{"id":14636,"date":"2017-11-08T18:03:11","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T23:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/?p=14636"},"modified":"2018-02-23T18:12:39","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T23:12:39","slug":"how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Start an Art Collection: Advice from Philanthropist Joseph Segal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vancouver\u2019s Joseph Segal is a self-made billionaire, thanks to the various business ventures that he invested in \u2014 from selling fish from his bicycle to property development through his company, Kingswood Capital Corporation. But when it comes to one of his greatest passions \u2014 collecting art, Segal values the help he\u2019s had along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first object I bought was in Los Angeles about 40 years ago,\u201d says Segal. \u201cI was walking down Rodeo Drive and stopped in a shop owned by an Englishman by the name of David Orgell. I saw an array of Sheffield silver-plate [items] and [they] looked magnificent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Segal purchased the Sheffield pieces and ended up becoming friends with Orgell.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree years later, he called and said, \u2018You should start to collect real <\/em>things. Let me teach you,\u2019\u201d Segal recalls.<\/p>\n

Now, Segal is the tutor, sharing his experiences in building one of the most impressive private art collections in Canada. And here\u2019s the first piece of advice from this well-known philanthropist \u2014 buy something you love. \u201cI don\u2019t buy for investment,\u201d says Segal. \u201cI buy it because I take pleasure in it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

This sentiment is seconded by Elizabeth Pergam, an instructor at Sotheby\u2019s Institute of Art in New York. \u201cFor collectors, it\u2019s important to love, and want to live with, the art. So, listen to your instincts,\u201d says Pergam. For intermediate collectors, the next step is examining why are you drawn to certain types of art \u2014 for example, a landscape versus a portrait. A fine arts education can help you break down certain art styles, so you can start focusing on your collection.<\/p>\n

Amassing an art collection is a long-haul game. You have to put in hours of practice and study before you can get really good at it. But you don\u2019t need to go back to school to get a fine arts education, notes Pergam. If there are specific artworks that catch your fancy, try to see them in person and compare them to similar pieces in galleries and museums. Previews at auction houses like Sotheby\u2019s provide a great opportunity to examine artwork up close. Making friends with fellow collectors is another way educate yourself about art and its nuances. Seasoned collectors share their pitfalls and triumphs in the world of art collecting, and can help connect you with artworks that may interest you. Segal tells the story of how he found one of his favourite art pieces. \u201cTwenty- five years ago a dealer in Winnipeg called me. [He said], \u2018Somebody said I should call you because you are interested in good things. I have a painting you might [like]. It\u2019s a Renoir.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Visit galleries and auctions, as they are the perfect venues for networking. They bring together all the players. \u201cThe only way to learn is to listen to someone with more knowledge and experience,\u201d notes Segal. \u201cI didn\u2019t know anything about art before. Now I see the beauty of the artwork plus I\u2019ve learned to appreciate the creativity that went into making it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are however, potential drawbacks to getting in too deep with the collector community, such as competition with other collectors. There is an endorphin rush when it comes to purchasing an artwork to impress or compete with other aficionados. So, it\u2019s important to take a step back and stick to that first principal \u2014 buy what you love \u2014 before you sign off on a piece of art.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

But this doesn\u2019t mean that you shouldn\u2019t take the monetary value of an artwork into consideration at all. Building and focusing a fine collection also rely on the ability to trade up, say sell two or three smaller works to finance the purchase of one to-die-for piece. This practice also helps you keep your collection from becoming cluttered. \u201cIt\u2019s not a question of size but [of] quality,\u201d Segal explains.To wit, Segal is a businessman. He says that when he adds to his collection, he assumes that a piece will appreciate in value. But the real treasures are those pieces he can appreciate in real life. In the upper echelons of art collecting, for example, there are consortiums who purchase art as an investment only, locking it up in vaults until the time is right to resell. When he collected silver, he used the pieces.<\/p>\n

Today, Segal\u2019s collection is proudly displayed within his Belmont Estate in Vancouver. The estate, listed with Sotheby\u2019s International Realty Canada at $63 million, sets a record for real estate in Greater Vancouver\u2019s history. Another invaluable piece of wisdom from this seasoned collector: Buy the best you can afford. When Segal started getting serious about buying art, he was mindful of budget. Studying art helped him train his eye. \u201cJust because its old, doesn\u2019t make it automatically valuable,\u201d he warns.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Mary Bartow, senior vice-president and department head of prints at Sotheby\u2019s in New York offers this advice: \u201cAs you collect, it\u2019s important to note that market trends are cyclical, so opportunities may arise to purchase something during a lull in popularity.\u201d If you are working with a smaller budget, consider graphic art and multiples (artist-commissioned series of identical art pieces) by well-known artists. \u201cPrinted images by very well-known artists can be purchased for a fraction of a painting or drawing by these artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knowing when to stop is another important skill to learn. We asked Segal what his next purchase would be and his response? \u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love what I have,\u201d says Segal. \u201cAnd I have no room for anything else.\u201d He sees his role as a steward, rather than an owner, and he is someone who sees creativity as much a treasure as a material object. \u201cYou can\u2019t just put it in a closet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

By Rhonda Riche – *This article originally appeared in INSIGHT: The Art of Living | Winter 2017<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Photos: Sotheby’s; Rob Kruyt<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vancouver\u2019s Joseph Segal is a self-made billionaire, thanks to the various business ventures that he invested in \u2014 from selling fish from his bicycle to property development through his company, Kingswood Capital Corporation. But when it comes to one of his greatest passions \u2014 collecting art, Segal values the help he\u2019s had along the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":14637,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[394],"tags":[97,331,371,409,483,664,693,694],"class_list":["post-14636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insight-magazine","tag-art","tag-sothebys","tag-sothebys-international-realty-canada","tag-insight-magazine","tag-insight-the-art-of-living","tag-insight-winter-2017","tag-fine-art","tag-joseph-segal"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Start an Art Collection: Advice from Philanthropist Joseph Segal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vancouver\u2019s Joseph Segal is a self-made billionaire, thanks to the various business ventures that he invested in. But when it comes to one of his greatest passions \u2014 collecting art, Segal values the help he\u2019s had along the way.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Start an Art Collection: Advice from Philanthropist Joseph Segal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vancouver\u2019s Joseph Segal is a self-made billionaire, thanks to the various business ventures that he invested in. But when it comes to one of his greatest passions \u2014 collecting art, Segal values the help he\u2019s had along the way.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14636\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sotheby's International Realty Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-08T23:03:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-23T23:12:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/InsightWIN17_Collectors01-copy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"582\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"SIRC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"SIRC\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Start an Art Collection: Advice from Philanthropist Joseph Segal","description":"Vancouver\u2019s Joseph Segal is a self-made billionaire, thanks to the various business ventures that he invested in. But when it comes to one of his greatest passions \u2014 collecting art, Segal values the help he\u2019s had along the way.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Start an Art Collection: Advice from Philanthropist Joseph Segal","og_description":"Vancouver\u2019s Joseph Segal is a self-made billionaire, thanks to the various business ventures that he invested in. But when it comes to one of his greatest passions \u2014 collecting art, Segal values the help he\u2019s had along the way.","og_url":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14636","og_site_name":"Sotheby's International Realty Canada","article_published_time":"2017-11-08T23:03:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-02-23T23:12:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1440,"height":582,"url":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/InsightWIN17_Collectors01-copy.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"SIRC","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"SIRC","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/"},"author":{"name":"SIRC","@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/23efd124483948cf5ddb8b3ca55812a2"},"headline":"How to Start an Art Collection: Advice from Philanthropist Joseph Segal","datePublished":"2017-11-08T23:03:11+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-23T23:12:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/"},"wordCount":1002,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/InsightWIN17_Collectors01-copy.jpg","keywords":["art","sotheby's","Sotheby's International Realty Canada","Insight Magazine","Insight: The Art of Living","insight winter 2017","fine art","joseph segal"],"articleSection":["Insight Magazine"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/","url":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/","name":"How to Start an Art Collection: Advice from Philanthropist Joseph Segal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/InsightWIN17_Collectors01-copy.jpg","datePublished":"2017-11-08T23:03:11+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-23T23:12:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/23efd124483948cf5ddb8b3ca55812a2"},"description":"Vancouver\u2019s Joseph Segal is a self-made billionaire, thanks to the various business ventures that he invested in. But when it comes to one of his greatest passions \u2014 collecting art, Segal values the help he\u2019s had along the way.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":[["https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/"]]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/InsightWIN17_Collectors01-copy.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/InsightWIN17_Collectors01-copy.jpg","width":1440,"height":582},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/how-to-start-an-art-collection-joseph-segal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Start an Art Collection: Advice from Philanthropist Joseph Segal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/","name":"Sotheby's International Realty Canada","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/23efd124483948cf5ddb8b3ca55812a2","name":"SIRC","url":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/author\/sirc\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14636"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14807,"href":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14636\/revisions\/14807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}