Alana Kushnir Speaks on Building Legacy in a Collection

Alana Kushnir presenting at the Cartier and NGV event. Courtesy of Alana Kushnir.

Aurelian Founder and Principal Alana Kushnir was invited to speak at The Dea Network’s Panthère Breakfast with Cartier, as part of a morning beginning with the CARTIER Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria and continuing at Cartier’s Collins Street salon in August.

The Dea Network brings together women thinking seriously about wealth, investment and stewardship. It was an especially interesting context in which to consider another dimension of wealth: the art, jewellery, and cultural assets that families choose to preserve across generations.

Alana spoke about a distinction we encounter regularly at Aurelian. The physical asset may be carefully insured, secured and maintained. But its longer-term value can also depend on what sits around it: provenance and documentation; knowledge of its maker and history; appropriate ownership and protection; and, importantly, an understanding of why it mattered to the person who chose it.

Without that knowledge, an object can pass successfully from one generation to the next while much of its meaning is lost along the way. Cartier offered a particularly powerful illustration. The jewels themselves may be extraordinary, but their enduring significance is also sustained by the archives, craftsmanship, design language and stories that allow us to understand them across time.

Aurelian is a boutique art law and advisory firm based in Melbourne, but is international in reach. It is the first dedicated art law practice in Australia, working with artists, collectors, galleries, arts organisations, art fairs and art tech start-ups.

For more information contact us at info@aurelian.art