Auction catalogs are created by auction houses as a listing of items for sale in a given auction. They are primarily intended as advertising, but also to provide information about the works. As such they are generally well illustrated and can contain important information about both the piece and its creator. After an auction, they are frequently updated with realized prices if the items are sold. As with many resources, auction catalogs have become increasingly available online as well.
Although many auction houses maintain libraries and archives, it is important for art libraries to provide access to these resources, since most auction house libraries are not open to the public and the staff is frequently unprepared to answer research queries. Although they were not primarily intended for research, auction catalogs provide a wide variety of valuable information. Perhaps the most common usage is for establishing values of a work, both by looking up sales records of a particular work or comparing sales results from similar pieces. These price records are also important for establishing historical trends and the rise and fall of art markets.
Auction catalogs are great resources for establishing provenance as well. In addition to establishing how much a work sold for, catalogs provide a date of sale, the previous owner and, increasingly often, a well-searched provenance up to that point.
Catalogs can also be used to provide information on more contemporary artists whose works have only recently begun to be sold and smaller auctions may also be able to provide information on the works of lesser-known local artist that have passed through their halls.
In addition to fine arts, auctions can be a great resource for information on decorative arts. Items that are treated more as crafts, such as antique furniture, are sometimes neglected in traditional art resources, but are the bread-and-butter of many auction houses. Auction houses will generally employ or work with experienced antiques professionals and their catalogs will contain expert descriptions and analysis. The high quality images in auction catalogs are sometimes used as inspiration or guidelines for reproductions as well.
Those high quality images, generated to show the items for sale in the best possible light, are also useful for getting an accurate representation of the work and its condition. Frequently there are also high quality images of signatures, which can be useful for establishing authenticity through comparison.
There are a wide variety of print indexes to auction catalogs available. Some of the most well-known references include Mayer’s International Auction Records, Gordon’s Print Price Annual and Davenport’s Art Reference and Price Guide. Because of space limitations in printed books and numerous auctions taking place worldwide, most indexes must limit their content somehow, and it is important to be aware of an index’s selection process before searching. Indexes may limit their listings to a certain medium, auctions in a given location, auctions that took place in a certain time period, thematically or geographically linked works or only items which sold for a given minimum price.
Currently there are also a wide variety of indexes available online as well. Many auction houses, such as Skinner’s and Sotheby’s have comprehensive archives of their past auction results as well as online catalogs of upcoming sales. Other online databases include subscription services such as ArtPrice, AskArt and findartinfo.com, and free services such as academically oriented Jstor Beta and Blouin. All of these indexes have strength and weaknesses. (JStor, for example doesn’t allow the user to search for artists or individual pieces, only for a given auction or catalog and AskArt only has records on international works dating back to 2006.) However, the linking functionality of online resources allows for a variety of valuable cross-references. For example, AskArt provides links to museums that hold works by the artist being searched.
Overall, these resources provide a multifaceted perspective on the arts and have become a valuable resource for artists and researchers. As such, they should be an important part of any art library’s collection development policy.
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