Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; List of Tables and Graphs; Acknowledgments; Introduction; CHAPTER 1: The Architecture of the Art Market; CHAPTER 2: Exchanging Meaning; CHAPTER 3: Promoters versus Parasites; CHAPTER 4: Determinants of Prices; CHAPTER 5: The Art of Pricing; CHAPTER 6: Stories of Prices; CHAPTER 7: Symbolic Meanings of Prices; CHAPTER 8: Conclusion; Appendix A Interview Questionnaire; Appendix B Description of Interview Sample; Appendix C Record Prices for Art; Appendix D Multilevel Analysis of Prices for Art ; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Summary
How do dealers price contemporary art in a world where objective criteria seem absent? Talking Prices is the first book to examine this question from a sociological perspective. On the basis of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative data, including interviews with art dealers in New York and Amsterdam, Olav Velthuis shows how contemporary art galleries juggle the contradictory logics of art and economics. In doing so, they rely on a highly ritualized business repertoire. For instance, a sharp distinction between a gallery's museumlike front space and its businesslike back space