This past year has seen some extraordinary sums paid out for works of art. Prices at auctions for paintings of van Gogh and Picasso have been higher than even the biggest-budget Hollywood movie. Is this some sort of ultimate in conspicuous consumption? In the following pages we will examine the psychology, sociology, and market strategy behind the big buying.
At the same time, museums with limited budgets are going in for deaccessioning valuable works of art. David D'Arcy talked with museum directors and curators to discover their thinking on this new and highly controversial practice.
Critic Eric Gibson looks back over the last decade, when the big spending really began, analyzing its development and the mentality behind it.
Japanese buyers now account for as much as 45 percent of art auctions sales, outdistancing sales to American or European buyers. Our woman in Tokyo, Elbrich Fennema, investigates this phenomenon at close hand.
Finally, critic Jason Edward Kaufman traveled to the Biennale in Venice and the prestigious annual international art fair in Basel, Switzerland, discovering that the selection of American wordsmith Jenny Holzer for the Bienale has something to say about what is happening in the world market today.
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