From Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) to Susan Sontag (1933-2004), numerous authors have addressed — and continue to address — the phenomenon of collecting, both in fiction and in scholarly discourse. Ranging from the childish assembly of trading cards or bottle caps to the more lavish pursuit of automobile collecting, this practice raises the enduring question of what defines a collector and what distinguishes them from a mere hoarder: is it systematization, the quantity of objects, their typologies, or the broader framework of historical and cultural interpretation?
Issue 16 of ARTis On seeks to focus more specifically on the act of collecting art, explored through multiple perspectives, geographies, and chronologies. This remains a topic of considerable contemporary relevance. However, the scarcity and dispersal of archival and documentary sources pose significant challenges to its study.
From collectors and collections to their legacies, market agents, and the sources that enable the study of provenance and trajectories, the theme of art collecting emerges as both fertile and essential for understanding private and public holdings. Collections constitute invaluable repositories, allowing reflection not only on the tastes, motivations, and interests of those who assembled them, but also on the historical contexts in which they were formed and on the moments when their subsequent destinies were determined.
