Boom

Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art

By: Michael Shnayerson

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

The meteoric rise of the largest unregulated financial market in the world -- for contemporary art -- is driven by a few passionate, guileful, and very hard-nosed dealers. They can make and break careers and fortunes

“Shnayerson tackles his subject with gusto, parading a cast of colorful characters and charting how contemporary art went from being a tiny initiates-only part of the market to an international juggernaut.” — Financial Times

The contemporary art market is an international juggernaut, throwing off multimillion-dollar deals. But none of it would happen without the dealers—the tastemakers who back emerging artists and steer them to success.

Boom is a revelatory history of how art dealers have created, steered, and manipulated the market for contemporary art. Michael Shnayerson traces the meteoric rise of the most renowned names in contemporary art: Larry Gagosian, David Zwirner, Arne Glimcher, Iwan Wirth. From the early days on 57th Street to the rise of SoHo in the ’60s to the emergence of Chelsea as the hotbed of art galleries, it’s a story of backstabbing, betrayals, fruitful partnerships, and ever larger sums of money.

One of my favorite books!

Worth a read even if you are not an art fan. Was sad when I was finished. Wanted to read it again.

Ultra-Insightful Window: The Dealing of Fine Art

Simply everything you wanted to know about the intriguing world of selling, buying and collecting fine art. It's as if you were listening to a confidential exchange of information between a cable's agents with all of its secrets laid bare. l could not stop listeming!

Excellent

Excellent, fast-paced, highly-informative, great research, wonderful story! Highly recommend this book. A great listen!!!

Well-researched and told, but needs visual aid and post-2020 update

A fascinating must-read for any art insider, who may not know how the biggest commercial blue chip galleries got their start. The narration for the audiobook is well-paced. The book would have benefited from a companion PDF to illustrate all the artists / artworks mentioned in the book, so you know what the author is talking about! I am surprised that Asia / Hong Kong was not mentioned until Ch. 22-24, when Chinese contemporary art started appearing on tastemakers’ radars as early as 2000. This book can also use an update on how Covid-19 changed the art market since 2020, with virtual viewing rooms at the air fairs furthering online sales.

Very informative

Good insight to the rise of galleries and influence on the art world. I recommend it if you are remotely interested in the visual arts and want to sell work at a high level.