Supercollector: A Critique of Charles Saatchi [Paperback]

Rita Hatton (Author), John A. Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2000

A detailed examination of the advertising mogul and art collector Charles Saatchi, a man who is estimated to spend 2 million a year buying contemporary art, displaying it in his own gallery in north London and, famously, at the 'Sensation' exhibition which opened at the Royal Academy before touring to Berlin and the Brooklyn Museum, an event that provoked an extraordinary clash between art and politics. Regarded by many as a modern Medici, Saatchi exercises tremendous power in the international contemporary art market. He can make and break artists' reputations, and he has had the power to define the character and direction of recent British art. Surprisingly, this is the first book to look at Charles Saatchi as art collector. While it quotes a range of opinions, the book is primarily a critique written from a socialist standpoint, applying ideas derived from a number of sociologists including Marx, Moulin and Veblen.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A fresh look at the shadowy world of private patronage as it operates today. -- Socialist Appeal, Steve Jones, May 2000

Beautifully designed and handily pocket-sized, so you can whip it out to impress attractive strangers at a gallery. -- The Guardian, 29 January 2000

Small and malignant...slots into the pocket as snugly as a gunslinger's Bible, or, appropriately, a packet of cigarettes. -- The Times Literary Supplement, Keith Miller, 9 June 2000

About the Author

Rita Hatton is an art historian, a recent graduate from Middlesex University where she wrote a dissertation on the relationship between art and advertising. John A Walker is Reader in Art and Design History at Middlesex University and the author of a dozen books on contemporary art and mass media.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Ellipsis London Pr Ltd (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841660248
• ISBN-13: 978-1841660240
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,074,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars from advertising to art, June 12, 2008

By 

J. A. Walker (surrey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Supercollector 3rd Edition (Paperback)

Third Edition. This book is the only in-depth study of Charles Saatchi as an art collector. It tells the story of the Saatchi advertising agencies, the famous Silk-Cut campaign and political posters for the Tory Party, and their effort to achieve global domination by means of take-overs and acquisitions. It argues that advertising values permeate the kind of art Charles supports. However, it also discusses works by artists such as Hans Haacke and Jamie Wagg that are critical of Saatchi. Also considered is the influence Saatchi has exercised on public galleries and institutions.
It explains how Saatchi devised a whole value-adding apparatus - collection, gallery, exhibitions, tame critics, books - in order to boost the monetary worth of the art objects he purchased cheaply from young artists desperate for fame. The Saatchi Collection is not permanent - repeated sales and purchases means that it mutates all the time. Exhibitions of the YBAs such as `Sensation' in London and New York ensured maximum publicity and the invention of spurious `art movements', such as the New Neurotic Realism, indicated a desire to determine the course of the history of art.
The text is informed by the political and sociological writings of Marx, Veblen and Raymonde Moulin. While it cites a wide range of opinions about Saatchi, it is primarily a hostile critique written from an anti-capitalist perspective. Those who dominate the economy, politics and ideology - and culture too - use their power for their own benefit. Their patronage of art is an alibi for continuing the system of exploitation and inequality, and deflecting criticism. This book illuminates the process of control. If knowledge really is power, then it will have a use-value.
The second edition contained a new chapter of 17,000 words that discussed his gifts, sales and purchases, exhibitions since 1999, the `power couple' Charles and Nigella Lawson, and the new Saatchi Gallery at County Hall. The third edition contains a new chapter of 11,000 words that considers exhibitions he mounted during 2004, the Momart fire, the complaint by the Stuckists, his first interview `on the record', and Saatchi's new agenda of promoting painting in 2005.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Supercollector: A Critique of Charles Saatchi", June 21, 2007

By 

Julie Harvey (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Supercollector: A Critique of Charles Saatchi (Paperback)

"Supercollector: A critique of Charles Saatchi" shows a side of art world that few are aware of. This book by Rita Hatton and John A. Walker is well researched, clearly written and has enlightened many to the dealings behind the art scene. "Supercollector" explains and exposes Charles Saatchi's art collecting practices without becoming too biased and allows the reader to establish their own opinions about this art patron.

Reviewed by Julie Harvey

4 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great critique, December 9, 2002

By 

Mr F Boggart (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Supercollector: A Critique of Charles Saatchi (Paperback)

This is a great critique of Charles saatchi. It is the best one I have seen I highly recomend it to all people intrested in it.