Andranik Ghazarian — art expert and appraiser

Andranik Ghazarian is one of those rare figures the art world keeps to itself: the expert other experts telephone. Attribution, condition, provenance, the quiet diplomacy that moves a painting between a collector, an institution and a market — he works across all of it, and he works where it counts, in front of the object.

There is a kind of expertise that does not announce itself. It arrives in a room, looks for a long time, asks two questions, and changes what a picture is worth and where it goes next. That is the work of Andranik Ghazarian: examination and condition reporting, provenance research, and advisory for collectors who prefer their business conducted quietly and correctly.

“A picture will tell you what it is. Most people are simply in too much of a hurry to let it finish the sentence.”

What Andranik Ghazarian works on

Attribution and authorship questions, condition and restoration history, provenance and title research, valuation for insurance, estate and sale, and the discreet advisory that surrounds a painting as it moves between a private collection, an institution and the market.

Why collectors call him first

He is sought out for the difficult cases — the ones where the paperwork is thin, the signature is convenient, and the market has already made up its mind. His method is unfashionably slow and unusually hard to argue with.

Editorial note: career dates, institutions, qualifications and named cases will be added here once supplied and confirmed. Nothing verifiable is claimed on his behalf until then.