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I Sold Andy Warhol (Too Soon) (2009)

by Richard Polsky(Favorite Author)

3.41 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1590513371 (ISBN13: 9781590513378)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Random House

review 1: What I thought would be the climax (selling a specific Andy Warhol piece) formed the beginning - through a series of bad decisions (and marriages), author Richard Polsky discusses a series of events over 3 years about the rise and fall of the art world. I can imagine that those who know little about how the art world functions economically might be very confused and easily bored by this book. The writing style is better-than-average, but there is no true plot, rather Polsky opts to tell a series of chronological anecdotes about his wheelings and dealings during the most prolific art market in history. This book reads more as an autobiography and self-aware mediation rather than a historical account or simple market evaluation. Some of the little tales I skipped over simply... more because they were too long-winded; rarely did Polsky tie two seemingly random stories together and instead, as one doesn't realize until very late in the book, he's telling many story lines that lead to an ethereal realization: art has become a commodity. As someone who deals with the academic side of art and not so much with the commerce, this book made me realize that I had only a peripheral understanding how the art "market" truly operated. This book bridged that deep gap and really brought to light that erudition.
review 2: chatty, fairly funny book by a contemporary art dealer about changes in the business that have, on the whole, made it less enjoyable for him. Dramatic rise in prices of the most desired works made it impossible for him to continue either to:(a) collect the art himself, gradually improving what he owned by identifying good stuff before the artist was hot, reselling at a big profit, etc. [title refers to an Andy Warhol self-portrait he sold for 375,000 that was later worth something like 2 million dollars before crashing back down along with the rest of the market in 2008 recession:]or (b) deal solely with private collectors who valued the art in itself.Instead his job becomes (c) advising extremely rich investors regarding what they can buy or should sell at the major art auctions in order to become even richer, attempting to read the trends in the market. So in effect he felt more like a specialized mutual fund manager and less like an art critic/patron. He sounds as if he's very good at it but doesn't get as much satisfaction from it as before.Along the way, many many anecdotes about the personalities and politics of modern art form the loosely organized narrative. I guess he's a name dropper, though the effect was lost on this philistine, as aside from Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns I'd never heard of the dozens of ostensibly famous people he discusses. I liked learning about a subculture I know little about. One minor quibble -- there are no pictures. I realize I could google the artists or works, but when I'm reading your book while walking home from the train station that isn't a convenient option. So for instance on p. 195 in explaining "plein air" painting he says "think Van Gogh's final work, 'Wheatfield with crows'". This doesn't mean anything to me -- how about about putting a photo of it on the next page? less

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