Review
Sotheby's began as a modest book-dealing firm in the 1740s and diversified into the Modern Art market in the late 19th century. In tracing the history of the world-famous auction house, Lacey describes its long-standing rivalry with Christies, the art boom of the 1980s and recent notable auctions. An entertaining, impressively detailed account. (Kirkus UK)
Product Description
This volume explores the history of Sotheby's auction house, tracing its beginnings back to 1744. It was in the latter half of the 19th century, when economic instability forced the aristocrats to sell off many of their treasures, that Sotheby's began to lay the foundations of the modern art market. The Sotheby's-Christie's rivalry intensified in the early-1900s and they have been battling it out ever since over the likes of Cezanne, Picasso, Van Gogh and Monet. Lacey takes the reader through the unprecedented boom of the 1980s, when Van Gogh's "Irises" went for $53.9 million, and examines the catastrophic effects of an inflation still being felt today.
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