Lara Tomaszewska, PhD


Openwork Art Advisory was founded by Dr. Lara Tomaszewska in 2012. Lara holds a PhD in Art History from the University of British Columbia (2007) and her main areas of expertise are Canadian art, European painting (including Impressionism and early abstraction), American modernism, pop art, and contemporary art and photography.

Having resided in Toronto, Paris, Vancouver and London, Lara has a global art network and she works closely with private collectors, institutions, researchers & curators, gallerists, and auction houses to provide bespoke services to her clients. Deeply rooted in ethics and transparency, Lara’s expertise in due diligence results in sound acquisitions and appraisals and her profound art historical knowledge sets her apart and brings depth to her management of art collections. Working fastidiously and with complete discretion, Lara builds private and corporate collections that reflect the ethos, brand and mandate of the individual or group collectors.

With over 20 years in the field of fine art as an academic, researcher and appraiser, Lara has placed work by Henri Matisse, Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Gordon Smith, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edvard Munch, and Damien Hirst, maiong many others. She is a member of the International Society of Appraisers (2012 - 2022) , the Universities Art Association of Canada, and the Association of Art Historians (UK).

Education

  • Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), NYU (2013, 2015, 2020, 2022)

  • Core Course in Appraisal Studies (International Society of Appraisers), Toronto (2013, 2020)

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (2007)

  • Master of Arts in Art History, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec (1998)

  • Bachelor of Arts in Art History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (1994)

Professional Experience

  • Founder and Principal, Openwork Art Advisory, Victoria, BC, Canada / London, UK

  • Director of Art Acquisitions, Shares.com, London, UK, 2016

  • Lecturer, University of Victoria, BC, Department of Gender Studies, 2010 – 2014

  • Appointed Member, Arts Advisory Council, Capital Regional District, Victoria, BC, 2012 – 2015, 2017-2019

  • Lecturer, University of British Columbia, Department of Art History, 2000 – 2005

  • Gallery Associate, Winsor Gallery, Vancouver, BC, 2003 – 2004

  • Researcher (exhibitions), Morris & Helen Belkin Gallery, Vancouver, BC, 2003 – 2004

  • Researcher (archives), University of British Columbia Archives, 2003 – 2004

  • Curatorial Assistant, North Vancouver Museum & Archives, Vancouver, BC, 2001

  • Curatorial Assistant, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, 1999 – 2000

Selected Lectures & Conferences

  • The Price of Everything: Commerce, Aesthetics, and the “Value” of Contemporary Art, Co-Chair, Universities Art Association of Canada Annual Conference, Vancouver, Oct 2020.

  • Separate Spheres: Global Art Finance and Contemporary Art Practice (accepted). Association of Art Historians Annual Conference, Loughborough University, April 2017.

  • At the Intersection of Art History and the Art Market: Navigating the Business of Art, Co-Chair, Universities Art Association of Canada, Ontario College of Art and Design, Oct 2014.

  • Artful Assets: Collecting, Valuing and Gifting Fine Art, presented with Schibli Stedman King and Edward Jones, Victoria, BC, Sept 2014.

  • Landscape, Nationhood, Identity: Emily Carr’s Modernism. Art Gallery of Victoria, Dec 2011.

  • The Pacific Nation: Art, Poetry, and the Formation of the Vancouver Avant-Garde, 1965-68. Art Association of Canada Conference, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Nov 2007.

  • On Lotus Land: Aesthetics, Counter-Culture, and the Formation of the West Coast in the 1960s. Association of Art Historians Annual Conference, University of Bristol, April 2005.

  • Clement Greenberg: Modern Art, Modern Taste. Vancouver Art Gallery, October 2003.

  • 19th century Technologies of Vision: Photography and the Colonial Production of Knowledge. Art History and Technologies Conference, Princeton University, March 2003.