regular basis in the late 1980s and came to view preserving this heritage as a social responsibility. That reflection led to the creation of MALBA, which opened in Buenos Aires in 2001 with a collection of more than 220 works contributed by the collector.
5. Collecting with Value in Mind: Art, Heritage, and Speculation
Yes, a work of art can simultaneously be an aesthetic object, a cultural heritage asset, and an economic asset capable of appreciating or depreciating in value. The collector seeking an investment is the focus of this practice. A Latin Trade report on art investment makes it clear that buyers may purchase art exclusively for the sake of collecting, combine the enjoyment of the work with wealth building, or simply pursue profitability as their primary goal. In other words, economic and aesthetic motivations are not mutually exclusive, although one may predominate over the other.
The speculative dimension of Latin American art is not limited to journalistic coverage either. Research on the history of its markets includes studies on the characteristics of Latin American art as an investment and analyzes how the very construction of Latin American art as an international category has been linked to the development of auctions, buyers, and new markets. Thus, the collector who seeks primarily financial return (a figure reviled by many art connoisseurs) is a valid and key figure for understanding how trends in art collecting function in Latin America and around the world—with their respective particularities, but also with points of convergence.
Learn more about the world of collecting in AW Magazine.
