The $12 Million Stuffed Shark

The $12 Million Stuffed Shark PDF

Author: Don Thompson

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2012-02-21

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0230341934

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Why would a smart New York investment banker pay $12 million for the decaying, stuffed carcass of a shark? By what alchemy does Jackson Pollock's drip painting No. 5, 1948 sell for $140 million? Intriguing and entertaining, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark is a Freakonomics approach to the economics and psychology of the contemporary art world. Why were record prices achieved at auction for works by 131 contemporary artists in 2006 alone, with astonishing new heights reached in 2007? Don Thompson explores the money, lust, and self-aggrandizement of the art world in an attempt to determine what makes a particular work valuable while others are ignored. This book is the first to look at the economics and the marketing strategies that enable the modern art market to generate such astronomical prices. Drawing on interviews with past and present executives of auction houses and art dealerships, artists, and the buyers who move the market, Thompson launches the reader on a journey of discovery through the peculiar world of modern art. Surprising, passionate, gossipy, revelatory, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark reveals a great deal that even experienced auction purchasers do not know.

The Supermodel and the Brillo Box

The Supermodel and the Brillo Box PDF

Author: Don Thompson

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2014-05-27

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1137279087

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Presents a look at the economics and psychology of the contemporary art market and examines the dominant role of a few auction houses and high-end galleries in setting its prices.

Seven Days in the Art World

Seven Days in the Art World PDF

Author: Sarah Thornton

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2008-11-17

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0393071057

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A fly-on-the-wall account of the smart and strange subcultures that make, trade, curate, collect, and hype contemporary art. The art market has been booming. Museum attendance is surging. More people than ever call themselves artists. Contemporary art has become a mass entertainment, a luxury good, a job description, and, for some, a kind of alternative religion. In a series of beautifully paced narratives, Sarah Thornton investigates the drama of a Christie's auction, the workings in Takashi Murakami's studios, the elite at the Basel Art Fair, the eccentricities of Artforum magazine, the competition behind an important art prize, life in a notorious art-school seminar, and the wonderland of the Venice Biennale. She reveals the new dynamics of creativity, taste, status, money, and the search for meaning in life. A judicious and juicy account of the institutions that have the power to shape art history, based on hundreds of interviews with high-profile players, Thornton's entertaining ethnography will change the way you look at contemporary culture.

The Orange Balloon Dog

The Orange Balloon Dog PDF

Author: Don Thompson

Publisher: Aurum

Published: 2018-01-11

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1781317852

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"Really good. Highly recommended." Andrew Marr, Radio 4: Start the Week From the author of the internationally bestselling The $12 Million Stuffed Shark comes a fresh and provocative look at the high-end art market and whether it is a bubble about to burst. Within forty-eight hours in the autumn of 2014, buyers in the Sotheby’s and Christie’s New York auction houses spent $1.7 billion on contemporary art. Economist and bestselling author Don Thompson cites this and other fascinating examples to explore the sometimes baffling activities of the high-end contemporary art market, examining what is at play in the exchange of vast amounts of money and what nudges buyers, even on the subconscious level, to imbue a creation with such high commercial value. Thompson analyses the behaviours of buyers and sellers and delves into the competitions that define and alter the value of art in today’s international market, from New York to London, Singapore to Beijing. Take heed if your fortunes are tied up in stainless steel balloon dogs – Thompson also warns of a looming bust of the contemporary art price balloon. A fascinating explanation, through the field of behavioural economics, for the phenomena that is behind the incredible value of contemporary art.

Boom

Boom PDF

Author: Michael Shnayerson

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2019-05-21

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 1610398416

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The meteoric rise of the largest unregulated financial market in the world-for contemporary art-is driven by a few passionate, guileful, and very hard-nosed dealers. They can make and break careers and fortunes. The contemporary art market is an international juggernaut, throwing off multimillion-dollar deals as wealthy buyers move from fair to fair, auction to auction, party to glittering party. But none of it would happen without the dealers-the tastemakers who back emerging artists and steer them to success, often to see them picked off by a rival. Dealers operate within a private world of handshake agreements, negotiating for the highest commissions. Michael Shnayerson, a longtime contributing editor to Vanity Fair, writes the first ever definitive history of their activities. He has spoken to all of today's so-called mega dealers-Larry Gagosian, David Zwirner, Arne and Marc Glimcher, and Iwan Wirth-along with dozens of other dealers-from Irving Blum to Gavin Brown-who worked with the greatest artists of their times: Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, and more. This kaleidoscopic history begins in the mid-1940s in genteel poverty with a scattering of galleries in midtown Manhattan, takes us through the ramshackle 1950s studios of Coenties Slip, the hipster locations in SoHo and Chelsea, London's Bond Street, and across the terraces of Art Basel until today. Now, dealers and auctioneers are seeking the first billion-dollar painting. It hasn't happened yet, but they are confident they can push the price there soon.

Breakfast at Sotheby's

Breakfast at Sotheby's PDF

Author: Philip Hook

Publisher: Abrams

Published: 2014-10-02

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 1468310305

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“A witty journey through the wonderfully tumultuous world of art dealers and markets—organized in the style of a dictionary, complete with a glossary.” —Interview Two questions are key to experiencing a work of art in a museum or exhibition: 1.) Do I like it? 2.) Who’s it by? You need quite a few more questions if you’re in an auction room or dealer’s gallery, however. You’ll find yourself asking, How much is it worth? How much will it be worth in five or ten years? And finally, what will people think of me if they see it hanging on my wall? Breakfast at Sotheby’s is not only a guide to finding the answers to such questions, but also a glimpse into the rarely discussed financial side of the art world. Based on author Philip Hook’s thirty-five years of experience in the art market, the book explores various shades of artist (including -isms, Gericault, and suicides), subject and style (from abstract art and banality through surrealism and war), “wall-power,” provenance, and market weather. Comic, revealing, piquant, splendid, and occasionally absurd, Breakfast at Sotheby’s is a book of pleasure and intelligent observation, as engaged with art as it is with the world that surrounds it. “A breezy, whimsical and often wry compendium, chock-full of hard-won wisdom about what makes someone spend millions of dollars to buy an artwork at auction.” —The New York Times “A winner. Readers will learn more about the modern art market in this simple book than in any college course.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review

Takedown

Takedown PDF

Author: Farah Nayeri

Publisher: Astra Publishing House

Published: 2022-01-25

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1662600569

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Farah Nayeri addresses the difficult questions plaguing the art world, from the bad habits of Old Masters, to the current grappling with identity politics. For centuries, art censorship has been a top-down phenomenon--kings, popes, and one-party states decided what was considered obscene, blasphemous, or politically deviant in art. Today, censorship can also happen from the bottom-up, thanks to calls to action from organizers and social media campaigns. Artists and artworks are routinely taken to task for their insensitivity. In this new world order, artists, critics, philanthropists, galleries and museums alike are recalibrating their efforts to increase the visibility of marginalized voices and respond to the people’s demands for better ethics in art. But what should we, the people, do with this newfound power? With exclusive interviews with Nan Goldin, Sam Durant, Faith Ringgold, and others, Nayeri tackles wide-ranging issues including sex, religion, gender, ethics, animal rights, and race. By asking and answering questions such as: Who gets to make art and who owns it? How do we correct the inequities of the past? What does authenticity, exploitation, and appropriation mean in art?, Takedown provides the necessary tools to navigate the art world.

Fine Art and High Finance

Fine Art and High Finance PDF

Author: Clare McAndrew

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2010-01-27

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 1576603334

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Art and finance coalesce in the elite world of fine art collecting and investing. Investors and collectors can’t protect and profit from their collections without grappling with a range of complex issues like risk, insurance, restoration, and conservation. They require intimate knowledge not only of art but also of finance. Clare McAndrew and a highly qualified team of contributors explain the most difficult financial matters facing art investors. Key topics include: Appraisal and valuation Art as loan collateral Securitization and taxation Investing in art funds Insurance The black-market art trade Clare McAndrew has a PhD in economics and is the author of The Art Economy. She is considered a leading expert on the economics of art ownership.

Essential Prosperity

Essential Prosperity PDF

Author: Napoleon Hill

Publisher: St. Martin's Essentials

Published: 2022-11-08

Total Pages: 759

ISBN-13: 1250845262

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The ultimate collection of books for life-changing success It’s time to stop living your life on the margins and claim the financial success you deserve. Essential Prosperity is a treasury of wisdom that will empower you to move from a life of want—defined by debt, fear, and missed possibilities—to one of true success. You have the power and potential to create the life of abundance you’ve always imagined and Essential Prosperity will show you how. Essential Prosperity includes fourteen life changing books from the thought leaders and teachers whose work has changed the world, including: - The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason - Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill - Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy - As a Man Thinketh by James Allen - Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles - The Game of Life by Florence Scovel Shinn - The Golden Key by Emmet Fox - The Go-Getter by Peter B. Kyne - How to Live on 24 Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett - Acres of Diamonds by Russell Conwell - Creative Mind and Success by Ernest Holmes - The Secret of Success by William Walker Atkinson - The Life Power and How to Use It by Elizabeth Towne - Prosperity by Annie Rix Militz These experts speak from every background—from self-help and spirituality to finance and business—each of them sharing the secrets to building life changing wealth and prosperity.

The Auctioneer

The Auctioneer PDF

Author: Simon de Pury

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2016-05-03

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 125005978X

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"Simon de Pury, former Chairman of Sotheby's Europe, former owner of Sotheby's rival Phillips de Pury, and currently a London-based dealer, takes us inside a secretive business, whose staggering prices, famous collectors, and high crimes are front page news almost every day"--