Talking prices: symbolic meanings of prices on the market for contemporary art

Abstract

A study of how dealers price contemporary art, this text shows how dealers convey social and cultural meanings to their colleagues, artists, and collectors through their rhetoric about prices, and how the construction of value in the art world is as much about the people who produce and desire art as about the art itself.

Contents

Chapter 1 The Architecture of the Art Market -- Chapter 2 Exchanging Meaning -- Chapter 3 Promoters versus Parasites -- Chapter 4 Determinants of Prices -- Chapter 5 The Art of Pricing -- Chapter 6 Stories of Prices -- Chapter 7 Symbolic Meanings of Prices -- Chapter 8 Conclusion -- Appendix A Interview Questionnaire -- Appendix B Description of Interview Sample -- Appendix C Record Prices for Art -- Appendix D Multilevel Analysis of Prices for Art --