The Evolution of Contemporary Arts Markets looks at the historical evolution of the art market from the 15th century to the present day. Art is both an expression of human creativity and an object of economic value and financial refuge at times of economic turbulence. Historically, the art market evolved with the development of capitalism, finance and technical change, and art schools responded to social events such as wars, revolutions and waves of democratization. The author discusses the main features of modern art markets such as complexity in art valuation, globalism, segmentation, financialization, indivisibility, liquidity and provenance issues. The book studies the impact of wealth inequality and economic cycles and crises on the art market and features a chapter focusing specifically on the art market in China. This accessible publication is ideal for a broad, interdisciplinary audience including those involved in the economic and financial fields as well as art lovers, art market participants and social and cultural scholars.

The book examines the contemporary art system with a broad and systematic approach, through the application of models of microeconomics and industrial organizations. By breaking down the traditional barriers between different academic disciplines such as art and economics, this book offers a unique opportunity to grasp the complexities of the contemporary art world and provides the tools to conduct a structural analysis of that market. The result is an in-depth analysis of the contemporary art market from an interdisciplinary perspective. While it is not a textbook in the strictest sense, the book offers a concise and effective overview of all actors in the art system, and provides supporting data and valuable information, both conceptual and practical. It is therefore a text that can be used by students wishing to better understand the complex dynamics that govern the contemporary art market, but also by cultural managers, collectors, potential art investors or simply art lovers who need a quick reference.​

Chinese Contemporary Art in the Global Auction Market charts the rapid emergence of a multi-million-dollar global market for Chinese Contemporary art by revealing the strategic activities of art world agents in promoting the work of ‘avant-garde’ Chinese artists to a Western audience.

Since the late 1990s, contemporary art markets have emerged rapidly outside of Europe and the United States. China is now the world's second largest art market. In counties as diverse as Brazil, Turkey and India, modern and contemporary art has been recognized as a source of status, or a potential investment tool among the new middle classes. At art auctions in the US, London and Hong Kong, new buyers from emerging economies have driven up prices to record levels. The result of these changes has been an increase in complexity, interconnectedness, stratification and differentiation of contemporary art markets. Our understanding of them is still in its early stages and empirical research in the field of globalization of high arts is still scarce. This book brings together recent, multidisciplinary, cutting edge research on the globalization of art markets. Focusing on different regions, including China, Russia, India and Japan, as well as different institutions and organizations, the chapters in this volume study the extent to which art markets indeed become global. They show the various barriers to, and the effects of, globalization on the art market's organizational dynamics and the everyday narratives of people working within the art industry. In doing so, they recognize the coexistence of various ecologies of contemporary art exchange, and sketch the presence of resilient local networks of actors and organizations. Some chapters show Europe and the US continue to dominate, especially when taking art market rankings and the most powerful events such as Art Basel into account. However, other chapters argue that things such as art fairs are truly global events and that the 'architecture of the art market' which has originally been developed in Europe and the US from the 19th century onwards, is increasingly adopted across the world.

This is the first sourcebook to trace the emergence and evolution of art markets in the Western economy, framing them within the larger narrative of the ascendancy of capitalist markets. Selected writings from across academic disciplines present compelling evidence of art's inherent commercial dimension and show how artists, dealers, and collectors have interacted over time, from the city-states of Quattrocento Italy to the high-stakes markets of postmillennial New York and Beijing. This approach casts a startling new light on the traditional concerns of art history and aesthetics, revealing much that is provocative, profound, and occasionally even comic. This volume's unique historical perspective makes it appropriate for use in college courses and postgraduate and professional programs, as well as for professionals working in art-related environments such as museums, galleries, and auction houses. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 2017. This is the first sourcebook to trace the emergence and evolution of art markets in the Western economy, framing them within the larger narrative of the ascendancy of capitalist markets. Selected writings from across academic disciplines present compellin

Art today is defined by its relationship to money as never before. Prices of living artists' works have been driven to unprecedented heights, conventional boundaries within the art world have collapsed, and artists now think ever more strategically about how to advance their careers. Artists no longer simply make art, but package, sell, and brand it. Noah Horowitz exposes the inner workings of the contemporary art market, explaining how this unique economy came to be, how it works, and where it's headed. He takes a unique look at the globalization of the art world and the changing face of the business, offering the clearest analysis yet of how investors speculate in the market and how emerging art forms such as video and installation have been drawn into the commercial sphere. By carefully examining these developments against the backdrop of the deflation of the contemporary art bubble in 2008, "Art of the Deal" is a must-read book that demystifies collecting and investing in today's art market.

This study of the ways in which Flemish painting between 1550 and 1650 reflected the burgeoning capitalism of Antwerp, focuses not only on the market-scene paintings, but also on the interaction between painters and markets as it was influenced by merchants, governments and consumers.