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Extraordinary Art Dealers: Stories of Obsession, Innovation and Creativity
Extraordinary Art Dealers: Stories of Obsession, Innovation and Creativity
Catherine Ingram
£19.99
Extraordinary Art Dealers brings together 30 essays on the history of art dealing, from the eighteenth century to the modern period, distilled into 30 figures and their varied stories. From connoisseur-dealers – figures posing as ‘cultural architects’ with the expertise and authority to demarcate aesthetic taste – to commercially-driven salespeople and profiteering opportunists. In-between, there are stories of exceptional talent and creativity, passion, idealism, cultural respectability and occasional moral corruption, revealing the fragmented and multifaceted psychology of the art dealer.
By delving into the past, exploring the profession of art dealing as continually evolving in parallel with the changing positioning of the role of art in society, this publication sheds light on the mechanics of dealing today – from the artist-centric approach, to the economically-driven and personality-motivated.
Organised into six chapters, this illustrated publication offers insight into a topic often sidelined in discussions of art history, revealing the significant role art dealers have played in cultivating the canon of art as we know it – perfect for the cultural junkies, fine art and art history students, artists and aspiring or existing art dealers.
Publication:
April 2026
Illustrations:
65 colour + b/w
Dimensions:
210 x 147 mm
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
978-1-911736-33-2
No. of pages:
256
Catherine Ingram (Ph.D., Oxford) is a writer and art historian, who has lectured for the Tate, Christie’s, Imperial College London, and Magdalen College, Oxford. She conceived of and edited the illustrated art history series, This is, published by Laurence King Publishing, also writing four of the titles. The series won the Brand/Series Identity Award at the British Book Design and Production Awards in 2015 and several titles were nominated for the V&A Illustration Awards. This is Dalí, This is Pollock and This is Warhol also featured in The Guardian’s best graphic books of 2014.
Cover illustrated by Celyn Brazier, an animation director & art director for Bernstein & Andriulli and Nexus Studios, as well an editorial illustrator, working with national newspaper publications in the UK and abroad. His clients have included Financial Times, Fortune, The Guardian, The New Yorker, The New York Times and Washington Post, as well as Bartle Bogle and Hegarty, British Airways, Dow Jones, Honda, Kew Gardens, Le Monde, London Wildlife Trust, McCann, MIT, Mother, Oglivy & Mather, Saatchi & Saatchi, Toyota, World Wildlife Fund and Waitrose.
