The Art Crowd

The Art Crowd by burnham, sophy. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780679503323.

What makes a painting worth hundreds of thousands of dollars? Why has art become a major investment for the very rich? Why do powerful men scheme and connive to get onto the boards of famous museums? How do galleries manipulate artists and profit thereby? This book gives the answers -- and much, much more. It is an inside account of the grip money and power have on the art world. It probes the web of scandal, in-fighting, lawsuits, endless scheming and politics that writhe beneath the art worlds elegant surface. It shows how famous names such as Paley, Rockefeller, Hoving, Hirshhorn, and Castelli; formidable museums such as the Smithsonian and New Yorks Metropolitan; and celebrated galleries and critics are all drawn in; and in an ironic and entertaining manner, it describes the costly game of wits they play with one another, using the artist as their pawn.