Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel Oppenheimer.
Joel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I graduated from the Art Institute here in Chicago in 1978. I was already showing and selling my work as well as doing commissions but, of course, I also needed a regular job. In those days a degree from SAIC equipped you with no real world skills other than being an artist.
I had the opportunity to apprentice with the then conservator for the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute. He was in the process of leaving the museum and starting a private conservation practice. At first, I worked three days a week making archival acrylic frames for $3.50 an hour.
Years later I took over the business which had grown into a small conservation and framing studio and art gallery. We’re still small but between the restoration, framing, the gallery in Chicago and a gallery in Charleston, South Carolina, we employ about 20 people.
Along the way, I developed an intense interest in antique natural history art. This mostly includes works from the 17th through 19th centuries that in many cases depicted and identified living things for the first time. I’ve become somewhat of an expert in the field and have authored two books on the subject. The first, “John James Audubon, the Bien Chromolithographic Edition”, published by W.W. Norton in 2013. The second coauthored with my wife Laura, “The Family of Hummingbirds”, Published by Rizzoli Press, is due out this October.
Has it been a smooth road?
From my perspective, it has been fairly smooth. Although time passing does tend to diminish one’s recollection of the worries and struggles along the way. I never really had a specific goal or five-year plan. I’ve always just applied myself fully to what I was doing with an eye on growth and improvement.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Joel Oppenheimer Gallery story. Tell us more about the business.
Simply put, our business focuses on high-end quality. The term curator tends to be associated with a museum environment. Ideally, though, an art gallery functions as a curator for its clientele. That’s how you build a reputation and a client base. This maxim applies to all aspects of our business whether it be the gallery, the art conservation or museum-quality framing that we perform.
Our natural history art inventory is among the foremost in the world and that is evidenced by our collector base which is international. Ninety percent of the conservation and restoration work we do is shipped to us from throughout the United States. Our framing practice employs a meticulous custom approach and is geared toward important works of art. That is not to say that we don’t frame many pieces of lesser value when the owners want to know the work is being executed in the best possible manner.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The art business has always been fraught with instability. As a dispensable income market, it is ultra-sensitive to economic shifts. The galleries that survive usually own or can invest in a significant portion of their inventory. Unfortunately, many galleries are not in that financial position.
It goes without saying that the manifestation of the internet will continue to have a significant impact. The internet, though, is not a static invention. The capabilities of the computer systems, as well as the users, is constantly improving. For many, this has been an enhancement and for some, disastrous.
I think it is paramount for an art dealer to recognize that they are not a rarefied and esoteric entity. They are in the retail business and are subject to all of the same factors that determine success or failure for every business.
Pricing:
- Prices for original artwork range from $50 to $500,000
- Prices for conservation range from $100 to hundreds of thousands.
Contact Info:
- Address: Joel Oppenheimer Gallery
10 East Ohio Street
Chicago, IL 60611 - Website: www.audubonart.com
- Phone: 312-642-5300
- Email: joppen@audubonart.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/JoelOppenheimerGallery/
- Twitter: twitter.com/JOppenheimerInc
- Other: Linkedin www.linkedin.com/company/joel-oppenheimer-inc
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