Jean L. Tardy-Vallernaud, Founder, Art and Wealth Consultant
Jean Tardy-Vallernaud, Founder of Gainsborough Fine Art, is an international fine art dealer and consultant to collectors, based in Pacific Palisades, California.
What sets his firm apart is its access to high-quality art works from foreign collections, and to art buyers both overseas and in the U.S.
As an art consultant, Jean is known for his rigorous research and knowledge of the global market for art as an asset class, which he has shared in numerous public speaking engagements over the years.
Prior to Gainsborough, Jean’s career was in finance; first, as an international banking executive with major U.S. financial institutions, in New York, Paris, London and Los Angeles; then as an investment advisor with his own firm, in Los Angeles (2000). It was in the latter capacity that he started advising clients on their art assets on an ongoing basis.
He is the founder (2009) of The Arts Council of the Century City Chamber of Commerce; a founding member (2006) and Secretary of the Los Angeles Branch of STEP – the worldwide Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, and Chair of its Art Panel in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022.
His past community commitments have included the LA Philharmonic’s Business and Touring committees, the boards of the LA Library Foundation and the LA Public Counsel Law Center.
He currently serves on the Art Design Panel of LA Metro, charged with the selection of artists and works to be installed in the stations under construction on the city’s Westside.
A dual U.S.-French national, fully bilingual, and conversant in Spanish, Jean was educated in France (Liberal Arts), then in the U.S. (UC-Berkeley B.S., Wharton MBA). He has been a resident of Los Angeles since 1985, where he shares his passions between art history and the art market, world affairs, societal change, public speaking, reading, writing, travel – and his wife and five grandchildren.
Publications, Articles, Presentations:
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- April 2015 Century City News interview: http://westsidetoday.com/2015/04/07/meet-century-city-jean-tardy-vallernaud-gainsborough-capital/
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- June 2015, and May 2016: chair of the Art Panel at the annual STEP Conference in Southern California.
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- November 2017 article, Almost Half A Billion Dollars For One Painting — Why?: http://centurycity.news/almost-half-a-billion-dollars-for-one-painting-why-p1105-126.htm
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- February 2018: presentation on the art market at Fox Rothschild’s ‘Fiduciary Attorney Summit’ in Santa Barbara, California.
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- April 2018: presentation on art succession and the state of the art market to the Senior Club of the Corpus Christi parish, Pacific Palisades, California.
- May, 2018: chair of the art panel at the STEP annual Forum conference in Laguna Beach, California, with emphasis on the state of the art market, art succession and the ‘red flags’ for professional advisers and their collector clients.
- February 2019: “Picasso in Paris: 1900-1904 — L’Emergence du Grand Maitre du XXeme Siecle“, presentation to Le Salon Francais de Los Angeles.
- March 2019: co-presenter, “Estate Planning for Art,” STEP-Los Angeles program
- May 2019: chair of the art panel at the STEP-Los Angeles annual Forum, Laguna Beach — presentation on the state of the global art market and the outlook for 2019 and beyond
- September 2019 article, “An Art Treasure — L.A.’s Best-Kept Open Secret,” http://centurycity.news/an-art-treasure-las-bestkept-open-secret-p1549-176.htm