Art Metropole

#05182

Confessions of a Poor Collector: How to build a worthwhile art collection with the least possible money (1st ed.)

Date

2011

Publisher

Edition Taube

Format

Artists' Books

Details

Softcover

Size

9 × 14 × 1 cm

Length

45 

In 1970, Eugene M. Schwartz (1927-1995) gave a lecture at The New York Cultural Center relating to his experience collecting modern American painting. Shortly thereafter, Schwartz sat down to his typewriter and outlined the talk in the style of a “How-To” book, of which he had already authored several successful ones on the subject of advertising. For a time, facsimile copies of his manuscript were available in select museum bookshops at the cost of one dollar. As masterpieces owned by Schwartz and his wife Barbara made their way into the collections of leading museums in the United States, so too did copies of these facsimiles make their way into the archives of some of the same institutions. ?

“Confessions of a Poor Collector: How to build a worthwhile art collection for the least possible money” – the title alone captures the author’s inspiring populist attitude and indicates the text’s fruitful insight. From learning how to start collecting, to developing relationships with dealers, to ensuring that one is buying the very best works – the text advises readers through several important stages of collecting contemporary art. Through his personal, reasoned writing, Schwartz argues that devotion and compassion can lead to success in collecting great works of art.