The Art Biz: The Covert World of Collectors, Dealers, Auction Houses, Museums, and Critics
This is an impassioned, whistle-blowing essay on the outrageous glitz biz of the contemporary New York art scene. A reputable art historian, Marquis has let her subject percolate for over 15 years. Yet the shrill tone of early chapters may cause the book's dismissal as a general tirade against postmodernism, the entire art system, and its questionable ethics. Despite the gloom, Marquis concludes that there is hope in a second world of art that "thrives without ever being noticed in the four New York Zip codes where the Art Biz lodges." Though she writes in a lively style for the art "outsider," her footnotes and references should also fire up anyone familiar with the spate of recent muckracking literature on postmodernism. Recommended for both general readers and specialists.- Mary Hamel- Schwulst, Towson State Univ., Md.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.