“At that point, I realized that this was what I wanted to collect,” Chevremont says. “I noticed that a lot of the artists were not being collected by people that looked like us, and also, if they were, it was not the contemporary artists.” She would go on to join the museum’s acquisitions committee.
The art curator and advisor has built a career on stewardship of art, sourcing pieces for everything from museums to movies. Unsurprisingly, her own New York abode is a love letter to her life’s work, with “70 or 80” pieces across a range of media, the majority of which are by Black artists like Lorna Simpson, Glenn Ligon, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Deborah Roberts, and Toyin Ojih Odutola.
AD: What is the value for you in keeping Black artwork in the home?
Racquel Chevremont: You pass it on. You create this legacy, but also, if you have children, having art that they can connect to promotes self-esteem and self-expression. They don’t get to see themselves in museums all the time, and it’s important for children to see themselves reflected in the images in their home—not necessarily just photographs of themselves, but images that they know are out there. Within the last decade or so, Black artists have become very popular within the contemporary art scene, so there are more [Black artists featured] in museums now than there were when I first started collecting, but still not as many as there should be.
What would you say to those hoping to start their own collections and feeling intimidated by the acquisition process?
There are some intimidating things that I would tell people to just ignore. When I first started collecting, I would go into galleries and if I asked a question about a piece, it would almost be as if I was irritating them. Somehow, if there was anything I was interested in, everything was always sold. I had to get [curator] Thelma [Golden]’s help for a piece at one point when a gallery was telling me something wasn’t available, yet I had spoken to another collector who said it was. That was frustrating. I have experienced being [quoted at] different price points than other friends of mine. But anyway, I would say do not be intimidated: Go into a gallery, and if there are any issues, it’s so much easier these days to find the artist online. Reach out to them directly and say, “I saw your show. I absolutely love it. I know it’s sold out. Are you showing with any other galleries?”
And join committees! It’s relatively inexpensive as a young collector. All these museums have youth groups with particular prices for those under 40 and they hold lots of events for those groups, because they are cultivating the future collectors. When you meet an artist, ask them, “Who are the artists you would recommend that I look at?” Also, the internet now [makes it] so easy; look at all the artists you can get your hands on, and figure out what you like. Go to art fairs. For a young collector, the main art fairs are daunting. Everything’s ridiculously expensive. But they’re worth going to, to see what’s out there. Go to the smaller fairs too. One of my favorite small fairs is Untitled, in Miami, it’s great. It’s smaller galleries and oftentimes more emerging artists, so you can discover new people.
