International Association of Dealers in Old Master Paintings

International Association of Dealers in Old Master Paintings
Name	International Association of Dealers in Old Master Paintings
Abbreviation	IADOMP
Formation	1973
Type	Trade association
Headquarters	New York City
Region served	International
Membership	Dealers, galleries, auction specialists

International Association of Dealers in Old Master Paintings. The International Association of Dealers in Old Master Paintings is a trade organization founded to represent dealers and specialists in European paintings from the Renaissance through the 18th century, engaging with collectors, museums, auction houses, and scholarship. It interacts with institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery, the Louvre, the Rijksmuseum and collaborates with auction houses including Sotheby's and Christie's while participating in dialogues connected to the Getty, the Courtauld Institute, the British Museum and the Frick Collection.

History

The association was established amid debates over provenance and attribution in the 1970s, paralleling controversies involving figures like Bernard Berenson, Wilhelm von Bode, Joseph Duveen and events surrounding restitution claims connected to World War II, the Nuremberg Trials, the Holocaust and the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets. Early activity intersected with cataloging projects at institutions such as the Hermitage Museum, the Prado, the Uffizi, the Royal Collection, the National Gallery of Art and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, while scholarly debates invoked names like Giorgio Vasari, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Élie Faure, Erwin Panofsky and Kenneth Clark.

Membership and Structure

Membership comprises dealers, gallery owners, specialists and connoisseurs who work with works by artists including Rembrandt van Rijn, Francisco Goya, Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velázquez and Titian. The governance model includes a board and committees with officers drawn from members associated with galleries in London, New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan and Geneva and institutions such as the Getty Research Institute, the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, the Courtauld Institute of Art and Columbia University. Affiliations and partnerships have extended to universities and foundations like Yale University, Harvard University, the British Library, the National Trust and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Activities and Services

The association facilitates vetting, provenance research, condition reporting and advisory services for collectors, curators and museums including the Prado, the National Gallery, the Rijksmuseum, the Musée d'Orsay and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. It liaises with auction houses such as Sotheby's, Christie's and Bonhams and insurance entities that underwrite collections for institutions like the Louvre, the Hermitage and the Frick Collection. Educational activities include symposia, lectures and workshops featuring scholars from the Getty Research Institute, the Courtauld Institute, the Institute of Advanced Study, the Paul Getty Museum and the Morgan Library & Museum.

Standards, Ethics, and Authentication

The association promulgates codes of conduct addressing attribution disputes that often touch on scholarship related to artists such as Caravaggio, Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer, El Greco and Diego Velázquez, and on legal contexts including provenance issues tied to Nazi-era looting, Ottoman-era transfers, Napoleonic spoliation and cultural property disputes adjudicated under conventions like the 1970 UNESCO Convention and cases brought before courts in London, New York, Paris and Geneva. It maintains relationships with research centers and laboratories such as the Getty Conservation Institute, the Rijksmuseum Conservation Department, the National Gallery Conservation Department, the Courtauld Institute and the Smithsonian Institution for technical analysis, dendrochronology, infrared reflectography and x-radiography.

Exhibitions and Publications

Members contribute loans and expertise to exhibitions at venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Prado, the Uffizi, the National Gallery, the Rijksmuseum, the Louvre, the Frick Collection and the Royal Academy of Arts, and collaborate on catalogues raisonnés, monographs and exhibition catalogues featuring scholarship on artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, Velázquez and Goya. The association supports publications and bibliographies produced in cooperation with publishers and institutions like Oxford University Press, Yale University Press, Cambridge University Press, the Paul Mellon Centre and the Getty Publications, and it organizes panels at conferences such as the College Art Association and the International Council of Museums.

Legal and Market Issues

The association monitors litigation, restitution claims and regulatory developments affecting transactions in jurisdictions including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, engaging with legal frameworks exemplified by cases before the High Court of Justice, the United States District Courts, the Court of Cassation and the European Court of Human Rights. It addresses matters involving provenance research tied to the Holocaust, the Monuments Men, the Allied restitution programs, the Washington Principles, export licenses issued by national ministries of culture and import regulations enforced at ports of entry like Rotterdam, Antwerp and New York.

Notable Members and Leadership

Over time leadership and notable members have included eminent dealers and scholars connected to galleries and institutions associated with names such as Alfred Taubman, Joseph Duveen, Heinz Kisters, Guy van den Berg, Otto Naumann and Geoffrey Bell; advisors and consultants linked to museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery, the Prado, the Frick Collection and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; and scholars and conservators from the Getty Research Institute, the Courtauld Institute, the Paul Getty Museum, the Rijksmuseum and the National Gallery of Art.

Category:Art trade organizations