Pioneers of the Global Art Market

Without losing touch with the intimate, collaborative relationship of artist and dealer, Pioneers of the Global Art Market dissects the market for modern art to reveal the complex transactional networks that spanned the globe from the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth. In a series of authoritative studies, authors address central players in the market for contemporary European art, such as Paul Durand-Ruel and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, as well as less well-known figures like Paul Guillaume, whose cultivation of ties with French colonial officials opened markets for African art in Europe and America. * Michael FitzGerald, Professor of Fine Arts, Trinity College, USA * Through its emphasis on dealers’ strategies, working in cooperation across national borders, this wide-ranging collection of essays makes an original and significant contribution to our knowledge of the processes through which art from France came to dominate the international canon of modern art. * Malcolm Gee, Visiting Fellow, Department of Arts, Northumbria University, UK * Drawing together an international team of scholars working across an impressive range of archival materials, this volume offers fresh and compelling analyses of the role of the art dealer in fostering the market for contemporary art produced in Paris c. 1850-1950, as well as the arts of Africa prized by modernists, revealing how dealers wove a transnational web of relations to create and sustain demand and value for this new art. For anyone interested in the fate of modernist art or strategies that have powered the global art market, this book is a must read. * Anne Helmreich, Associate Director, Getty Foundation, USA * The art market is not only driven by visionary dealers, it also relies on highly active networks that evolved in the course of an increasingly international exchange. Contrary to widespread assumptions, such networks are not a recent phenomenon: Pioneers of the Global Art Market unites a superb selection of engrossing case studies on how, between 1850 and 1950, dealers and other players in the art world forged and strengthened increasingly far-reaching personal and business connections. The volume’s intelligent focus on Paris—then the pre-eminent hub for the trade in avant-garde art—leads to particularly revealing insights into the market’s complex nervous system. As such, this highly stimulating book provides an excellent point of departure for a deeper understanding of the history of globalization. * Johannes Nathan, Chair, The International Art Market Studies Association (TIAMSA) * Dealer-centered, [this book] places diminished emphasis on overarching historical, national, social and critical structures that frame and inform the context of modern art. * Giovanna L. Costantini, Leonardo Reviews * [Pioneers of the Global Art Market] places a fresh emphasis on pragmatic, tactical, sometimes ad hoc cooperation between dealers, in particular across national borders. * Marie Tavinor, Review, The Society for the History of Collecting *