It is two steps forward and one step backwards however, as there are calls from within their own "profession" to step back from one of their major roles. That is as determining who should be allowed to show at the world's oldest prestige art fair.
The two dealers whose celebrity status has and is still being enhanced by the "solo" exhibitions are the Irishman Hugh Lane, the centenary of whose death is being remembered this year and the French man Paul Durand-Ruel whose contribution to the salvation of Post Impressionism was the subject of an exhibition just concluded at the National Gallery of Art In London.
Due to its popularity the sweeping exhibition devoted to Durand-Ruel was the subject in its last months, to stringent controls on the issue of complimentary tickets involving the press. Even then it was cheek by jowl.
The art fair which has attracted calls for dealers to step back is the Basel Art Fair, Basel (there are two Basel art fairs elsewhere) for which 900 serious applicants stood in line to show. The fair has only places for 300.
To avoid accusations that it was dominated by a coterie of dealers, the Swiss dealer/investor owned fair was urged to let curators help determine who should show.
Hugh Lane goes down in history through his presence on board the Lusitania which was torpedoed off Cork by German U-boats in 1915.
He made an undefinable mark on Australian taste through an auction that was held in Sydney of works from his estate through W A Little in Sydney when the estate was being settled.
Some idea of the contents of the sale are given in a very short resume in the Sydney Morning Herald of the day.
Inventing Impressionism - Paul Durand-Ruel and the Modern Art Market was, as its subtitle suggested the in depth story of one of the greatest French art dealers. It opened on 30 April 2015 and runs until 04 October 2015.
Hugh Lane (1875-2015): Dublin's Legacy and Loss celebrates Hugh Percy Lane, the philanthropist and art dealer who presented a priceless collection of artworks to Dublin to establish a Gallery of Modern Art in 1908. Lane drowned aboard the Lusitania on its return from New York to Liverpool.
The torpedo created another conundrum as he failed to sign a will which meant it was uncertain who had claim to his estate – Ireland, by way of Dublin's Museum of Modern Art which he had created or The Tate Gallery, London. This meant a number of truly great paintings had an undecided home included Renoir's famous Les Parapluies. The 39 year old's estate was also rich in the works of Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot and Edgar Degas. There were also works by Irish contemporaries including leading figures in Irish art such as Walter Osborne, Frank O'Meara, John Lavery and Roderic O'Conor.
Hugh Lane (1875-2015): Dublin's Legacy and Loss looks at Hugh Lane and his milieu, his friend and influences – W.B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and Lane's aunt Augusta Gregory, and the artists Sarah Cecilia Harrison, Sarah Purser and William Orpen. Lane persuaded these artists to give the Gallery works by Auguste Rodin, Augustus John, Jack B. Yeats, John Singer Sargent and Lavery.
He was particular keen on Orpen who was also popular in Australia at the time.
His interests tended to be conservative given what we now know was happening in Paris at the time but represent some catching up with the late 19th century's avant garde. One wishes he had been as enthusiastic a gambler on the new avant garde as he was at the tables of Monte Carlo where he often lost thousands of pounds in a single throw.
He would have been in good company with Herman Koekkoek, the man who established the Koekkoek Gallery in Melbourne in the early 1880s. Herman`s ill luck at cards made the Australian newspapers of his day big time.
For his services to art, Hugh Lane was made a freeman of the city of Dublin in 1908 and in 1909 was knighted for his work putting him in good company with another figure who emerged from the Antipodes to change world art dealing, Sir Rex Nan Kivell.
A man on the spot Durand–Ruel was slightly less conservative but like certain figures on the recent Australian art scene he energetically secured backers and partners for his purchases pushing up prices in exclusive deals.
He supported Courbet in showing his paintings of apples when the salon rejected them.
So comprehensive was the collection, that it served as basis for one of the first histories of Impressionism published in 1892.
The NGA's exhibition brought most of the series The Poplars which gave Monet confidence in creating art works in series – a trend that has been followed by many Australian artists.
He paid artists monthly salaries against future work, an idea that Rudy Komon enhanced when he set up as a dealer in Paddington NSW in the 1960s.
He settled artist' bills often paying small sums by buying in bulk which was to prove very rewarding. But a couple of times it put him on the ropes.
His support for the American artist Mary Cassatt introduced him to wealthy patrons who delighted in the purchase of works by Edgar Degas, much admired in Philadelphia.
His faith in Camille Pissarro was shared with Bernard Hall who bought one for Melbourne in 1906.
Dealers have been losing their profiles in recent years as art auction houses have through the auction system been keen to offer consignors big prices especially by the offer of guarantees which has taken them effectively into the world of dealing.
At Basel, the 46th version of which opened on June 16, and which is the longest established prestigious art fair, calls have been made from some influential members of the trade for the dropping of the vetting system by dealers with curators stepping in to fill some of the slack.
Curators are shy about giving dealers credit. They often capriciously won't name them in the provenance of some of the great art finds because "it might imply that they are recommending the dealers."
But then as we have seen some of the dealers they have dealt with, especially in old civilizations, have been very dodgy indeed.
