50 Years C.N.E.S. & Paris Salon 2017

"Knowledge and Know-How are the true wealth"

SLAM (Organisers of the Paris Salon) spoke to Mme Genevieve Baume, President of the C.N.E.S.

Why are experts needed in today's globalised art market?

There will be no sustainable business without confidence in high professional standards. An expert will, discreetly, offer exactly that and ensure those standards to the customer. The expert's role is becoming more important in today's world with transactions across large geographical distances between the location of our dealers and their customers. The trade, the distances, the images have gone virtual, not the expert's certification!

Why a Salon at the Grand Palais?

Our organisation is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and we felt it was the perfect opportunity to draw attention to our experts, our specialities and most of all to the passion that drives us. Interestingly, the expert's role in itself is relatively unknown to the broader public even though our organisation values over 100,000 objects and works of art per year! The C.N.E.S. counts 250 experts in 40 different fields of specialisations, from comics to fine art, watch makers, musical instruments, jewellery, furniture, bronze, glass, ceramics, and more. So allowing the public during the three days of the Salon at the Grand Palais to meet with those experts, makes a lot of sense.

It seems logical to us to show the public the role of those experts beyond their advice, but also their commitment, the law that gives us a framework to work in and the assistance we give to non-professionals and collectors in all fields. We feel it is relevant to show the work of our experts, present some selected objects and their characteristics, their links with other comparable objects and the reason for their estimate in price. Those objects were chosen because of their interesting provance and rarity, their historical importance, their asthetic or sentimental appeal and we want to remind that the art market is not purely speculative.

Does the role of experts also entail to teach us how to view a work of art?

Absolutely! It often happens that during a valuation the owners of the object doesn't know what they're holding in their hands. Once we indicate a provenance, an origine, a whole family history becomes clearer. The taste and culture in our country have profound roots and the role of the organisation is to pass on the torch and to show how knowledge and know-how are the true carriers of wealth.