Procurement analysis, sales planning, customer orientation, brand management—the art market is changing more rapidly than ever before. The price that a work of art commands influences its place in the art-historical canon. Auction houses have become dominant avenues of distribution, as have art fairs, galleries, and art dealers. Even today the ritual dra­maturgy of the auction resembles an archaic compe­tition, which can leave participants speechless and captivate bystanders. At the center of the action is the auctioneer, whose performance is increasingly critical to the success of the auction. With portraits of auctioneers, this volume tells the story of the art auction business. Key events that played out in cities such as New York, Paris, Zurich, Berlin, Stuttgart, and Pompeii come alive and show how the auctioneer is emerging from the anonymity of a service provider and stepping into the limelight as the star of the show. (German edition ISBN 978-3-7757-3902-3) In conjunction volumes in the Art to Read series (German edition ISBN 978-3-7757-3912-2, English edition ISBN 978-3-7757-3913-9) are also available.

Cover Table of Content A Cultural History of the Art Auction in 14 Portraits London 1766 James ChristieThe Power of Place, Promotion and Personality Pompeii 1875 Lucius Caecilius Iucundus Messages from the Art Market in Antiquity London 1882 The Hamilton Palace Sale and a Global Market Berlin 1916–1932 Paul Cassirer 81 Auctions between 1916 and 1932 Lucerne 1939 The AntiheroTheodor Fischer and the Auctioneerin the Age of Extremes Stuttgart 1947–1962 Roman Norbert Ketterer, or the Return of Expressionism Bern 1951 Eberhard Kornfeld Connoisseurship and Tradition London 1957–58 and 1977 Peter C. Wilson Basel 1964 Anke Adler-Slottke Stamps and the First Woman Auctioneer New York 1990 Starry, Starry Night: Dr Gachet, Christopher Burge and Hideto Koyabashi New York, London, Geneva and Zurich 2000–01 The Dream of a Boutique Auction House Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg Paris 2001–2009 Meeting Saint Laurent New York 2004 Tobias Meyer and the Rise ofAmerican Post-War Art New York 2013 Echoes of a Landmark Sale Jussi Pylkkänen on the Rostrum The Day-to-day Business of Auctioneering Circuit: Provenance A Bid for Love The Heir by Vita Sackville-West Best Offers The Top 12 Auctioneering Scenes in Feature Films Endnotes Appropriation List Auctioneering in Books, Movies, and Popular Culture About the Contributors Acknowledgements Photo Credits Colophon