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How to make art history
A. "GREAT art stands the test of time," goes the adage. But how exactly is the work tested? Put another way, in a world where anything can be art and where concept is king, how do works by living artists accrue value? The answer lies beyond the art market, in the broader terrain of the art world where artists and their oeuvres undergo a complex filtering process that insiders call "validation".
B. Validation is not straightforward. If you are pursuing a career in accountancy, you are confronted with a series of hurdles; clear them all, and you have arrived. For artists, life is much more complicated. In a social setting where the official rule is rule-breaking, the artist who crawls under the first hurdle, knocks over the second and does a strange scissor kick over the third may ultimately win the greatest recognition. Almost by definition, a competent artist is an insignificant one.
C. Although most artists under 50 now have a fine-arts degree, after graduation, the biggest hurdle is finding a good dealer to represent them. "Validation is at the core of our business," explains Iwan Wirth, a dealer with galleries in London, Zurich and New York. "It is our expertise. Credibility is what an artist needs in the long run." When recruiting new artists, the quality of their work is most important, but with young artists a dealer may have only a few years of work to consider. "So you do a risk-assessment based on their character," says Mr Wirth.
D. A gallery's credibility rests on its stable of artists. The location, scale and aesthetics of a gallery's exhibition space inspire confidence, and strong curatorial connections and monies clients make a difference. What matters most however is a cluster of artistic reputations. When recruiting, dealers often act on the recommendations of artists who are already on their roster. It helps lend coherence to the gallery's programme and acknowledges that other artists are important arbitrators.
E. Emerging art galleries also need the approval of prestigious art fairs to be taken seriously. The four leading fairs, in Basel, London, Miami and Paris, are oversubscribed and turn away many applicants. They rely on rigorous selection committees to impose quality control and do their best to avoid any hint of cronyism. According to Amanda Sharp, co-owner of the Frieze Art Fair, "Frieze's number one unique selling point is integrity. We try to make decisions in as balanced and informed a way as possible."
F. Repeated display in different contexts tests the work as well as building an audience for it. Within a given museum, project spaces, group shows and solo retrospectives offer different platforms. And not all museums are equal. The Museum of Modern Art in New York used to be the most important judge, but now institutions such as Tate Modern and the Centre Pompidou have the muscle to ratify artists. Even so, the authority of the institution is no guarantee of success; a poorly received exhibition in a renowned museum can be worse than no show at all.
Match each heading to the most suitable paragraph A - F.
1. Artists path to success
2. The need for validation
3. What gives a gallery status
4. The importance of the artist's personality
5. The role of art fairs
Writing
1. Complete the following paragraph with the suitable words from the box below. There is an example (0) done for you.
he / his / it / they / this
Famous For?
When Andy Warhol died at the age of 58 in 1987, few people guessed that (0) ___he would soon become one of the most valuable artists in the world. In 2007, total sales of (1) his work at auction reached $428 million. When, a year later, his painting ‘Eight Elvises’ sold for over $100 million, (2) it was one of the highest prices ever paid for a work of art. In his working life, he made about 10,000 artworks, and dealers believe that (3) he will continue to be popular with collectors in the future. (4) is because of Warhol’s huge reputation as a super-cool trendsetter and innovator. (5) is also remembered for his remark: ‘In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes’, which seems to forecast today’s celebrity culture.
2. Identify the word class of the word and give example of another word class.
Example: (0) definition ___noun, define __verb___
(1) evolutionary
(2) protester
(3) predict
(4) interviewee
(5) symbolically
