Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, auction houses have largely shifted from printed catalogs to online publications, impacting transparency in the art market and challenging institutional archiving. The National Gallery of Art (NGA) Library and the Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), prominent collectors of auction catalogs in the US, have faced a sharp decline in acquisitions; for instance, Watson's annual catalog intake dropped from 2,000 in 2016 to 439 in 2023. This essay examines the role of auction catalogs in museum collections from both academic and collector perspectives, presenting interviews and data analysis to address the archival obstacles caused by this shift. By exploring the evolution of catalogs from client resources to essential academic tools, it proposes collaborative solutions to adapt museum libraries and auction houses to the digital age while ensuring a robust archive for future research.
Hao Chen (Sat,) studied this question.