Reading: "Seven Days in the Art World" by Sarah Thornton

Seven Days in the Art World will be one of the texts we will be reading from this semester.

Seven Days in the Art World is an unconventional ethnography and a social history of the recent past. Set in New York, Los Angeles, London, Basel, Venice, and Tokyo, the book is populated by colorful characters who espouse conflicting definitions of art. Some see it as a luxury good or entertainment, others view it as an intellectual calling, a job description, or a kind of alternative religion. In a series of day-in-the-life narratives, Thornton investigates the minute dramas of a Christie’s evening sale, life in a notorious CalArts seminar, the elite trade of the Basel Art Fair, the competition behind the Tate’s Turner Prize, the peculiarities of Artforum and its critics, the high jinks of Takashi Murakami’s studios, and the curatorial wonderland that is the Venice Biennale. Thornton’s entertaining book explores the dynamics of creativity, taste, judgment, status, money, and the search for beauty in life.

For more information on the author: Sarah Thornton

Here is a link to its NY Times book review: Terms of Art

And a more in depth review in The Nation: Agony and Ecstasy: The Art World Explained

Here author Sarah Thornton briefly talks about the book: