The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art

Subtitle:
The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art
Author:
Don Thompson
Format:
Hardcover

Out of stock

United States of America


The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art Out of stock

Short description

Why would a smart New York investment banker pay $12 million for the decaying, stuffed carcass of a shark? Intriguing and entertaining, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark is a Freakonomics approach to the economics and psychology of the contemporary art world.

Long description

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 both 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.

Product details

Publisher:
Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN:
9780230610224
Publication date:
September 2008
Length:
241mm
Width:
168mm
Thickness:
25mm
Weight:
490g
Pages:
268
Illustrations:
illustrations
Illustrated:
Illustrated

Review

Don Thompson has written, by far, the best book on the economics of the contemporary art market yet written. --Felix Salmon, Portfolio.com Don Thompson provides the single best guide to both the anthropology and the economics of contemporary art markets. This book is fun and fascinating on just about every page. --Tyler Cowen, New York Sun

If you read no other book about art in your life, read the one that's gripped me like a thriller for the past two days...it's called the $12 Million Stuffed Shark, --Richard Morrison, The Times (London)

.,. it's lucid, well researched and, while carefully balanced, manages to retain a sharp edge . -- Telegraph UK

A new book by an economist named Don Thompson entitled $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art ought to be required reading for collectors intending to wade into well publicized contemporary art auctions... -- The Economist.com

[An] informative an occasionally hilarious look at the surreal contemporary art market... A clear-headed approach to a frequently high-pitched issue. -- Kirkus

Out of stock

The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art

The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art

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