Analysis
Why you cannot trust dealers’ prices—or auction results either
In 2006 we reported that attempts to accurately measure the market are being thwarted by auction guarantees and private sales between tight-lipped collectors
The trouble with art fairs: curators, collectors and dealers are starting to feel fatigued
As the sheer number of annual events continues to grow, fair fatigue has become a common condition
How long can this amazing art market boom last?
In recent years have seen works sold for explosive prices—and now in 2006 we are asking if this an indication of an accelerating trend or a reflection of the cyclical nature of the market?
1991-2001: a mini-guide to a decade in the art market
From a game-changing Japanese scandal to price-fixing at the world's leading auction houses, we look at the most significant developments over the past ten years
Is another bubble about to burst in the fine art market?
In 2000 we noted that single-owner collections sent prices spiralling upwards which was good news for the salerooms, but disastrous for museums with dwindling budgets
Are auction houses creating a bigger market for all or squeezing out the competition?
In 1998 we reflected on Sotheby's and Christie's recent move to sell cutting edge contemporary art as being a watershed moment
From primitive to art back to ethnology: too much zeal, says leading collector
Eugene Victor Thaw on the transformation of tribal art
A discussion of the Unidroit convention from an art-world perspective: “Unidroit is a potential disaster—enough of disinformation and ideology”
Collector George Ortiz speaks up and argues that its ratification will achieve the exact opposite of its declared aims
Byzantine exhibition at the British Museum provides new insights but falls flat due to missed opportunities
Have scruples over not asking collector/dealers for loans, particularly for underrepresented painted icons, affected the quality of the current exhibition?
Who does research in museums?
"Where there is no research, there is no museum", says Wolf Dieter Dube, director of the Berlin museums, but this tenet has come under attack in recent years.
The place of scholars in the commercial art market: how to avoid shameful infections and a diminution of the truth?
It is pointless to pretend that the commercial art world and the worlds of research do not interpenetrate each other. Here we look at the relationship, present and past, and ask ourselves, in what respect is the art historian any different from the lawyer who sells his opinion?