This book tells the story of the people who shaped the modern art market and its institutions to maximize the financial potential of their product. This transformation resulted in a fundamental and lasting redefinition of art. It is based on contemporaneous sources — diaries, letters, newspapers, journals — and on extensive analyses of proprietary data related to the evolution of the modern art market in London between 1700 and 1900. It describes how local artists’ groups and other stakeholders led by historic individuals deliberately constructed a new ‘aura’ for art as well as a new market infrastructure that liberated their creativity from the doctrinaire restrictions of the past. This monumental enterprise resulted in a radical and lasting change in the course of our cultural legacy and, ultimately, paved the way for the development of modern art. Along the way, it also established artworks as coveted and unregulated financial assets with values in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Thomas Bayer is Lecturer in Art History at Tulane University, USA.

“Artists, dealers, critics, historians, auction houses and museums all face the same questions: What is art? What makes a person an artist? How best to connect art to those who will pay for it? How do I get my share of the pie? This book, based on the author’s lifetime of practical and academic experience, is here to explain it all for you.” (John Page, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA)

“For an artist in the midst of their career, navigating the gap between creation and professional advancement, this book is a valuable guide. It helps one understand how galleries, fairs, museums, and collectors operate, and offers a strategic perspective for making more informed decisions about artistic development and professional sustainability. Understanding how the market works doesn't mean betraying creative intuition, but rather utilizing it with greater strength and direction.” (Jacobo Roa, visual artist, Playa del Carmen, Mexico)

“For those who scratch their heads at the eye-watering sums that artworks now regularly fetch at auction, or wonder why a banana taped to a wall might be considered art, this book is essential reading – and for those of us already steeped in the contemporary art market, there is still plenty to discover. Thomas M. Bayer’s extensive research into Victorian England’s art market and its players is improbably entertaining, while the threads he weaves between that era’s “Sensation Pictures,” their connection to Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, and today’s record-breaking art prices are illuminating.” (Suzanne Modica, Modica Carr Art Advisory, New York, USA)