Rogues' Gallery: The Rise (and Occasional Fall) of Art Dealers, the Hidden Players in the History of Art
Oct 2017 · The Experiment
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About this ebook
This "expert and elegantly written" book reveals how dealers have been a major force in art history from the Renaissance to the avant garde ( The Guardian, UK).
Philip Hook's riveting narrative takes us from the early days of art dealing in Antwerp, where paintings were sold by weight, to the unassailable hauteur of contemporary galleries in New York, London, Paris, and beyond. Along the way, we meet a surprisingly wide-ranging cast of characters—from tailors, spies, and the occasional anarchist to scholars, aristocrats, and connoisseurs, some compelled by greed, some by their own vision of art—and some by the art of the deal.
Among them are Joseph Duveen, who almost single-handedly brought the Old Masters to America; Paul Durand-Ruel, the Impressionists' champion; Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, high priest of Cubism; Leo Castelli, dealer-midwife to Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art; and Peter Wilson, the charismatic Sotheby's chairman who made a theater of the auction room.
Full of unforgettable anecdotes and astute insight, Rogue's Gallery offers "a front-row seat and a backstage pass to this arcane and obsessively secretive profession" (Hannah Rothschild, Mail on Sunday, UK).
"Bristles with colorful characters and dysfunctional dynasties. . . . Hook weaves history with racy twists, opening the door to a secretive world. No rogue emerges unscathed." — The Wall Street Journal
Philip Hook's riveting narrative takes us from the early days of art dealing in Antwerp, where paintings were sold by weight, to the unassailable hauteur of contemporary galleries in New York, London, Paris, and beyond. Along the way, we meet a surprisingly wide-ranging cast of characters—from tailors, spies, and the occasional anarchist to scholars, aristocrats, and connoisseurs, some compelled by greed, some by their own vision of art—and some by the art of the deal.
Among them are Joseph Duveen, who almost single-handedly brought the Old Masters to America; Paul Durand-Ruel, the Impressionists' champion; Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, high priest of Cubism; Leo Castelli, dealer-midwife to Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art; and Peter Wilson, the charismatic Sotheby's chairman who made a theater of the auction room.
Full of unforgettable anecdotes and astute insight, Rogue's Gallery offers "a front-row seat and a backstage pass to this arcane and obsessively secretive profession" (Hannah Rothschild, Mail on Sunday, UK).
"Bristles with colorful characters and dysfunctional dynasties. . . . Hook weaves history with racy twists, opening the door to a secretive world. No rogue emerges unscathed." — The Wall Street Journal
This "expert and elegantly written" book reveals how dealers have been a major force in art history from the Renaissance to the avant garde ( The Guardian, UK).
Philip Hook's riveting narrative takes us from the early days of art dealing in Antwerp, where paintings were sold by weight, to the un...
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About the author
Philip Hook joined Sotheby's Impressionist & Modern Art Department in 1994. He is currently a board member and senior director of Impressionist & Modern art in London, and has over forty years' expertise as an art dealer and auctioneer. He joined Christie's in 1973 with a degree in the history of art from Cambridge University, and headed Christie's Nineteenth Century Paintings Department from 1980 to 1987. He is the author of Popular Nineteenth Century Paintings (1986); five successful novels set in the art world; The Ultimate Trophy (2009), a history of the Impressionist market and one of the Financial Times' Books of the Year; and Breakfast at Sotheby's: An A?Z of the Art World (2013), which was a book of the year in the Sunday Times, Spectator, Financial Times, Guardian, and Mail on Sunday.
Philip Hook joined Sotheby's Impressionist & Modern Art Department in 1994. He is currently a board member and senior director of Impressionist & Modern art in London, and has over forty years' expertise as an art dealer and auctioneer. He joined Christie's in 1973 with a degree in the history of...
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