Wildlife Art and Financial Investment

Looking across the spectrum of wildlife painters throughout the world today, it is hard to guess which may be the best investment. The majority of art collectors purchase their paintings generally for the pleasure of seeing it on the wall, but of course it is always good to know that a particular piece of work has held it's value, or even better, the painting has increased in price.

The general formula is, that only several artists will make it to the dizzy heights of worldwide recognition. Even though a lot of artists are professional and paint superb pieces of art, they will mainly go without any significant recognition or have only a brief period of celebrity status. Only a small percentage of painters will watch their art increase in value over time, and it is important when investing considerable sums of money mainly for the reason of seeing an increase that the best descisions are made.

Such artists are rare and it is essential not to be influenced by an over enthusiastic gallery that wishes to promote a particular artist's work, or alternatively, not to be pushed into buying because a shop does not or is not able to purchase such work, that it is of no value in comparison to the work being shown in the gallery. Usually the reason is that a lot of retail outlets are bound by arrangements with publishers, who want only their work to be shown, even if the artists are well known or unheard of. Another reason is that the paintings and signed prints by renowned artists are so sought after that it is usually difficult to obtain original paintings because of scarcity and ever increasing costs.

Contemporary work creates much attention, but usually seems to fade as quickly as it has appeared, and of course the depreciation can be colossal. From an investment angle, it is generally best to keep with the most well known names that have an excellent track record. Artists that have had many sucessful exhibitions in prestigeous galleries across the country, and that have been internationally praised and the art critics.

There will always be an element of current fashion involved with choosing the correct style of paintings. The key is to choose the work just before it evolves into the next best thing to 'sliced bread'. This can be seen in many small ways, the fashion in design give hints of what will be the most exciting thing of tomorrow.

Sometimes, we notice a move towards the past. This is usually a temporary fashion, a stopgap, as the art world moves towards its the next big statement. It should be given some serious thought that in difficult financial times , as we have seen over the last year or two, that the more expensive end of the art world actually blossoms, due to the lack of commercial interest in financial institutions.

A painting by a well known British artist, purchased by the Football Association six years ago for just under two million pounds, was recently valued at six to ten million should it go under the hammer today. An amazing percentage increase in these financially difficult times, which goes to prove the solidity and viability of investing in art.

About the Author

David Tatham, fine art dealer for over quarter of a century, has an extensive knowledge of Lowry's biography. Signed, prints and originals can be seen and purchased from the website.

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