Customer Reviews

From Manet to Manhattan: The Rise of the Modern Art Market

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There are two kinds of good books. The first are those that are so good that everyone recommends them to their friends and they become popular. The second are those that are so good that people may actually want to keep it a secret. This may be the second kind. I cannot understand why I am the first to write a review. This book offers itself as a history not about art but about the art market. At times one gets lost in the flurry of names, dates, and prices, but it is all here. And as a hidden bonus it says nearly everything that is worth saying about both the economics and the psychology of collecting. This is a brilliant book that should by now have shaped the course of writing art history. Of course, it hasn't.

My only criticism for the current reader is that it was written in 1992 soon after the art market exploded (not the author's fault) and desperately needs an update. This is like saying Vasari needs an update. Sadly I do know of anyone currently active with the experience to write such a book.

Peter Watson himself is an extraordinary combination of talents. He is also the author of two other excellent books on intellectual history. I think this would put him in a unique position to write a defining work on the aesthetics of Modern Art particularly since so much of contemporary art is involved with ideas. Watson has written, "I believe that a whole book needs to be written about the aesthetics in the wake of Pop Art: its significance has not yet been fully digested or understood." (pg. 470) I would only beg that it might also include his views on minimalism and conceptual art and whatever the hell is going on now. Other than perhaps Robert Hughes, Watson may be the only person capable of completing such a project. Of course, I fear there may be many out there who would prevent him from doing so. He's that good.