Hammer, Carl

Chicago dealer Carl Hammer talks about the difference between a “public” and a “private” dealer, and the intricacies of working with estates when buying and selling in the secondary market.

“I never have thought of taking on an artist because I think I could sell them to my clients. It’s always been based on whether it satisfies me.”

For over thirty years, Carl Hammer Gallery has been one of the primary international pioneers discovering, exhibiting, and contributing to the scholarship and connoisseurship of outsider art. As a dealer, Hammer’s expertise lies in selling art in the secondary market, and he has contributed widely to the discussions of both outsider and contemporary art as an author, lecturer and curator. Hammer is also the former president of the Chicago Art Dealers Association and a founding member INTUIT, Chicago’s art center for the preservation and promotion of folk and outsider art.