We were lucky to catch up with Yassana Croizat-Glazer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Yassana thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

At the most fundamental level, I believe success requires perseverance and self-confidence. If you don’t believe in yourself and in what you are doing, it’s difficult to convince others to do so. But that’s just part of the equation; collaborative work and cultivating genuine relationships with others is integral to the kind of success I aspire to everyday. Forming real connections with people, whether with collaborators or clients, enables me to assist them more effectively and makes my work better and more meaningful. I also feel strongly that success is predicated on giving back, which can take different forms, including making donations to worthy causes. The last ingredient that I consider essential is flexibility. I do many different things, from working as an art dealer to writing about art history and giving special private tours of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By pursuing several activities, I’m able to connect with a variety of audiences and forge new contacts in different sectors, which helps my business overall.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Art has always been an important part of my life, and so has writing. I was born in Paris to art-loving parents who had artists, art historians and writers for friends. Growing up in New York, I was fortunate enough to have access to lots of great museums, and was also able to travel around the world. All of this helped inform my decision to pursue a Ph.D. in art history, which I did at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, writing my dissertation on the representation of sexuality in literature and art commissioned by King Francis I of France (r. 1515-1547). While at the IFA, I had the opportunity to work with amazing scholars such as Linda Nochlin, and met many incredible people with whom I still socialize and work, including my husband who is now Head of Private Sales in the Old Masters Department at Christie’s, NY.

After teaching art history at NYU, I became a fellow in the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department at the Metropolitan Museum, and then stayed on as a research associate to work on the reinstallation of their French Renaissance gallery. I was then hired as Assistant Curator, and worked on finding new ways of presenting the collection to the public in an engaging manner as well as on pursuing research in my field. Though I will always love the Met, I left the museum because I wanted to start my own business; I founded YCG Fine Art in 2017.

YCG Fine Art is an online gallery and art advisory business based in New York City, specializing in modern and contemporary art, as well as European painting from the 15th to the 19th centuries. I am delighted to be representing Morgan Everhart, Jane Banks, Allen Hirsch and Véronique Terrieux, and sometimes work with other artists as well. I’ve curated several exhibitions featuring art by Everhart, Banks, Hirsch, Terrieux, and others, sometimes in partnership with institutions such as the David Owsley Museum of Art, A Women’s Thing magazine or The Streaming Museum. Together with the phenomenal artists with whom I collaborate, we have raised funds for different charitable organizations, such as the Association to Benefit Children here in New York, and the International Medical Corps. In addition to selling art, I help clients manage their collections and frequently have the pleasure of working with some remarkable interior designers.

Through YCG Fine Art, I also offer private thematic tours at the Met for people looking to enjoy a fun, memorable, intimate experience at the museum (the most popular ones are entitled “Women Rule” and “The Art of Power”). I really enjoy giving these tours because it allows me to connect with people over material I love, and it’s also a great way to introduce them to the different services I provide.

And last, but certainly not least, I write about art. I contribute articles on women in the history of art to A Women’s Thing, an online publication edited by Saskia Ketz and dedicated to redefining what “women’s things” are. I also write scholarly publications, including most recently an essay entitled “Unraveling the Threads: Women Working with Silk in Italy, France, and England, 1500-1800,” which will be featured in the catalogue for the international exhibition “Making her Mark” to be be held at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Art Gallery of Ontario in the fall of 2023. I manage YCG Fine Art’s IG account, and put a lot of thought into what I write about the art that I promote. I think of it as an ongoing online exhibition catalogue, which people can decide to dip into–or not. Part of what makes my relationships to Everhart, Banks, Hirsch and Terrieux so special is the huge admiration I have for them and the many powers of their art, and I try to express that in my writings, which often draw on my knowledge of art history.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

For every aspect of my business, I have found that word of mouth has been the most effective way of gaining new clients. Because I put so much emphasis on personal contact in what I do, the referrals I get tend to be very sincere and enthusiastic and that has been the best publicity I could hope for. Doing certain things for free can also have great benefits. For instance, I have occasionally gifted tours of the Met and recipients have shown their appreciation by sending me new clients. Moreover, whenever I can I love to help others grow businesses I admire, and people are often happy to reciprocate.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

By nature, I am very cautious person in some ways and for a long time I was rather risk-averse. So much of my business has been built on taking chances, and I’ve grown much more comfortable with that process. I often think back to when I first started out and I decided to establish an “artist in residency” program at YCG Fine Art. I had recently met Brooklyn-based artist Morgan Everhart at an art dealer’s wedding reception and was struck by her charisma. Once I saw her art, I knew I wanted to work with her. So I took a chance and reached out to Morgan, and since then we have collaborated on so many wonderful projects, including her solo show “Flesh and Bloom” for the David Owsley Museum (2021). I’m always excited to see where Morgan’s creativity will take her and to find ways to help support her. Right now we are working on developing an exhibition that will incorporate both her painted florals and living organic matter. So much of what I have been able to do would not have been possible if I didn’t allow myself to experiment.

Image Credits:
Featured photo: Yassana Croizat-Glazer and Morgan Everhart in the artist’s studio, September 2022.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ycgfineart.com
• Instagram: @croizatglazer
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ycgfineart/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/yassana-croizat-glazer-25b55027