An Exploratory Study on Art Appraisers’ Professional Development

This study explored a direction for developing professional art appraisers based on related literature reviews and qualitative interviews, in order to strengthen art appraisers’ reliability and ensure the art market’s sustainable growth. Art appraisal is a specialized area, which is distinct from authentication, and it requires that personnel be systematically educated and trained based on specific qualifications. Institutionally (e.g, the recently introduced system for the payment-in-kind with artwork·cultural heritage for inheritance tax), reliable practice of art appraisal is becoming more imperative, and professionalization is being discussed in Korea. Against this background, as a result of exploring research problems for fostering art appraisers through in-depth interviews with 12 experts, opinions on the demand for art appraiser manpower, job title·duty·competency, manpower training plan, and the role of the government, industry, and academia were summarized. After evaluating advanced cases from overseas, as well as in-depth interviews with domestic experts, suggestions for professional development of art appraisers were discussed in 6 areas as follows: (1) specific demands and premises for fostering art appraiser; (2) unifying the professional title of ‘art appraiser’; (3) establishing terms and practical guidelines for art appraisal; (4), step-by-step and systematic curriculum design based on job and competency; (5), introduction of an official licence system; and (6) finally, the complementary and cooperative roles of government, industry and academia. The significance of this study lies on suggesting a direction for fostering professional art appraisers in Korea based on empirical data while the theoretical bases of art appraisal and the academic research on it are yet insufficient.