Free reference
The words artists and galleries meet in agreements, invoices and open calls — consignment, commission, provenance, editions, resale royalty — each explained in a few plain sentences, with Australian rules where they apply.
40 terms
Materials made to last without yellowing or harming the work: acid-free mat board, cotton rag paper, pigment inks. In framing, the parts that touch the work matter most.
What the artist receives for a work once the gallery's commission is taken off — the artist's net. On a $2,000 sale at 40% commission it is $1,200, before any GST. Agree which figure you are both quoting before a price goes on a wall.
A print outside the numbered edition, traditionally kept by the artist and marked A/P. Proofs are usually kept to about a tenth of the edition, and count when you say how many prints of an image exist.
A complete, annotated list of every known work by an artist, with dates, sizes, media, owners and exhibition history. Usually compiled late in a career or after it — and far easier to make from a record kept from the start.
A document from the artist confirming a work is genuine: title, date, medium, size, the edition if it is a print, and a signature. It is only as good as the record behind it, so keep a copy of each one.
The share of the retail price a gallery keeps when it sells a work for the artist. NAVA's Code of Practice puts commercial galleries at 40–50%, taken from the price before GST. Not to be confused with a commissioned work, made to order for a client.
A dated record of a work's physical state — marks, scratches, cracks, loose fittings — written and photographed when it leaves the studio, reaches a gallery and comes back. It settles when any damage happened.
Leaving work with a gallery or shop to sell while the artist still owns it. The artist is paid their share only when a piece sells, and unsold work comes back. Which gallery has which piece, since when and on what terms is the record to keep.
The written terms for work left with a gallery: the works and their prices, the commission, when the artist is paid after a sale, who insures the work and pays freight, how long the gallery keeps it and how it comes back.
The right to copy a work and to let others copy it. In Australia it belongs to the artist automatically, generally lasts for the artist's life plus 70 years, and stays with the artist when the physical work is sold.
Written permission for someone else to reproduce a work — on a book cover, in a print run, on a website — for a stated use, place, period and fee. A licence lends the right; it does not sell it.
Sending a work on its way to a buyer or a gallery: packed, labelled, insured and tracked, with a delivery docket listing what is in the parcel. A docket signed at the other end is the proof it arrived, and in what condition.
Framing that shows the whole sheet, edges and all: the work sits on top of a backing board instead of behind a mat window, often raised a little so it casts a shadow. Common for deckled paper.
A fine-art inkjet print, made with pigment inks on archival paper or canvas. The word names the process, not the quality: ask about the inks, the paper, and whether the edition is limited.
An exhibition of several artists' work, often around a theme, a medium or a place. A common way to show with a gallery for the first time; the same terms usually apply to every artist in it.
Australia's 10% goods and services tax. An artist must register once their GST turnover reaches $75,000 a year; after that, GST is added to prices and paid to the ATO, and the GST on costs can be claimed back.
A voluntary code of conduct, set up in 2010, for dealers in art by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. Dealers who sign it commit to fair and transparent dealing: written agreements, honest provenance and payment on time.
What it would cost to replace a work — for an artist's own work, often its current retail price. Agree in writing who insures consigned work, and for how much, before it leaves the studio.
The bill for a sale: who sold what to whom, when, for how much and how to pay. An artist registered for GST issues a tax invoice showing their ABN and the GST; on a consigned sale, the gallery usually invoices the buyer.
A show whose works are chosen by a judge or a panel from the entries to an open call. Many art prizes work this way: the judges pick finalists for an exhibition, then a winner from among them.
A set of prints of one image with a fixed number, stated up front and never exceeded. Each is numbered — 3/25 is number three of twenty-five — and the edition is closed once it is complete.
The card border between a work on paper and the glass, with a window cut a little smaller than the work. It holds the work flat and off the glass, and gives it room. Also called a mount, or a passe-partout.
Under Australia's Copyright Act, an artist has the right to be named as the author of their work, the right not to have work falsely attributed to them, and the right not to have the work treated in a way that harms their honour or reputation. They cannot be sold, though an artist can consent in writing to particular acts.
An invitation to any eligible artist to submit work for a show, a prize or a residency. Read the terms first: the entry fee and what it buys, the deadline, size limits, who pays freight, and what the organiser may do with your images.
Prints made in any number for as long as there is demand, usually unnumbered. Priced below a limited edition, and best kept clearly apart from one — a different size or paper helps.
How a work is protected on the road. Small works travel boxed with corner protectors and padding; large or fragile ones in a timber crate built to fit. Carriers charge by the packed size, not the work's.
A work shown without a price, for the buyer to ask about — also written POA, price on application. Common for large or significant pieces; have the figure ready, because the question comes when the buyer is in front of the work.
The first sale of a work, from the artist or their gallery to its first owner, at a price the artist and gallery set.
The history of a work from the artist's studio onwards: who has owned it, and where it has been shown. Invoices, consignment records, exhibition lists and certificates all add to it, and good provenance supports a work's value when it is resold.
The small red sticker a gallery puts beside a work's label once it has sold, so visitors know it is no longer available. A show with many of them is a show that is selling.
An ongoing relationship in which a gallery shows, promotes and sells an artist's work, usually with regular exhibitions. A step beyond consignment, best set out in an agreement: territory, exclusivity, commission, and how either side ends it.
Under Australia's Resale Royalty Scheme, an artist receives 5% of the price when their work is resold commercially — through an auction house, gallery or dealer — for $1,000 or more. The first sale does not count. Copyright Agency collects it, and the right lasts for the artist's life plus 70 years.
The price a buyer pays — the one on the label, the website and the invoice. Through a gallery it is the artist price plus the commission, and most galleries expect it to be the same wherever the work is offered.
Every sale of a work after the first — through auction houses, dealers or privately. In Australia, eligible commercial resales pay the artist a resale royalty.
An exhibition of one artist's work, filling the gallery for the length of the show. It needs a body of work that hangs together, and is usually booked well in advance.
A sale made by the artist directly — from the studio, a website or an open day. If a gallery represents you, check your agreement: some expect the same retail price, or a commission, on studio sales too.
The small card beside a work in an exhibition: the artist, the title in italics, the year, the medium, the size and, in a selling show, the price. Galleries often add a number that matches the room sheet.
Selling work outright to a shop or gallery, which then owns it and sets its own retail price — often about double what it paid. Unlike consignment, the artist is paid up front and the work does not come back.
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Consignments, prices, invoices, delivery dockets and each piece's history, kept together for every work you make — free to start.
