Hand-picked as current favorites by Sotheby’s Institute faculty, here are eight books to round out your summer reading list, from examining the technical aspects of paintings to exploring the New York art scene, art writing, and more.
Value, The Market, Law, and Finance
Findlay, Michael. The Value of Art: Money, Power, Beauty. Munich: Prestel, 2012.
A useful overview of the relationship between aesthetics and financial value. The author has spent a lifetime working both at auction houses and in galleries.
Prowda, Judith B. Visual Arts and the Law: A Handbook for Professionals. Farnham: Lund Humphries, 2013.
This essential handbook offers art professionals and collectors an accessible legal analysis of important principles in art law, as well as a practical guide to legal rights when creating, buying, selling and collecting art in a global market.
Thompson, Don, The Orange Balloon Dog: Bubbles, Turmoil, and Avarice in the Contemporary Art Market. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2017.
These three books, written by an economist, provide insightful views and analysis of the art market in a fun and fascinating way.
Art Writing and Research
Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing About Art. 10th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2011.
This best-selling text has guided tens of thousands of art students through the writing process. Students are shown how to analyze pictures (drawings, paintings, photographs), sculptures and architecture, and are prepared with the tools they need to present their ideas through effective writing.
McNulty, Tom. Art Market Research: A Guide to Methods and Sources. 2nd Edition. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2014.
Written by a late faculty member, this book is for art market researchers at all levels. A brief overview of the global art market and its major stakeholders precedes an analysis of the various sales venues (auction, commercial gallery, etc.). Library research skills are reviewed, and advanced methods are explored in a chapter devoted to basic market research.
Materials and Techniques
Kirsh, Andrea and Rustin S. Levenson. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000.
This prize-winning book offers the only comprehensive discussion available on materials, techniques, and condition issues in Western easel paintings from medieval times to the present.
Art in New York’s History
Ault, Julie. Alternative Art New York, 1965-1985. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 2002.
A sweeping history of the New York art scene during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s revealing a powerful "alternative" art culture that profoundly influenced the mainstream.
Fensterstock, Ann. Art on the Block: Tracking the New York Art World from SoHo to the Bowery, Bushwick and Beyond. London: Palgrave, 2013.
A fascinating tour of the last five decades of contemporary art in New York City, showing how artists are catalysts of gentrification and how neighborhoods in turn shape their art, with special insights into the work of artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cindy Sherman, and Jeff Koons.