I Bought Andy Warhol - Softcover

Polsky, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1582345244 ISBN 13: 9781582345246

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2005

Synopsis

In 1987, Richard Polsky put aside $100,000 to buy a Warhol painting, a dream that took twelve years to realize. In a book that spans the years from the wild speculation of the late 1980s to the recession of the 1990s, Polsky, himself a private dealer, takes his readers on a funny, fast-paced tour through an industry characterized by humor, hypocrisy, greed, and gossip.

About this title

Review

So what was it like to be an art dealer in the go-go ‘80s? California-based private dealer Richard Polsky drops some juicy anecdotes into an account of his quest to add a Warhol painting to his personal collection. The title of his book, I Bought Andy Warhol, is a wink-wink reference to a film about a disgruntled Factory member who shot the artist in 1968. Polsky’s attitude is wryly bemused as he recounts tales of practical jokes, petty grudges, peculiar dining experiences, and other indignities that befall a little guy in a world of sharks. The cast of characters includes heavyweight New York dealers Ivan Karp, Jim Corcoran, and Larry Gagosian as well as mid-range collectors and artists better known in California than in Manhattan. Warhol himself makes no personal appearances, though Polsky assiduously tracks fluctuations in the superstar’s market value. Along the way, there are useful nuggets ranging from questions a potential art buyer should ask a dealer to typical auction house pricing strategies. The author is a likeable character who demonstrates surprising candor about trying to make a living in the early ‘90s, when art prices plummeted. While some readers may be taken aback by Polsky’s relentless stress on the monetary worth of a work of art as opposed to its aesthetic value, his book is a gossipy account of running a unique kind of business, selling one-of-a-kind products in a highly volatile market. —Cathy Curtis

About the Author

Richard Polsky began his professional career in the art world in 1978 as an exhibiting artist and director of a San Francisco gallery. In 1984 he founded Acme Art, where he showed the work of such artists as Joseph Cornell, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, and outsider artist Bill Traylor. Since 1989 he has been a private dealer specializing in works by postwar artists, with an emphasis on Pop art. He is currently a contributor to artnet.com and lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1582345244
• ISBN 13: 9781582345246
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256