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Consignment Made Simple: Tracking Your Art with Galleries

5 min read

Nine landscape paintings displayed on a gallery wall under warm spotlights

Consignment Made Simple: How to Track Your Art with Galleries Using Fine Art Form

Placing work with a gallery is one of the most exciting milestones in an artist's career — and one of the most administratively stressful. Which pieces are at which gallery? When does the consignment period end? What's the split? Did they sell that small oil painting or is it still on the wall?

Without a system, these questions pile up fast. Fine Art Form gives you the tools to stay on top of every consignment so you can focus on making art instead of chasing paperwork.

Why Consignment Tracking Matters

Most artists manage gallery relationships through a mix of emails, spreadsheets, and memory. That works — until it doesn't. Common problems:

  • You lose track of where pieces are. A work sitting in a gallery for 18 months gets forgotten. You can't offer it to another buyer if you don't know it's available.
  • Payment disputes get murky. Without clear records, it's hard to reconcile what sold, when, and what you're owed.
  • Insurance gaps emerge. If a work is damaged or lost at a gallery, you need documentation of its value, location, and consignment terms.
  • You over-commit. Promising a piece to two galleries is an easy mistake when your inventory isn't organized.

A clean consignment record protects you, your relationships with galleries, and your income.

Setting Up a Consignment in Fine Art Form

Step 1: Mark the Work as Consigned

In your Fine Art Form inventory, open the artwork record and update its status to Consigned. This immediately removes it from your "available" pool so you won't accidentally show it as available to other buyers or galleries.

Add the consignment details:

  • Gallery name — Use a Contact record so you can link back to the relationship
  • Consignment start date — When the work physically left your studio
  • Consignment end date — If there's an agreed term (common for 3–6 month agreements)
  • Commission split — e.g., 50/50 or 60/40 (your percentage first)
  • Agreed sale price — The retail price the gallery will list it at

Pro tip: If you don't have a fixed end date, set a reminder note — Fine Art Form lets you add notes to any artwork record. Write something like: "Follow up with [Gallery Name] after 90 days."

Step 2: Add the Gallery as a Contact

If you haven't already, create a Contact record for the gallery under Contacts → Add Contact. Include:

  • Gallery director or your primary contact name
  • Email and phone
  • Gallery address (useful for insurance documentation)
  • Notes about your relationship, past sales, preferences

This lets you view all works consigned to a specific gallery in one place.

Step 3: Document the Handoff

Before or when the work leaves your studio, note the condition in Fine Art Form. You can attach files to artwork records — use this to store:

  • A photo of the piece at handoff (front and back, including any identifying marks)
  • A signed consignment agreement (PDF)
  • Your condition report

This documentation is invaluable if there's ever a dispute about damage or loss.

Tracking Multiple Consignments at Once

Once you have several pieces out with galleries, Fine Art Form's inventory filters become your best friend.

To see all consigned works:

  • Go to Inventory → All Works
  • Filter by Status: Consigned

You'll see a clean list of every piece that's out in the world, with the gallery, price, and how long it's been there.

To see what's at a specific gallery:

  • Go to Contacts → [Gallery Name]
  • View linked artworks

This is the view to pull up before any call with a gallery director. You'll know exactly what's there, what it's priced at, and what's still available.

When a Work Sells

When a gallery reports a sale, update Fine Art Form immediately:

  1. Change the artwork status from Consigned to Sold
  2. Record the sale date and sale price (sometimes galleries negotiate; record actual, not list)
  3. Note the buyer if the gallery shares that information (some do, some don't)
  4. Create an Invoice for your share

For the invoice: Fine Art Form lets you generate invoices directly from a sold artwork record. Create an invoice to the gallery for your commission percentage of the sale price. Set payment terms (net 30 is standard) and track whether it's been paid.

When a Consignment Period Ends

If a work comes back from a gallery unsold:

  1. Change status back to Available (or In Studio)
  2. Remove the consignment end date
  3. Add a note to the artwork: what gallery it was at, the dates, any feedback the gallery gave about reception

That feedback — "priced too high for our collectors," "mixed medium pieces didn't sell well in our space" — is valuable market data. Keeping it in the artwork record means you'll have it when you're deciding where to send the piece next.

Managing the Financial Side

Know Your Exposure

Your Fine Art Form inventory shows the total retail value of consigned works. That number matters for:

  • Insurance: Your studio policy likely doesn't cover works at third-party locations. Many galleries carry wall-to-wall insurance, but confirm this in writing. If they don't, you may need a rider on your policy.
  • Cash flow planning: If you have $40,000 in retail value on consignment at 50/50 splits, you're owed up to $20,000 if everything sells. Knowing this helps you plan.

Reconcile Regularly

Set a monthly habit: pull up your Consigned filter, review what's been out more than 90 days, and follow up with galleries that haven't reported activity. A quick email — "Hi [Name], just checking in on [Piece Title] — any interest from collectors?" — keeps the relationship warm and the work visible.

The Consignment Agreement: What to Have in Writing

Fine Art Form manages your records, but you need a signed agreement with each gallery to back them up. At minimum, your consignment agreement should cover:

  • List of works with titles, dimensions, medium, and agreed retail prices
  • Commission split and payment timeline (how long after a sale before you're paid)
  • Consignment term with renewal or return terms
  • Insurance responsibility — who covers the work and at what value
  • Condition obligations — how the gallery will handle and store the work

Store the signed PDF in your Fine Art Form artwork record (or in the gallery's Contact notes) so it's always findable.

Quick Reference: Consignment Workflow

Work accepted by gallery
       ↓
Update Fine Art Form: Status → Consigned
Add gallery, dates, price, commission split
Attach consignment agreement + condition photos
       ↓
Monitor via Inventory → Filter: Consigned
Follow up with galleries every 90 days
       ↓
Work sells?
  → Status → Sold
  → Record sale price and date
  → Invoice gallery for your share
  → Track payment status

Work returns?
  → Status → Available
  → Note gallery, dates, feedback
  → Re-evaluate pricing or placement

Final Thought

Every piece you send to a gallery is an investment — your time, your materials, your reputation. Tracking that investment properly isn't bureaucracy; it's basic business practice. Fine Art Form makes it fast enough that there's no excuse to skip it.

The artists who succeed long-term with galleries are the ones who make their gallery directors' lives easy: clear paperwork, responsive communication, accurate records. Fine Art Form helps you be that artist.

Have a consignment workflow question? Visit our Help Center or reach out to the Fine Art Form support team.