Ralph DeLuca

Ralph DeLuca (born May 13, 1976 in East Hanover, New Jersey) is an American art advisor and collector specializing in contemporary art and film memorabilia, based in New York City and Las Vegas. His clients include individuals, corporations, foundations, and institutions. Amongst his clients are actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Sylvester Stallone, and co-founder of Tinder, Sean Rad.

Life and Career
A lifelong collector, DeLuca purchased his first print, from Salvador Dalí’s The Divine Comedy suite, using his birthday money at age 13.

While working in investment banking, DeLuca began to grow his collections in both vintage movie posters and contemporary art. Realizing his rapidly-growing collections were quickly amassing value as financial assets themselves, he switched career paths and became an art advisor.

DeLuca's collections both in art and entertainment memorabilia have garnished worldwide attention. In 2012, DeLuca received widespread media coverage for paying $1.2 million for nine rare and early film posters, including the world's highest-valued poster of the 1927 film Metropolis.

DeLuca has loaned several posters from his collection for exhibitions at MGM Resorts, Salon 94, Poster House, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He is known for having one of the world's largest collections of vintage movie posters.

In 2014, Artnet named DeLuca as one of 20 of the World’s Most Innovative Art Collectors and as one of the Top 200 Art Collectors Worldwide in 2015.

In May 2024, Cultured released a profile on DeLuca, calling him "the Self-Made Celebrity Whisperer Who’s Won Over the Art World" and outlined his rise as an autodidact in the art market. Later that year, Cultured named DeLuca to their 2024 Top 20 Power Art Advisor List, noting DeLuca's ability to obtain artworks by the world's most coveted artists.

As an expert on art, DeLuca regularly shares his views with Artnet, including, notably, cautioning against the widely-used misclassification of foundations as museums in the art world. DeLuca is frequently sought for his expertise on art market trends, and advice on acquisitions.

Art Advisory
DeLuca is known for his education-based approach to building his clients' collections. He has stated that informed collectors build the strongest collections and are happier with their decisions and urges the importance of equipping art collectors with knowledge."“You're going to make very costly mistakes on your own, or you pay an advisor a fee to save you from those mistakes.'"

Affiliations

 * Consultant; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
 * Consultant; The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
 * Consultant and Curator; MGM Resorts International
 * Poster and Pop Culture Expert; Pawn Stars
 * Art Consultant; The Family Stallone