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their work, and consultation with museums and
other collectors — “putting a tuxedo on it,” Knoke
calls it.
That’s where much of Charter’s specialty lies.
For every piece that leaves the doors of Knoke Fine
Arts, she hands the customer a dossier on the work
and the artist, and where they’ve exhibited if the
customer wants to see more.
“When we sell a painting, that has a market value
— not just some price we want to put on it because
we think it’s worth that, and we just pull it out of the
air,” Charter says. “We learn about the artists. That’s
part of what they’re collecting.”
Shifting cultural tides have also opened up new
niches in the market, which the duo has comfortably
filled.
“In the last 10 or 15 years we have specialized in
art of the South — 19th and early 20th century art of
the South, because it has become very collectible,”
Knoke says.
That hasn’t always been the case. Charter recalls
an old Marietta friend of Knoke’s, Dr. Robert Coggins,
who learned that the hard way in New York City
some decades ago.
“He went into a gallery and he said, ‘I want to see
your Southern artwork.’ And they looked at him and
said, ‘There’s no such thing,’” Charter says.
These, of course, are different times. Two of
Knoke’s specialties are the eminent artists Lamar
Dodd, namesake of the UGA art school, and Athos
Menaboni the Italian immigrant-turned-Georgian
whose bird paintings rival those of Audubon.
“Dave has probably handled more paintings by
Athos Menaboni than any other dealer,” Charter says.
Most come from other dealers and collectors
— Knoke will frequently get calls from folks on the
other side of the country, asking if he’s interested in a
given piece — but he once found a stunning
Menaboni by way of every dealer’s dream: at an
unassuming estate sale.
“About 10 or 15 years ago … I was going into
Buckhead, and I saw a sign that said yard sale, or
house sale,” he recalls. “And I thought, I’m in a really
good neighborhood. I’ll just pull in here and take a
look.”
“It was a gorgeous, big, fabulous home. I went in
there and I looked around, and there’s some beautiful
furniture. All of a sudden, on a wall in one room, I saw
this Menaboni cardinal … The lady who was handling
the sale said, ‘But it’s a print.’”
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