The MFA's Morse Study Room for Prints, Drawings, and Photographs is an absolutely amazing resource available to collectors eager to learn more about their collection or potential acquisitions. When working with a dealer, it is often possible to have a print sent to the MFA on approval to allow you to compare the work to one or more similar ones at the MFA. Older prints in particular vary widely in terms of impression quality and condition -- which greatly impact value. Even prints within the same edition may have been produced inconsistently.
We had an appointment yesterday with Stephanie Stepanek, an expert in the area we are researching; and we were also lucky to have a chance to chat with the head of the department, Cliff Ackley.
We started our research with the catalogue raisonne, which describes what is known about each print -- typically listing trial proofs, working proofs and each edition -- documenting what is known about each round including paper, changes to the plate, number in the edition, etc. The MFA is a great resource for these are dealers and even the Boston Public Library. (Although...they are not always in English). (although we did benefit from additional hand annotations by MFA researchers). These books help you to identify the edition of the print you are researching.
The really amazing part of our visit was the fact that the MFA had 6 different versions of the print we were comparing to our potential acquistion, which they had out on display for our examination. In this case, we were able to see several that would be considered to be better, one worse and a few that would really depend on your personal preference.
Cliff mentioned that many people tell him that they don't stop by because they don't want to "bother" the staff, but that they really hope people utilize their resources so that they can make educated purchases.
J.
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I am interested in the logistics of how you arranged to have the print shipped to the MFA. Did you have to clear it with the Print Dept first? Did you have to pay for the shipping before they would send it to the MFA? If you decide not to buy it, do you have to arrange shipping it back to the dealer?
ReplyDeleteGood question. The dealer knows the folks at the MFA, so we asked them to ship it there and they did it without any commitment from us. (Though, we have purchased from this dealer in the past). There was a little confusion because we I think they probably sent to Tom Rassieur, who is no longer there, so we didn't find out it was even there until it had been there a while. When we decided against buying it (yesterday), we emailed the dealer to arrange for shipping it back (which the MFA will do physically), and we offered to pay for the shipping (both ways). We haven't heard back yet, so will let you know.
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