Research Your Art Collection

John Castagno's Artists' Signatures and Monograms have become the standard reference source for galleries, museums, libraries, and collectors around the world. Whether used to identify, authenticate, or verify signatures and works of both well-known and little-known artists, Castagno's work has no equal. In the first volume of European Artists Signatures and Monograms, 1800-1990 (Scarecrow, 1990), Castagno provided identification for more than 4,800 artists' signatures, along with biographical information and reference sources. This second volume on European artists is a continuation of the identification of artists' signatures, with some 2,100 artists and 3,000 signature examples. In addition to the standard signature entries, the book features sections for monograms and initials, common surname signatures, alternative surname signatures, symbols, Cyrillic Signatures, and illegible signatures. Less than five percent of the entries in this volume are listed in the original volume--and these are included to provide additional information about the artists. The use of European Artists II: Signatures and Monograms From 1800 provides the researcher a reference tool not duplicated elsewhere--one that will save many hours of research.

John Castagno's Artists' Signatures and Monograms have become the standard reference source for galleries, museums, libraries, and collectors around the world. Whether used to identify, authenticate, or verify signatures and works of both well-known and little-known artists, Castagno's work has no equal. In the first volume of American Artists: Signatures and Monograms, 1800-1989 (Scarecrow, 1990), Castagno provided identification for more than 5,000 artists' signatures, along with biographical information and reference sources. This second volume contains some 3,500 artists and 4,600 signature examples. In addition to the standard signature entries, the book features sections for monograms and initials, common surname signatures, alternative surname signatures, symbols, Cyrillic Signatures, and illegible signatures. Less than five percent of the entries in this volume are listed in the original volume--and these are included to provide additional information about the artists. The use of American Artists II: Signatures and Monograms From 1800, A Comprehensive Directory provides the researcher a reference tool not duplicated elsewhere--one that will save many hours of research.

How do dealers price contemporary art in a world where objective criteria seem absent? Talking Prices is the first book to examine this question from a sociological perspective. On the basis of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative data, including interviews with art dealers in New York and Amsterdam, Olav Velthuis shows how contemporary art galleries juggle the contradictory logics of art and economics. In doing so, they rely on a highly ritualized business repertoire. For instance, a sharp distinction between a gallery's museumlike front space and its businesslike back space safeguards the separation of art from commerce. Velthuis shows that prices, far from being abstract numbers, convey rich meanings to trading partners that extend well beyond the works of art. A high price may indicate not only the quality of a work but also the identity of collectors who bought it before the artist's reputation was established. Such meanings are far from unequivocal. For some, a high price may be a symbol of status; for others, it is a symbol of fraud. Whereas sociological thought has long viewed prices as reducing qualities to quantities, this pathbreaking and engagingly written book reveals the rich world behind these numerical values. Art dealers distinguish different types of prices and attach moral significance to them. Thus the price mechanism constitutes a symbolic system akin to language.

The global art market has recently been valued at close to $50bn - a rise of over 60% since the global financial crisis. These figures are driven by demand from China and other emerging markets, as well as the growing phenomenon of the artist bypassing dealers as a market force in his/her own right. This new textbook integrates, updates and enhances the popular aspects of two well-regarded texts - Understanding International Arts Markets and The Art Business. Topics covered include: Emerging markets in China, East Asian, South East Asian, Brazilian, Russian, Islamic and Indian art, Art valuation and investment, Museums and the cultural sector. This revitalized new textbook will continue to be essential reading for students on courses such as arts management, arts marketing, arts business, cultural economics, the sociology of arts, and cultural policy.

Contents include: The environment and conservation -- Western painting -- Portrait miniatures -- Works of art and manuscripts on paper -- Photographs -- Books -- Textiles -- Archaeological objects -- Ethnographic objects -- Metals -- Ceramic and glass objects -- Stone objects and sculpture -- Outdoor sculpture -- Furniture & wooden objects -- Frames.