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...two stern reminders of the reality that awaited me upon graduation. The first was an essay, titled prosaically "Art and Money," the final entry in a collection by Robert Hughes called Nothing If Not Critical (1990), given to me by my father when I started my undergraduate degree. The second was a glitzy Taschen tome entitled Collecting Contemporary (2006), a gift from my boyfriend just after I finished my NFA.
Hughes' essay, presented originally as a public lecture, is an attempt to make sober sense of the art-speculation boom of the mid-80s. As a historical reference, it is ideal: clear-headed, pragmatic, deliberate. As a bit of financial reportage, however, it appears quaint: a dated document about wealth, desire, prestige and the public appetite for spectacle. He cites a public-expenditure scandal in the 70s: the Australian government's purchase of a Jackson Pollock for $2 million. Hughes first gave his lecture in 1984, and even then that price seemed reasonable, if not low. Now, of course, it's the steal of a bygone century. A further, more telling example: Hughes quotes mounting auction prices, warning, "Dealers tell us that the day of the $10 million painting is at hand" By the time the lecture was printed in book form, it...
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