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Affairs of the art: love, loss and power in the art world
The reputations of artists are curious things, influenced by factors beyond the quality of the work. Affairs of the Art explores the role those left behind play in burnishing an artist’s reputation after he or she dies.
Through interviews with those handling the estates of artists including Fred Williams, Brett Whiteley, John Brack, Howard Arkley, Bronwyn Oliver, George Baldessin and Albert Tucker, as well as a raft of art dealers, academics, curators and auctioneers, Strickland traverses the strange alleyways of the art market, where power resides with those who hold the best stock, and highlights the sometimes heart-wrenching way emotion and duty intersect in the making of decisions by those left behind.
Through interviews with those handling the estates of artists including Fred Williams, Brett Whiteley, John Brack, Howard Arkley, Bronwyn Oliver, George Baldessin and Albert Tucker, as well as a raft of art dealers, academics, curators and auctioneers, Strickland traverses the strange alleyways of the art market, where power resides with those who hold the best stock, and highlights the sometimes heart-wrenching way emotion and duty intersect in the making of decisions by those left behind.
- GenresArt
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 27, 2014
Katrina elicits interviews from some of the private widows which makes this book an important contribution to understanding how Australia's art market works.
Highly regarded as a journalist, doing the arts rounds for years before editing the AFR magazine, Katrina quietly and gently shows the choices widows make once their famous partners die. Whether it is to maximise the returns from the artists work to make up for the years of no income as they developed their careers with family support, or the need to keep their loved one's career alive, it made me contemplate what I might do were I in that position.
Having known some of the artists and their partners, I think Katrina has been extremely respectful and mannered whilst sharing her insights with intelligence.
Highly regarded as a journalist, doing the arts rounds for years before editing the AFR magazine, Katrina quietly and gently shows the choices widows make once their famous partners die. Whether it is to maximise the returns from the artists work to make up for the years of no income as they developed their careers with family support, or the need to keep their loved one's career alive, it made me contemplate what I might do were I in that position.
Having known some of the artists and their partners, I think Katrina has been extremely respectful and mannered whilst sharing her insights with intelligence.
July 6, 2013
Fascinating- though I wish it had had pictures. Though after reading the sections on copyright, I understand why not.
August 19, 2013
The art's the thing, but the humans who attach themselves to it are crucial.
Never having dabbled in what goes on behind the scenes of today's art world, this is an illuminating book of all the drama, personal and professional, that can be found there, in the very specific case of handling artistic estates after the death of the artist.
The premise of the book is simply: show the reality of many of the widows of some of Australia's most notorious artists and how their actions, or lack thereof, can influence everything from how the artist might go down in history, how the remaining works will sell at auction or even if they're ever end up getting printed into tea towels! Strickland makes the deliberate choice to present these stories in a journalistic tone, almost like case studies, to help the reader achieve an unbiased grasp of this ongoing story.
Does she manage it? Or, better yet, is that even possible? I don't think so. There are many cases in the text where the author's opinion shines through, sometimes even harming what's being told, but, like this book so plainly states, when someone is passionate about art and is so deeply involved with it, it's impossible to remain unbiased.
Regarding the journalistic tone chosen, was that the best choice? I don't necessarily think so because I often felt like the portrayal of these women (and I was shocked that out of all the artists mentioned, only one was a female herself, leaving behind a male spouse) depersonalize them and the relationship they shared with their late husbands too much. Like being an "Artist's Widow" was this job they took on, instead of this horrible moment in their lives when they lost someone very dear to them and, as a result, ended up having to deal with remaining estate and affairs. But then again... I also felt like this was a position taken by the artistic world in general, where the widows are often vilified for trying to do whatever it is they consider best to both honour the memories left behind, the artistic values and their own personal lives, which appear to be often forgotten.
This advice given to Sasha Grishin and his thoughts on it, quoted in the book, sums this up pretty well:
"Avoid writing about an artist until the widow is dead." There are two assumptions in that: one, that the artists worth writing about are men; and two, that the artist's widow will be the fly in the ointment that can wreck a book.
Sad reality, isn't it?
Finally, one of the main reasons I probably didn't enjoy the book as much as I hoped I would was that, like the author states in the prologue, it truly is based on the Australian art world, to a fault. As someone with very little knowledge of some of major players in that sphere, I basically had to keep google open during my whole read, to know about who the hell we were talking about. I wish many of these Australian cases could have served more as an example for a bigger lesson, that could have been easily explained in a more inclusive manner for the reader but, like the Australian art world itself, Strickland kept to her guns and hardly ever pulled the reader into the world she was portraying.
For any one else with a greater insight on what goes on in the Australian museums and auction houses, though? I definitely recommend giving this book a read!
Read this book as part of the NetGalley review program. Thanks guys!
Never having dabbled in what goes on behind the scenes of today's art world, this is an illuminating book of all the drama, personal and professional, that can be found there, in the very specific case of handling artistic estates after the death of the artist.
The premise of the book is simply: show the reality of many of the widows of some of Australia's most notorious artists and how their actions, or lack thereof, can influence everything from how the artist might go down in history, how the remaining works will sell at auction or even if they're ever end up getting printed into tea towels! Strickland makes the deliberate choice to present these stories in a journalistic tone, almost like case studies, to help the reader achieve an unbiased grasp of this ongoing story.
Does she manage it? Or, better yet, is that even possible? I don't think so. There are many cases in the text where the author's opinion shines through, sometimes even harming what's being told, but, like this book so plainly states, when someone is passionate about art and is so deeply involved with it, it's impossible to remain unbiased.
Regarding the journalistic tone chosen, was that the best choice? I don't necessarily think so because I often felt like the portrayal of these women (and I was shocked that out of all the artists mentioned, only one was a female herself, leaving behind a male spouse) depersonalize them and the relationship they shared with their late husbands too much. Like being an "Artist's Widow" was this job they took on, instead of this horrible moment in their lives when they lost someone very dear to them and, as a result, ended up having to deal with remaining estate and affairs. But then again... I also felt like this was a position taken by the artistic world in general, where the widows are often vilified for trying to do whatever it is they consider best to both honour the memories left behind, the artistic values and their own personal lives, which appear to be often forgotten.
This advice given to Sasha Grishin and his thoughts on it, quoted in the book, sums this up pretty well:
"Avoid writing about an artist until the widow is dead." There are two assumptions in that: one, that the artists worth writing about are men; and two, that the artist's widow will be the fly in the ointment that can wreck a book.
Sad reality, isn't it?
Finally, one of the main reasons I probably didn't enjoy the book as much as I hoped I would was that, like the author states in the prologue, it truly is based on the Australian art world, to a fault. As someone with very little knowledge of some of major players in that sphere, I basically had to keep google open during my whole read, to know about who the hell we were talking about. I wish many of these Australian cases could have served more as an example for a bigger lesson, that could have been easily explained in a more inclusive manner for the reader but, like the Australian art world itself, Strickland kept to her guns and hardly ever pulled the reader into the world she was portraying.
For any one else with a greater insight on what goes on in the Australian museums and auction houses, though? I definitely recommend giving this book a read!
Read this book as part of the NetGalley review program. Thanks guys!
June 23, 2013
One of our Book Group choices - sounds interesting.
Just finished this book and thoroughly enjoyed the insights into the Australian Art market; strategies to guard artists' reputations; maintaining and improving and the values of their artworks; how to guard against fakes and many other interesting issues.
Just finished this book and thoroughly enjoyed the insights into the Australian Art market; strategies to guard artists' reputations; maintaining and improving and the values of their artworks; how to guard against fakes and many other interesting issues.
November 2, 2013
A fascinating insight into the art world. It shows just how screwed up the buying and selling of art can be! If you have any interest in art and art history this will be an interesting worthwhile read.
April 5, 2016
Nicely researched book on how the widows of visual artists tackle their estates and impact the ongoing value of the art.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews