The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art [Hardcover]

Don Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 16, 2008

Why would a smart New York investment banker pay $12 million for the decaying, stuffed carcass of a shark? By what alchemy does Jackson Pollock’s drip painting No. 5, 1948 sell for $140 million?

            Intriguing and entertaining, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark is a Freakonomics approach to the economics and psychology of the contemporary art world. Why were record prices achieved at auction for works by 131 contemporary artists in 2006 alone, with astonishing new heights reached in 2007? Don Thompson explores the money, lust, and self-aggrandizement of the art world in an attempt to determine what makes a particular work valuable while others are ignored.

            This book is the first to look at the economics and the marketing strategies that enable the modern art market to generate such astronomical prices. Drawing on  interviews with both past and present executives of auction houses and art dealerships, artists, and the buyers who move the market, Thompson launches the reader on a journey of discovery through the peculiar world of modern art. Surprising, passionate, gossipy, revelatory, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark reveals a great deal that even experienced  auction purchasers do not know.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Don Thompson has written, by far, the best book on the economics of the contemporary art market yet written."--Felix Salmon, Portfolio.com

 

"Don Thompson provides the single best guide to both the anthropology and the economics of contemporary art markets. This book is fun and fascinating on just about every page.” --Tyler Cowen, New York Sun

"If you read no other book about art in your life, read the one that’s gripped me like a thriller for the past two days…it’s called the $12 Million Stuffed Shark.” --Richard Morrison, The Times (London)

"…it’s lucid, well researched and, while carefully balanced, manages to retain a sharp edge ." --Telegraph UK

"A new book by an economist named Don Thompson entitled $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art ought to be required reading for collectors intending to wade into well publicized contemporary art auctions…" --The Economist.com

"[An] informative an occasionally hilarious look at the surreal contemporary art market...  A clear-headed approach to a frequently high-pitched issue." --Kirkus

 

About the Author

Don Thompson teaches marketing and economics in the MBA program at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. He has  taught at the London School of Economics and at Harvard Business School. He lives in London and Toronto.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; First Edition edition (September 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230610226
• ISBN-13: 978-0230610224
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Arts & Photography > Business of Art
  • #85 in Books > Arts & Photography > Architectural Art & Design > Individual Architects & Firms

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A shark that is not alone swimming in those waters... October 25, 2008

By Reich Claude

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Written by an economist who had access to the most important actors (collectors, dealers, auctioneers, curators, art fair organizers...) while doing his research, this book is an in-depth study of the way the contemporary art market functions, the part played by auction houses, dealers, big collectors, museums, the sometimes incestuous relationship that exists between all of them, how art is priced, how auctions are organized (on and off the scene), how gallery shows are sold (or pre-sold), the importance of art branding in creating an artist's reputation (the brand being the auction house, the gallery, the artist himself, a museum, or even a collector if he is important enough)and, most importantly, how these art brands are created. One insightful conclusion is that the art market, and contemporary art in particular, is as much brand-driven as any other high-end luxury market. Through case studies (the dealers Larry Gagosian or Jay Joplin, the artists Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Jeff Koons or Andy Warhol, the auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's, the collectors Charles Saatchi or Ronald Lauder...) and broader considerations on the overall economics of art, the author manages to write a book which is at the same time well informed (with some slight spelling mistakes though, e.g. the Portuguese collector Jose Berardo becoming "Joe Bernardo", or the dealer Faggionato sometimes mistakenly spelt "Faccionato"), to the point and easy to read. Among the more than twenty books available on this topic on Amazon's, this one is the best in my opinion (and I've read quite a few...).

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read September 30, 2008

By D. Moulton

Format:Hardcover

I'm more of a business and economics book reader than professed art reader and this book scratched that itch while adding something new and refreshing to my usual selections that kept me reading "just a few more pages".

Thompson does a great job of getting behind how these Goliaths of art like Hirst and Bacon were created and issues of valuation and branding that are easy to ignore in the "magic" of art. I found myself reading it on the subway and after work whenever I had a second and I finished it in a couple days, which is pretty fast for me.

Thompson never loses sight of the assumed intangibility of art--the inherent subjectivity--but encases it in economics in the same way vein as Freakonomics, and I've definitely finished this book with a few cocktail quotes and points that I've brought up in conversations.

This is a great read that I can recommend to business, economics, and art readers. Thompson walks the fine line of these areas to write a book that will engage them all.

74 of 87 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A very limited view November 1, 2008

By Kcolorado

Format:Hardcover

I can't rate this book as highly as the other reviewers.
There are parts of the book that are very good and flesh out the startling numbers we hear from auctions and sales of contemporary art. The author is an economist and he sets out to understand both the both the economics and marketing of art today. He looks at art as a commodity which it is to the people he quotes and interviews. His statement,"The art trade is the least transparent and least regulated major commercial activity in the world." is dead on correct. By including some quotes from critic Jerry Saltz and occasionally Dave Hickey and Robert Hughes, he does touch on the aesthetics in a very glancing way. But he completely misses the boat when he makes blanket pronouncements; "Artists who do not find mainstream gallery representation within a year or two of graduation are unlikely ever to achieve high prices, or see their work appear at fairs or auctions or in art magazines." Huh, every heard of Mary Heilmann, Christo or thousands of others?
Luckily for us, most of the artists we revere today didn't follow that path. He makes other statements and tossed around statistics that are not footnoted and therefore hard to verify. I can't argue with the reality behind some of them; that most artists will leave the art world before they are 30 and few with find representation with mainstream, much less `branded" galleries. However, Thompson allows himself to be swept away by the hype of the "branded" galleries and the auction houses and thereby appear pretty ridiculous at times.
In fairness, I do think his book might be useful reading for art students, so at least they have some understanding of the market and how difficult it is to hit the top.... But if one is trying to get an understanding of all that is going on today in art, its diversity, energy and excitement, you only have to go beyond the `branded galleries" auction houses and take a look at the contemporary galleries and museums in your own city. Art is a commodity but luckily for all of us, it is much more than that. Read more ›

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It's all about the "brand" December 8, 2008

By S. McGee TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

When someone about to sell an art collection gets the two rival auction houses to play "rock, scissors, paper" and awards the $20 million sale to the winner; when the estimated value of a work by a contemporary artist is calculated to be the equivalent of what a collector would have needed to pay to purchase four Impressionist works (two Monets, a Pissaro and a Cezanne), then how, on earth, is anyone supposed to make sense of the art market?

Don Thompson has a one word answer: Branding. In his well-reasoned, straightforward analysis of the way the art market functions, he discusses the way in which a select coterie of collectors, dealers, auction houses, museums and others can transform an object into something that is frenetically sought after by scores of affluent purchasers. "Never underestimate how insecure buyers are about contemporary art," a former Sotheby's specialist who now works for Bonham's tells Thompson at the outset. The high prices for objects such as the stuffed (and pickled) shark in the title of the book have as much to do with the activities of these 'branded' players promoting certain artists, Thompson himself argues.

Don't look for any insight into the art historical importance of these works -- Thompson, although he doesn't state this view explicitly, does appear to side with those art world experts who say that in many cases it's premature to decide which artists will prove to be our century's equivalents to Vermeer, Rembrandt, Turner or Picasso.... The only thing of which we can all be sure is that the hunt is on, and due to the tremendous explosion in the amount of global wealth and the nature of art as something that can transform someone from being just another rich person into a man or woman of taste and style, the art market (until the last few months) has been on a tear.

Thompson is delving into a reality that nearly all art market observers prefer to either ignore or dress up in fancy concepts: art has become as big a business as any other, and the laws of supply and demand and the role of marketing play just as big a role here as in any other business despite all the indignant insistence that art is "different". Certainly, art plays a role in our lives that cars, DVD players and above-ground swimming pools never will. But nor is it as pure and elevated as many of its participants would like to portray it as being. Indeed, Thompson notes, that attitude actually hurts collectors trying to make sensible and informed decisions both about what they like and what works have value. The more distracted they are by the branding, the less bandwidth they have available to ponder those issues.

Thompson has crafted a compelling narrative that relies more on economics, business practices and human psychology than it does on art history to explain the frenzied contemporary art scene, where values of "wet paint" works (i.e. just completed) by art students can almost double overnight if endorsed by a 'branded' collector. Perhaps most disturbing to me are the insights into the cynical mindset of some artists who now focus as much or more on business success as the creation of the objects themselves. (Obviously, artists have always needed to sell their works in order to create more, but few, I suspect, have ever achieved the kind of affluence that greater numbers are now reaching so early in their career -- at a point when it's still hard to argue that they are part of a new 'canon'.)

If you're looking for insight into the artistic process, this is not the book for you. On the other hand, if you want a straightforward tale of the business side of this market, it's an admirably unbiased and coherent narrative, pulling no punches and yet never tipping over into populist outrage of the "my child could have painted that!" variety. Thompson is no fanatic, but he is, like any good academic, a skeptic -- and skeptics are all too rare in the art market. (After all, skepticism doesn't sell.) Thompson doesn't get confrontational or deliberately provocative, but confines himself to being thoughtful and reflective.

Perhaps the ideal reader is someone who is fascinated by art, and would love to become a collector, at whatever level. There are some explicit tips (never talk to the supercilious gallery girls, always chat up the security guard to get the real insight into the story behind what is hanging on the gallery walls) as well as straightforward explanations of how dealers select which artists they will represent, what the novice can expect at an auction, etc. And the wannabe collector will emerge with a good sense of all the many ways the "artistic industrial complex" will attempt to shape his or her views, such as (paid for) scholarly essays in museum and auction house catalogs.

A valuable addition to the still-limited ranks of the books taking an unbiased look at the clo.sed circle of the art market. Recommended in conjunction with Seven Days in the Art World, which combines this kind of perspective with the creative dimension. Read more ›