How does one find an art curator?

[ampguy]

for photographs?

A friend wants to sell prints in their shop. They have 10's of thousands of great photos, but want to find the ones that will sell.

They will pay the curator up to 15% of the sale price, simply for selecting the images to display.

How does one find this sort of person?

 

[ryan26]

Google "freelance photo editor" and the name of your city. I've met plenty over the years.

I doubt they'll be interested in a %, better off paying them their hourly rate (and editing down the 100,000 photos to something manageable beforehand).

 

[bojanfurst]

It's a hard question. Also, I think there is a difference between a photo editor and a curator. There is an assumption that a curator will have both, an understanding of photography as well as quite intimate understanding of the photographer and what they are trying to achieve. It can be quite difficult to find somebody to fill that role. Does your friend have a friend or an acquaintance with a good grasp of the collection: what is in it and what parts of it are significant? Maybe an artist friend or a writer friend? For me, the main difference between a photo editor and a curator is that the curator has an additional responsibility to interpret the work not just bring the best of it to light.

If the primary concern are sales, a conversation with a gallery owner may be more productive as they will be able to tell you what the buyers are interested in. It might guide the initial selection of prints.

Hopefully this was helpful rather than obnoxious.

Fürst

 

[Beemermark]

Go to an Art Museum?

 

[el fotografo]

Since your friend has a venue to sell the images, it sounds like a freelance photo editor would be the way to begin.
I suggest asking for recommendations from galleries or other businesses that also deal in the type of images that they are considering selling (fine art?).
As Ryan26 said, google is another option to identify someone.
A freelance photo editor can make selections or portfolios of images depending on the owners' interests and direction.
Photo editors usually work on a project or hourly basis depending on the amount of work that is required.
Once your friend has agreed on the selections, the rest is up to them.

 

[ampguy]

I have done some advance work for the friend and tbh curator - the patrons (sampled) of the business/venue prefer photos of Glacier National Park to cats, and prefer color to black and white. Of course, the sample size was small.