HSE Publishing House

The art market is one of those spheres of artistic life that provoke most debates both among those directly involved and those who watch from the sidelines. This book depicts the changes in the Western art-market since the 2000s, its structure, controversies, and the main theoretical approaches to its analysis. The book is not so much concerned with the art market as a mechanism of purchase and sale of art but focuses instead on it as a space where economy, philosophy, art and sociology meet. It is a phenomenon that allows us to discuss the value of art, to put in perspective the relationship between the world of art and the world of money, to understand why collectors need to buy artists’ works and why artists need to invent alternative ways of interaction with the market.
The book addresses a wide audience interested in the history of art and art market in the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as scholars specialising in cultural studies and art economy.