At Karges Fine Art, we take pride in forming personal relationships with our clients, getting to know them, their unique tastes, their concerns and priorities, while gaining extensive knowledge about artworks in their existing collection. Our clients gain reassurance that they're making the right decision based on our familiarity with their individual taste and budget. We become keenly aware of the specific plan the client has for the future direction of their collection as a whole, or work to assist a new collector with the creation of a vision. This close relationship saves the client time, since a trusted art advisor is always looking for specific works that will appeal to each individual customer and fit in with their current collection. Our knowledgeable, professional staff provides customized service that is specifically tailored to suit the client's individual needs. We realize that ours is a customer service business, not just a sales opportunity. Our Art Consultants might assist a collector with the reframing of one of their other paintings and enjoy a leisurely dinner together. Each of our invoices is typed out by hand. Concierge service is our specialty and we go out of our way to make our collectors feel valued and appreciated.

Art galleries offer a more relaxed environment to view an artwork in person, evaluate, and decide on purchases, at the client's own pace, without the pressure of another buyer trying to outbid them in real time.

Galleries often have more flexibility in pricing. A private dealer may be able to immediately contact a consignor who could agree to lower their net to facilitate a sale. A gallery may occasionally be willing to offer a discount to a valued, long term collector, or to a new collector whose loyalty they would like to secure for the future. No “Buyer's Premium” is charged.

Whenever anyone buys a work of art, the reputation of the source should be of primary concern. Karges Fine Art has built a very strong international reputation over a 30 year period, assisting both private collectors and museum curators in building collections that are relevant to their goals, unique to their tastes, and personally meaningful to them. Honesty and trust are essential components of the relationship between a private dealer and the client. A private gallery owner knows that their business cannot be successful and enduring without a solid long-term reputation based on truthfulness, fairness, and integrity.

Karges Fine Art caters to individual tastes and we specialize in particular styles of art and specific periods, focusing primarily on Early California paintings created between 1870 and 1950 by historically important artists including Edgar Payne, Thomas Hill, and William Wendt and Alfred Mitchell. We also carry works by notable artists of the American Southwest, including paintings by Maynard Dixon, E. Martin Hennings, Walter Ufer, Joseph Henry Sharp, and Nicolai Fechin, as well as woodblock prints by Gustave Baumann. Additionally, our Gallery Director has extensive experience with sales and purchasing of paintings by early Philippine artists including Fernando Amorsolo and Anita Magsaysay-Ho. Our staff has extensive knowledge about these very specific sectors of the art world and we work hard to stay informed about the current market for those works through comprehensive research and networking. As private art advisors, we can slowly develop long-term relationships with other knowledgeable experts in the art community, including appraisers, museum curators, and other dealers. We stay informed about fluctuations in the current market so that we are able to provide insight and advice to our collectors. A personal art advisor is well informed about the particular place the artwork holds in the history of art, and its individual position in the oeuvre of the specific artist.

We provide an environment where a collector's privacy is valued, offering discreet consultations with a well informed professional. The details of the sale remain confidential, and are not made available to the public. We often offer to make an appointment, at a time that is convenient for the collector, to personally bring paintings to our clients' homes so that they can be viewed on different walls, in different locations, with various lighting options. This gives the collector the ability to make a informed decision at their own pace, in their own home.

A private gallery or home setting provides an intimate, quiet space to view a work of art in person, directly, rather than from a reproduction in a catalogue or on a computer screen. The emotional experience of physically looking at a painting, feeling the human connection with the artist, and seeing the texture of the surface and the subtleties of the brushwork and coloring is much more profound and powerful in person.

Art is not a just a “commodity” that is bought and sold by the square inch. There is an intangible quality to unique original works of art. The well trained professional staff at a private gallery understands that these precious connections to the past are valued as part of the historical record of humankind, and knows that the works can and should evoke deep feelings and emotions in the collector that will bring them joy in the years to come. When a painting is acquired, the collector becomes part of that artwork's story. For many, collecting art is not just an investment or a hobby, it's a passion that provides deep satisfaction on a personal level. Our experienced art consultants have a deep understanding of this intangible factor. Need assistance starting a new collection or finding the perfect work for your existing one? Contact us any time at (800) 833-9185, or by email to gallery@kargesfineart.com, or stop by and visit our gallery at Dolores and Sixth Avenue in beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea.