Are the art galleries in the Jordaan free?

Art dealers and galleries, art history and art business

• At what point in history and for what reasons did the art dealers (and galleries) start to 'take over' and have the majority of the power in the art world. Instead of letting society (or probable back then, only high society, royalty, etc.) decide what art and artists of the time are the best, most desirable, most respected etc. Compared to how it is now where the art dealers and galleries decide what art and artists of the time are the best, most desirable, most respected etc. please give a reasonably detailed answer and focus more on the business of it. Also please recommend some reading (less then 20 pages ? can be a chapter of a book) that covers the overview of the history of the art dealer and how its role has changed from the first art dealer until to now. I want something that is concise, and more about the business of it then the art itself.

• Answer:

  <Art dealers and galleries, art history and art business. This paper describes how the system of deciding the status of artists has changed. In medieval times the guild was the central institution. During the Renaissance the Academy took over most of the functions of the guilds. Although there were some dealers active at this time, they played a minor role. During the time of the impressionists, the art galleries and critics took over and became the ?experts? on art. The turning point came in the 1880?s when a number of impressionists began having one man shows. The following sequence of events were responsible for this. To be accepted as an artist, it was necessary to exhibit work in the official Salon of the French Academy. The paintings were selected by a jury of peers. Failure to have paintings selected meant no career for an artist. From 1737 onward paintings were grouped and hung according to the artists? academic rank. In 1863, the jury of the Salon rejected several thousand paintings. Opposition against the Salon led to the organisation of the Salon des Refusés. This was a separate exhibition that showed the work of those rejected by the Salon jury. In 1867, the Salon refused two thirds of the submissions. In the same year the World Fair was held in Paris. Manet and Courbet decided to exhibit in specially built pavilions at the World Fair instead of the Salon. These exhibitions were not financially successful. However they resulted in other artists contemplating exhibiting outside of the Salon system. In 1873, a group of impressionists held a group exhibition. Degas, Monet, Sisley and Pissarro had received considerable amount of money from the dealer Duran-Ruel, partly in the form of fixed incomes against future sales. Due to the economic depression of 1873, Duran-Ruel had to suspend payments to the artists. He was able to resume buying works in 1878. From the early 1880?s both dealers and artists were doing financially well. Prominent dealers of the time were Durand-Ruel, Petit, Theo Van Gogh and Kahnweiler. Section 3.3 shows how the role of the dealer changed over time from ideological dealers who were not motivated by money but to spread the word about particular style of art or particular artists. The dealer found that having an ideology made selling a more virtuous and more profitable activity. The exhibitions soon became more museum like and there was interaction between the dealers and museum curators. The museum curators allowed their premises to be used to show works for sale. Foreign sales via commercial galleries became a more important source of income than Salon prizes and official patronage. Buyers from the United States became an important factor as they were willing to pay relatively high prices and they often brought the speculative life of paintings to an end by bequeathing them to museums rather than selling them on. (Source: Groups, Experts and Innovation : the Selection System of Modern Visual Art. Nachowm M. Wijnberg and Gerda Gemser.) http://www.ub.rug.nl/eldoc/som/b/99B39/99b39.pdf This article describes the events that led to the Salon de Refuses. (Source: Everything2.) http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=815947 This article describes the role of the dealer in the 1600?s. (Source: Cavant-garde.com) http://www.cavant-garde.com/articles/busines1.shtml This article describes the business of Adolphe Goupil during the 1800?s which was mainly concerned with selling reproduction prints. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1026/is_4_165/ai_n6077617/pg_1 In the 1860?s, dealers such as Martinet, Adolphe Goupil and Paul Durand-Ruel began organising solo and group exhibitions. http://www.harrisantiques.com/french_art_life_1815-1869.php Paul Durand-Ruel was one of the first dealers to provide a regular income to artists in return for a lien on what the artist produced. http://www.mystudios.com/manet/people/durand-ruel.html In the late 1950?s, dealer Spencer Samuels emphasised art purchase as an investment opportunity. In 1959 he started publishing a newsletter for businessmen, Currency of Art, which presented the acquisition of art as a classic investment. Taxes and Art took this marketing approach to a more refined level. The publication gave detailed instructions on how to purchase magnificent works of art while deducting great amounts from one's taxes. These instructions were accompanied by glossy illustrations of works of art, all owned by French & Company. (Source: Getty Exhibitions.) http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/business/ According to the Art Dealers Association of California, dealers discover and exhibit the works of new artists as well as preventing exhibitions of veteran artists. http://www.artdealersassociation.org/ArtDealersRole.html> <Search strategy :> <"salon des refuses" dealers> <://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-31%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=+%22salon+des+refuses%22+dealers> <"official salons" paris "art history"> <://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-31,GGLD:en&q=+%22official+salons%22+paris+%22art+history%22> <"salon des refuses"> <://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-31%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=+%22salon+des+refuses%22> <Hope this helps.>