RENÉE VARA

Renée Vara is the Director of Vara Fine Art, a full service advisory and curatorial firm specializing in 20th century, contemporary and emerging art and design. Renée is a Certified Appraiser, valuation expert and a collection manager.

As an expert, she has been cited in many publications including: Forbes, The New York Times, Dow Jones, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Artnews, Art & Antiques, CNN, Town and Country, US News and World Report, American Public Media and Crain's.

She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in art history, from Franklin & Marshall College and Hunter/CUNY respectively. For over a decade, she was the National Fine Arts Specialist at Chubb Insurance, where she served as the private curator and collection manager for Artnews Magazine’s "Top 100 Collectors" with collections valued up to $1 billion.

Renée has taught as a professor at NYU’s Appraisal Studies, Museum Studies and Art History programs for over a decade. In 2011, NYU awarded her with an “Excellence in Teaching Award.” Renée has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art and was an appointed lecturer at the Guggenheim Museum in New York for several years.

She had curated international emerging art shows at fairs and venues around the world including Art Basel Miami, Scope, Frieze, and Istanbul Biennale. She has lectured on collecting contemporary art and on the art market at venues such as the American Association of Museums, Norwood Club, Nation Arts Society, Sotheby’s, Art Basel/Art Basel Miami, UBS, Clairden Leu, Columbia University, Harvard Business School Club and Independent Curators International (ICI).

She serves on the Board of Directors of the Appraisers Association of America, which sets appraisal standards in the industry. She is also Editorial Director of the avant-garde art publication, INPUT Journal.