Examines the question of pricing contemporary art from a sociological perspective. On the basis of a range of qualitative and quantitative data, including interviews with art dealers, this book shows how art galleries juggle the contradictory logics of art and economics. In doing so, they rely on a highly ritualized business repertoire.

List of Tables and Graphs ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Architecture of the Art Market 21 Chapter 2: Exchanging Meaning 53 Chapter 3: Promoters versus Parasites 77 Chapter 4: Determinants of Prices 97 Chapter 5: The Art of Pricing 116 Chapter 6: Stories of Prices 132 Chapter 7: Symbolic Meanings of Prices 158 Chapter 8: Conclusion 179 Appendix A: Interview Questionnaire 191 Appendix B: Description of Interview Sample 194 Appendix C: Record Prices for Art 197 Appendix D: Multilevel Analysis of Prices for Art 199 Notes 209 Bibliography 237 Index 255

"Olav Velthuis has built a graceful, sturdy bridge across a torrent: the turbulent flow of art markets. On one side we have the supposition that art and money follow incompatible principles; on the other, the claim that markets reduce all commodities to creatures of supply and demand. By looking closely at the actual culture and social connections of art markets in New York and Amsterdam, he arrives at insight after insight into a meaning-drenched form of commerce, and by extension into the place of meanings in markets of every kind. This bridge stands firm."—Viviana A. Zelizer, author of The Purchase of Intimacy and The Social Meaning of Money

"A superb book! Talking Prices is the best thing I have yet to read on the way art markets-in any period-work. Written in the most fluid style, it is a pleasure to read and contains a great many juicy details that shed light on the inner workings of dealers and sellers and artists. Furthermore, it will carve out a space in the economic sociology of art that is occupied, at present, by nobody. Without question, it will leap across disciplinary boundaries, especially that huge and often ugly one between 'sociologists' and 'economists.' What tops it all off is that Velthuis is also an expert in art history and understands the aesthetic values and norms of composing art that matter not only to the artists who are selling to galleries, but also to the way in which artworks are sold and to the culture that shapes the way art markets operate. This is a major accomplishment."—Jack Amariglio, Merrimack College, coauthor of Postmodern Moments in Modern Economics

"A brilliant piece of work. Velthuis has taken the hardest case, and gotten out of it the best laws: about pricing, which the economist wants to read as prudence and the anthropologist wants to leave to the economist; and about high art, which the anthropologist wants to read as power and the economist wants to leave to the anthropologist. It's a brave book, and accomplishes what it ventures."—Deirdre McCloskey, University of Illinois, Chicago, author of Knowledge and Persuasion in Economics

Olav Velthuis has built a graceful, sturdy bridge across a torrent: the turbulent flow of art markets. On one side we have the supposition that art and money follow incompatible principles; on the other, the claim that markets reduce all commodities to creatures of supply and demand. By looking closely at the actual culture and social connections of art markets in New York and Amsterdam, he arrives at insight after insight into a meaning-drenched form of commerce, and by extension into the place of meanings in markets of every kind. This bridge stands firm. -- Viviana A. Zelizer, author of "The Purchase of Intimacy" and "The Social Meaning of Money" A superb book! Talking Prices is the best thing I have yet to read on the way art markets-in any period-work. Written in the most fluid style, it is a pleasure to read and contains a great many juicy details that shed light on the inner workings of dealers and sellers and artists. Furthermore, it will carve out a space in the economic sociology of art that is occupied, at present, by nobody. Without question, it will leap across disciplinary boundaries, especially that huge and often ugly one between 'sociologists' and 'economists.' What tops it all off is that Velthuis is also an expert in art history and understands the aesthetic values and norms of composing art that matter not only to the artists who are selling to galleries, but also to the way in which artworks are sold and to the culture that shapes the way art markets operate. This is a major accomplishment. -- Jack Amariglio, Merrimack College, coauthor of "Postmodern Moments in Modern Economics" A brilliant piece of work. Velthuis has taken the hardest case, and gotten out of it the best laws: about pricing, which the economist wants to read as prudence and the anthropologist wants to leave to the economist; and about high art, which the anthropologist wants to read as power and the economist wants to leave to the anthropologist. It's a brave book, and accomplishes what it ventures. -- Deirdre McCloskey, University of Illinois, Chicago, author of "Knowledge and Persuasion in Economics"