Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Architecture of the Art Market, an introduction

The Architecture of the Art Market, an introduction.

FROM THE INCEPTION of the modern art market in the first half of nineteenth century, art dealers have definde their own identity as disinterested promoters and patrons rather than merchants and marketeers of art. At a time when retail markets developed and department stores arose in most Western European metropolises, art dealers steered away from commerce and consumerism. They were quick in refashioning their stores “idelologically”, as one historian writes, from “the equivalente of book dealers and antiquarians into rival of museums” (Jensen 1994, p.15). Moreover, art dealers have been wary of being identified with the economic elite that formed their clientele, and instead established close relationships with artists, critics, academics, and intellectuals (Green 1897, p.66).

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