Inside the Collector’s World

Lecture

Exhibition Lecture Inside the Collector’s World: Connoisseurship, Conservation and Legacy

Julian Dawes, vice chairman, head of Impressionist & Modern Art, Sotheby's New York
Rosa Lowinger, founder and co-chief conservator, RLA Conservation

Behind every exceptional private art collection lies a combination of vision, knowledge and stewardship. In this engaging panel discussion, acclaimed art conservator Rosa Lowinger and Sotheby’s Vice Chairman and Head of Impressionist & Modern Art Julian Dawes examine the art of collecting through the lenses of conservation and connoisseurship. Drawing on decades of experience, Lowinger and Dawes discuss how collectors develop their eye, identify quality and build collections of lasting significance.

This presentation is part of the exhibition There & Here: New Perspectives of the Permanent Collection.

All museum lectures and public programs of The Baker Museum include same-day admission to The Baker Museum.

Image: Roberto Montenegro (Mexican, 1885-1968). Niña sentada (Seated Girl), 1958. Oil on canvas. 30 x 26 inches. Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum. 2002.2.039. Gift of Harry Pollak.

Julian Dawes

Julian Dawes

Julian Dawes is vice chairman and head of Impressionist and Modern Art, Americas, at Sotheby’s. Since joining the company in 2008, he has played a leading role in expanding the Modern art category and advancing Sotheby’s market presence. He previously oversaw the New York Day sales, became head of modern evening sales in 2018, and later served as department head and co-head of marquee sales. Dawes works closely with clients in the United States and internationally, sourcing Impressionist & Modern, Latin and Contemporary art for major global sales. He has helped secure important consignments from institutions including The Israel Museum, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art, as well as significant private collections. He has also overseen several landmark and record-setting auctions. In addition to his auction work, Dawes has curated private selling exhibitions focused on artists and movements, including abstraction and Surrealism. With a goal of spotlighting lesser-known and undervalued artists via new scholarship and innovative exhibition design, he has helped achieve world auction records for artists such as Leonora Carrington, René Magritte, Frida Kahlo and Dorothea Tanning. Before joining Sotheby’s, Dawes worked at Rago Arts and Auction Center, served as a triage appraiser on Antiques Roadshow and worked in the education department at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from Duke.

Rosa Lowinger

Rosa Lowinger

Rosa Lowinger, founder and co-chief conservator of RLA Conservation, has over 30 years of experience as a conservator of sculpture, contemporary art and historic buildings. She holds an M.A. in art history and conservation from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and is a fellow of the American Institute for Conservation, the Association for Preservation Technology, the American Academy in Rome and the International Center for Conservation in Rome (ICCROM). Lowinger’s long and varied career has included fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania’s archeological museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and field conservator positions for the joint University of Pennsylvania-Tel Aviv University Expedition to the Coastal Plain of Israel. She was the founder of the Los Angeles firm Sculpture Conservation Studio and served as its director of conservation from 1988 to 2008. Lowringer lectures frequently on public art and conservation of modern finishes.

A lively public speaker on topics for the general public, Lowinger was a featured speaker at the 2018 Miami Beach Art Deco weekend and the 2016 AIA meeting in Havana, Cuba. She co-curated the 2013 exhibits Concrete Paradise: Miami Marine Stadium at the Coral Gables Museum and Promising Paradise: Cuban Allure, American Seduction at the Wolfsonian in 2016. Lowinger is the author of articles in Preservation, ArtNews, Cuban Art News and WNYC.com, and she is best known for the 2006 nonfiction book Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of the Legendary Cuban Nightclub. Her memoir, Dwell Time: A Memoir of Art, Exile, and Repair, was released in October 2023.