Path to Art Advisory: APAA President, Alex Glauber

Alex Glauber is an art advisor, curator, and educator based in New York. He is the president of the Association of Professional Art Advisors (APAA) and founder and principal of AWG Art Advisory, where he works with private individuals, corporations, and institutions in the conceptualization, building and management of fine art collections. The APAA spoke with Alex to get a better understanding of his career path and passions that led him to become an art advisor.

What was your first “art world” job?

My first job in the art world was as a curatorial assistant to the Lehman Brothers and Neuberger Berman Art Collections. I had thought corporate collecting was a relic of the 1980s but owe so much of my knowledge of contemporary art, the global art market, and collection management to my time there. It would have been an extraordinary experience for someone in their early twenties in normal times but my three year tenure at the firm started in 2006 in the midst of a very bullish market which eventually gave way to the great recession which saw Lehman Brothers declare bankruptcy and the vast majority of their collection liquidated as part of the bankruptcy proceedings. In the first two years I aided in the selection and acquisition of over 600 artworks by emerging and mid-career artists from galleries around the world which we would curate throughout the firm’s global offices. Then, as we all know, everything changed.. As the firm sold off divisions and business units around the world to other banks and financial institutions we had to determine who had claim to the art and what it was worth.

Lehman Brothers office in Mumbai

Glauber with John Wesley painting from Lehman Brothers/Neuberger Berman collection that was sold at Sotheby’s

How did you find this role?

Ironically, in a way that seems both the most obvious and unlikely. After graduating college I had an unpaid internship with iCI (Independent Curators International) and was living with my parents in New York who were eager to see me find gainful employment. One night after a big argument with them when I told them how hard it was to find job openings I went on one of those generalized job listing websites like monster.com and typed in “curator”. Lehman Brothers had posted a job description for a curator which I was VERY underqualified for. I wrote a cover letter saying as much but asking for a chance to interview for any junior openings they might have and the rest is history.

2009-10 Professional headshots when Glauber first started his own practice

What's one lesson you learned that has stayed with you?  

From the start of my career, I’ve always been on the “buy side”. Put another way, I’ve never worked at a gallery or auction house and been tasked with selling art. Rather, I’ve been fortunate to engage art, at least commercially, from the vantage point of a collector. That all started at Lehman Brothers and Neuberger Berman. With finite resources, both in terms of capital and space, you have to be selective and think both holistically and incrementally. What story is this collection trying to tell? Is this artist essential to that narrative?  

Another valuable lesson I learned came out of the collection’s focus on emerging artists. My undergraduate studies focused mostly on historic art and not contemporary practices and discourses so in many ways the art historical story had already been written. What made engaging and collecting emerging artists so exciting is what also made it intimidating. You were in a position to make your own value judgments and people are inherently risk averse and afraid of making a “mistake”.  The most rewarding artists and artworks to live with are the ones that keep you engaged and questioning and that often requires a willingness to embrace the unknown which comes with the risk of making a “mistake.”

How did you first learn about art advisory as a professional practice?

Neuberger Berman was founded by Roy Neuberger who was a legendary collector with a perspicacious eye for young and overlooked artistic talent. That ethos carried through the firm and there were a number of Managing Directors who were ambitious contemporary art collectors. Many of them did it on their own but a large number of them used art advisors.

What drew you to art advising over other career paths in the field? 

Advising allows you the flexibility to do anything and everything and touch every corner of the art world. From a commercial standpoint I never had to be in a position where I had to sell something I didn’t believe in as you might have to at a gallery or auction house. I also wasn’t tethered to one program or set of artists, I had the flexibility and mandate to explore, discover, and share.  

I love working with new collectors and educating them not only on art history so we can determine and contextualize their taste but also the market and how it functions so they can engage it with the confidence that comes through comprehension. Teaching and curating inform a lot of how I do that so to be a good advisor I get to be a student first.

Glauber lecturing at Sotheby’s Institute of Art

Who were your mentors as you developed as an art advisor? 

After I left Lehman Brothers I started a curatorial service that focused on getting companies to collect emerging artists through curated, turnkey collections that were available on a lease-to-buy model. It worked as a concept but I soon found myself spending more time discussing collecting ambitions with individuals at the various firms. I knew that technically I could call myself an “art advisor” but at the age of twenty-five I felt like I had no business doing so. I researched a number of advisors and reached out to them and basically asked “how do I become you?”. The one that was the most receptive and really became my mentor was Todd Levin. I loved his ability to synthesize art history and economics and how he organized exhibitions as a part of his practice. I asked if I could help him with any of his projects and ultimately had the privilege to work with him on two of his shows at Marianne Boesky in 2011 and Sprüth Magers in 2017. Todd has been a friend and counsel since the start of my career and was the one who recommended me for APAA membership.

Why did you choose to join the APAA?

The decision was pretty easy. When I started my career and got to know the advisory landscape, APAA membership was often the common denominator amongst the advisors I looked up to. As I got further into my career, I saw more and more ways in which advisors misrepresented themselves and failed to serve the best interests of their clients. I knew that as soon as I qualified for APAA membership I wanted to join both to be in the company of like-minded ethical practitioners but also so I could use that membership to distinguish myself from the bad actors.

What advice would you give your younger self, just starting out on the path to art advising? 

No matter how smart you are there is no substitute for experience and there is no way to expedite that. Whether you’ve been advising for a year or twenty, you are always learning and incorporating experiences into your practice. Seek out as much advice and perspective from experienced advisors as you can and know your limits. If you build a network of colleagues–shippers, conservators, framers, appraisers–your clients will appreciate it when you say “I don’t know the answer but I can call a colleague that does.” Also, it takes a long time to build a strong reputation but a short time to destroy it. While you work for your clients and should always serve their best interest, your ability to do your job well depends on the faith, trust, and respect of your counterparties, be it gallerists, auction houses, collection management services, etc. Remember that zero sum approaches can serve short-term interests but do little to fortify lasting professional relationships.