Boom: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art
Boom: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art book cover

Boom: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art

Hardcover – May 21, 2019

by
Price
$26.50
Format
Hardcover
Pages
464
Publisher
PublicAffairs
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1610398404
Dimensions
6.7 x 1.7 x 9.7 inches
Weight
1.58 pounds

Description

"The narrative is packed with scrumptious anecdotes and revealing portraits of key players and artists... In this rich, superbly nuanced history, Shnayerson fully demonstrates that he has his finger on the financial pulse of modern art."― Kirkus, Starred Review "Focusing on personalities as much as business development, Shnayerson's writing is conversational and accessible, even for those without deep art knowledge. Fast-paced and eye-opening, this is a wildly entertaining business history."― Publishers Weekly "In Boom , Michael Shnayerson masterfully traces the blaze-like contemporary art market back to what now seem like unassuming origins. He tells how, somewhere along the way, dealers persuaded the rest of the art world that what they were looking at was not as important as why they were looking at it. And the why, as it turns out, was money."― Graydon Carter, former editor of Vanity Fair and founder of Air Mail newsletter "How did the art world-the rarefied, decorous realm of a few hundred in the 1960s-become the art market? Michael Shnayerson penetrates the mysterious conclave of taste, style and money in this sparkling, high-octane account. It's all here and beautifully bound together, from Lucien Freud's gambling debts to the AIDS epidemic to private museums to the magical question of whether the artist makes the dealer or the dealer the artist."― Stacy Schiff, author of Cleopatra: ALife and The Witches: Salem, 1692 " Boom reflects better than anything I have read the characters, the motives, and the overall vibe of the contemporary art world."― Daniel Weiss, President and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art "The high end of the contemporary art market is driven by branding, backstories, mega dealers, art fairs, art investment funds, and occasionally, a hugely talented artist. Most important, it is driven by people. Michael Shnayerson has done the best job I know in pulling all these together. Think of the book as a 400-page Vanity Fair article (where he is a longtime contributing editor). I offer that comparison as a compliment to its style and depth of detail. He has captured profiles of the mega-dealers: Gagosian, Zwirner, Wirth, and the Glimchers; the billionaire collectors; and the lawsuits, with background and astute observations. My own books on the contemporary art market would have been much improved this had come earlier. A great read."― Don Thompson is the author of The $12Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art, and TheOrange Balloon Dog: Bubbles, Turmoil and Avarice in the Contemporary Art Market "Part Painted Bird , part Off the Wall , and part Duveen , Michael Shnayerson's Boom deftly captures the extraordinary dynamics at work in the contemporary art market by focusing on the global mega dealers and their constantly evolving stable of artists, many of whom together have become fabulously rich beyond their wildest dreams. In Shnayerson's confident hands, the story of their successes is riveting, informative, and often hard to fathom."― William Cohan, author of House ofCards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street "The book is a pleasure to read, lively, smart, and wonderfully informative, full of the big personalities, genius, passion, and skullduggery of the contemporary art world."― Roxana Robinson authorof Georgia O'Keeffe: A Life Michael Shnayerson is a long-time contributing editor to Vanity Fair and the author of eight books on a range of nonfiction subjects, from biographies of entertainer Harry Belafonte ( My Song ) and New York governor Andrew Cuomo ( The Contender ) to narrative-driven accounts of drug-resistant bacteria ( The Killer Within ) and mountaintop coal removal ( Coal River) . Shnayerson is married to Gayfryd Steinberg, and lives in Sag Harbor and Manhattan.

Features & Highlights

  • The meteoric rise of the largest unregulated financial market in the world -- for contemporary art -- is driven by a few passionate, guileful, and very hard-nosed dealers.
  • They can make and break careers and fortunes.
  • The contemporary art market is an international juggernaut, throwing off multimillion-dollar deals as wealthy buyers move from fair to fair, auction to auction, party to glittering party. But none of it would happen without the dealers-the tastemakers who back emerging artists and steer them to success, often to see them picked off by a rival. Dealers operate within a private world of handshake agreements, negotiating for the highest commissions. Michael Shnayerson, a longtime contributing editor to Vanity Fair, writes the first ever definitive history of their activities. He has spoken to all of today's so-called mega dealers -- Larry Gagosian, David Zwirner, Arne and Marc Glimcher, and Iwan Wirth -- along with dozens of other dealers -- from Irving Blum to Gavin Brown -- who worked with the greatest artists of their times: Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, and more. This kaleidoscopic history begins in the mid-1940s in genteel poverty with a scattering of galleries in midtown Manhattan, takes us through the ramshackle 1950s studios of Coenties Slip, the hipster locations in SoHo and Chelsea, London's Bond Street, and across the terraces of Art Basel until today. Now, dealers and auctioneers are seeking the first billion-dollar painting. It hasn't happened yet, but they are confident they can push the price there soon.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(185)
★★★★
25%
(77)
★★★
15%
(46)
★★
7%
(22)
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Most Helpful Reviews

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Good book on how art sells...

If you’ve ever wondered how some artists- especially modern artists- have made it in the art world, while other, possibly more deserving artists haven’t, pick up Michael Shnayerson’s new book, “Boom: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art”. He takes the reader through the ins and outs of gallery sponsorship of various artists. And, of course, art doesn’t sell without publicity. Shnayerson’s a good writer and his book is quite interesting.
2 people found this helpful
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Couldn’t put it down

From the very first page, I felt like an insider. Great details I’d never heard or thought to ask. Now I have a little bit of a glimmer as to how the enormous art machine works. From details as small as the Loro Piano loafers to a perfect rendition of the NY 57th art scene after the war- loved early minute. Started it at night after dinner and couldn’t put it down.
1 people found this helpful
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AbEx (Abstract Expressionism)

While the focus in Boom is the business end of art, there is still plenty about the art and artists. Starting with a concise explanation of the differences between modern art and contemporary art, we learn about abstract expressionism as well. Interesting, but perhaps not surprising, are the methods art dealers use to exaggerate the value of art, such as setting artificially high values prior to auction, then swapping works of art rather than actually buying them. That way two dealers can officially have been said to have "paid" vast amounts for works and establish a "worth" that is inflated beyond their actual ability to pay. Meanwhile, there is plenty of gossip about the characters who inhabit the art world. Honestly, you'd think artists like Damien Hirst are performance artists when you consider how much of their fame and popularity has to do with their eccentric behavior rather than the desirability of their actual art. Fun and informative look behind the scenes at the museum and gallery.
1 people found this helpful
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Art and High Drama

Behind all of those canvases, the contemporary art world is backed by a collection of larger than life personalities. Art dealers. These are the movers and shakers of an artistic and financial movement that has been functioning since the 1940s. From the beginning galleries and their unsure futures to the continual modern multi-million dollar sales, this is the story of the wild group that has shaped world of contemporary art.

Author Michael Shnayerson opens in the present with a fascinating look at a the 2017 Art Basel fair, a regular gathering of dealers with a single goal: make sales. Here, he highlights four of the leading dealers, including the ever-profitable Larry Gagosian. There’s a thick air of competition that hangs over the proceedings, but also an undercurrent of fun and appreciation that always seeps into the arts. Having laid out where this movement ends up, Shnayerson pulls back from the glitzy showcase and pushes the narrative to the humble beginnings of contemporary art.

Jackson Pollock. Andy Warhol. Jeff Koons. Giants of the art world. And yet Shnayerson manages to stretch the focus away from these individuals in favor of dealers such as Leo Castelli and Mary Boone. This is easy to do, partly because their personalities are so big; their dealings so compelling. But it’s also because of Shnayerson’s commitment to research. His resources have obviously been meticulously compiled, and his interviews with many of the players throughout this period are unparalleled. Each chapter is backed with copious quotes and anecdotes, adding a deep air of authority while also keeping a thorough topic highly readable.

Even as the book showcases a closeness to the subjects, Shnayerson presents what feels like a full examination, warts and all. Dealers continually snipe both artists and art from others. Artists struggle in a professional selling environment. Even the dealers buy, sell, and trade art in a way that has turned the field into something like Wall Street. And in the end? It’s resulted in a volatile art community that’s bigger than ever.

Though it would be easy to cast this book aside as merely for art lovers and followers, that mentality does it a disservice. Yes, some with a deep understanding of the field will perk up at the myriad of behind the scenes moments presented, but others will drift into a book that crosses beyond niche. It’s both art and high drama; about business and a human need for success. But most of all, it’s a great read.

Note: I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
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Enjoy Multiple Levels of Understanding, While Still Being Accessible

Some of the feedback I saw on this book on Social Media was that this book is higher level and can only be read with prior knowledge of general art history. I disagree. Shnayerson has written an accessible work which takes the reader through a ton of art minutia in a breezy, informative manner. His writer's voice is warm - and he continues to guide the reader to successive levels of understanding.
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a plethora of players

i suspect that this as complete an art catalogue of art dealers, gallery owners and the artists situated primarily in new york city as i’m likely to come across. a work by jackson pollack bought for three thousand dollars shortly before his death was sold by the collector for thirty thousand dollars not long after pollack was in his grave. that was the beginning of the escalation of prices and the proliferation of galleries and art work as commodity.

shnayerson shares a fascinating account of the art world in the united states, focusing on the dealers and collectors, from the 1950s to today. each decade brings a different art movement and new artists with names synonymous with products branded as extraordinarily valuable and attractive to the super wealthy needing investments toward where to direct their money.

it has become almost impossible to keep up with the names of artists working, or not to have aesthetics, one’s personal taste, assaulted. shnayerson does a good job filling in the spaces of who and what is out there for anyone interested.
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Insightful look at today’s art Industry

A very eye opening and somewhat disenchanting look at the industry. Also made me realize that I shouldn’t have dropped out of art school
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Superb account

well written and informative . SED
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Everything you wanted to know and some that you didn't

It would be an understatement to describe this as thorough. At almost 400 pages, it covers the entire world of the art market as it has developed since World War II, leading up to today's dizzying prices. The book is about money rather than about art. It goes into excruciating detail about the various marketeers and the tricks that they use to move money from the pockets of rich people into the pockets of other rich people (often, typically, themselves). Nowadays, the art market isn't really about anything that people would enjoy looking at or hanging on their walls. Rather, as the book points out, much of it is based on the current gimmick, and is simply moved around to and from "free ports" where it sits as an investment vehicle. My only complaint about the book is that my eyes glazed over at the details, much of it gossip about who's sleeping with whom, who's cheating whom out of money, and the like, and it's usually about people that aren't worth caring much about anyway.
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Page turner

Going through the pages of this book made me feel like going down the rabbit hole. It was like I got to peek through this window I was never privileged to see through and now I just can’t stop looking!
Mysterious ways of money and art. Even today one of the best ways to store massive amounts of wealth is art. Real estate can crash, stocks can crash, currency can devaluate but art remains true store of wealth. It’s great story about ambition, manipulation, privileged, money and art. I found this book absolutely fantastic and difficult putting down.

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