Customer Reviews

The Intrepid Art Collector: The Beginner's Guide to Finding, Buying, and Appreciating Art on a Budget

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a great starter reference for the novice. The guidance is sound, and Lisa Hunter's enthusiasm is contagious. A few color photographs would have been nice, but wisely this book focuses on cultivating the reader's own intelligence and knowledge rather than dictating taste. If you have ever been interested in starting an art collection of your own, or buying that Kashmiri silk rug, a little research is a good thing. This is a grand place to start.

This is a great book for someone starting out and not really sure where or how to approach art collecting. Though I can see why some would think it's too simplistic, for someone either new to the collecting world or someone who is interested in collecting a different type of art, this book has really helpful background information. It makes you look at the art you are about to purchase with a different set of eyes, and the checklists are really helpful to evaluate any purchase. This book has probably saved me hundreds of dollars in "art" that was not worth collecting.

There are lots of books with pictures of art, not so many on what it takes to build a good collection, for the ordinary person. You don't have to be J Paul Getty to buy art that is pleasing and makes a good investment. Lisa Hunter's book is by far the best book I have ever read on this subject.

I love art but I've always felt nervous buying art. How do you know if you're getting the real thing? How do you know if you're overpaying? What's that rug really worth? Why is a photograph worth so much? What's the difference between a valuable vintage photograph and a copy of it that looks exactly the same? No one can tell you what a piece of art will be worth in ten years, but Ms. Hunter explains how to go about buying the real thing (and avoid buying fakes) -- and why you should buy the real thing. I feel much more confident about buying a few pretty things for the house now.

I have to disagree with the extremely positive reviews here. I expected rather more than explanations of the very basic and the obvious, in a style that I found uncomfortably patronizing. I had hoped that the focus would be on more insightful advice and `insider' techniques to evaluate art, but I was left highly disappointed. In short, I found this book of very little use.

The author conveys her enthusiasm for the subject throughout, but seemingly focuses on transferring her enthusiasm to the reader, who it seems would be either young or poorly educated. The text really fails to provide much in the way of technical advice or enlightenment, never stretching far beyond the very basic, predictable and common sense statements or cautions ... and I simply grew tired of the number of times that "consult a reputable dealer" was given as the `one size fits all' answer.

Having read this book, I suspect the (seemingly unsophisticated) target reader would be more, rather than less likely to make poorly informed art investment decisions, based on a newly acquired eagerness to own and impress others with something considered artistic - and blind faith in a supposedly reputable dealer.

Item claimed to be sent out on 10/11/09...have not received it, current date at writing 11/12/09...suspect that it has been bundled with a stephen king's pre-order release hence the delay...not much help offered from amazon yet except asking me to wait...