Taking Note:  Creating an inventory for a private art collection

I'm fortunate to be working with an important and beautiful private collection of mid-century African-American and Latin-American art.  Comprising over 1,000 items either  framed and hanging on the walls, or lovingly stored in flat files, the collection represents the owner's lifelong interest in and advocacy for the vision of these formerly underrepresented artists.  

The job requires that I photograph, measure and research each work of art, a task that allows me to immerse myself in the imagery and history of the pieces, including the cultural context in which they were created, exhibited and collected.  Works by these artists are just now beginning to fetch record breaking prices at auction after being ignored or undervalued by mainstream museums and collectors for decades.  

Charles White, I Have a Dream, 1976. Private Collection.