{"product_id":"rogues-and-scholars-by-james-stourton-9781804541982","title":"Rogues and Scholars","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eTimes\u003c\/em\u003e Best Art Book of the Year, 2024\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'A riot of a book' – \u003cem\u003eCountry Life\u003c\/em\u003e's Books of the Year, 2024\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe modern art market was born on a single night. On 15 October 1958, Sotheby’s of Bond Street staged an ‘event sale’ of Impressionist paintings from the collection of an American banker, Erwin Goldschmidt: three Manets, two Cézannes, one Van Gogh, and a Renoir. Movie stars and other celebrities attended in black tie and saw the seven lots go for £781,000 – at the time the highest price for a single art sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOvernight, London became the world centre of the art market and Sotheby’s an international auction house. The event signaled a shift in power from dealers to auctioneers and pointed the way for Impressionist paintings to dominate the market for the next forty years. In this climate, Sotheby’s and Christie’s became a great business duopoly – as aggressive, dominant and competitive in the field of art sales as Pepsi and Coca-Cola were in soft drinks. The resulting expansion of the market was accompanied by rocketing prices, colourful scandals, and legal dramas. Over the decades, London transformed itself from a place of old master sales to a revitalised centre of contemporary art, a process crowned by the opening of Tate Modern in 2000.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJames Stourton tells the story of the London art market from the immediate postwar period to the turn of the millennium in engaging and fast-paced style, populating his richly entertaining narrative with a glorious rogues’ gallery of clever amateurs, eccentric scholars, brilliant emigrés, cockney traders and grandees with a flair for the deal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47432274804972,"sku":"9781804541982","price":26.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781804541982.jpg?v=1774555485","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/rogues-and-scholars-by-james-stourton-9781804541982","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}