Tuesday 2 December 2008

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Michael Henderson

Michael Henderson suggests


Great Collectors of Our Time: Art Collecting Since 1945

The new arbiters of taste

James Stourton
Scala, 480pp, £36,
John Martin Robinson
Wednesday, 23rd January 2008

John Martin Robinson on the latest books by James Stourton amd John Harris

Both these books are dominated by the American connection, over half of each being devoted to transatlantic collecting in the 20th century. James Stourton’s theme is post-war art collecting, and his US section is headed ‘America Triumphant’. He describes the 60 years when the USA dominated the international art market through sheer buying power but also because of the vitality and originality of the contemporary American art scene in New York. John Harris, by contrast, paints a hilarious picture of the earlier 20th-century trade in historic interiors and architectural bric-a-brac when ‘period rooms’ were a must-have in American houses and art museums, though most of the latter have now been de-accessioned as fake.

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