Extraordinary Art Dealers: Stories of Obsession, Innovation and Creativity

Extraordinary Art Dealers: Stories of Obsession, Innovation and Creativity brings together 30 essays on 30 art dealers, from accounts of crafty opportunists and commercially driven moguls to tales of soulful idealism, exceptional talent and relentless creativity.

Featuring art dealers from the eighteenth to mid-twentieth century, the book explores their varied roles as cultural architects, eccentric idealists, commercially driven salespeople, and everything in-between. Highlighting the unexpected creativity of art dealers, their exceptional sensitivity to new art, and the impact they’ve had on shaping the art world, the book challenges the widespread notion that dealers are solely profit-driven.

Organised into six chapters, Extraordinary Art Dealers offers fresh insights into the often-overlooked role of art dealers in art history – key players in cultivating the canon of art as we know it. 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. 

Illustrated throughout, Extraordinary Art Dealers is perfect for the cultural junkies, fine art and art history students, artists and aspiring or existing art dealers. Including chapters on William Hogarth, Joseph Duveen, Betty Parsons, Robert Fraser, Leo Castelli, Alfred Stieglitz, Virginia Dwan, Kekoo and Khorshed Gandhy, Malick Sidibé, Peggy Guggenheim and many more...