Artful Dodgers: Fraud & Foolishness in the Art Market

Who really knows how the art market works? Here, for the first time, art detective, veteran appraiser and international art expert Bernard Ewell opens the door and gives you a tour of the world's most unregulated market, one unlike any other which does not even follow the rules of modern economics. There are actually two art markets, with one operating as if it was the other, while both depend on The Six Myths That Drive The Art Market. Perception is everything and pervasive secrecy is the unbreakable rule. The players, the con men and the larger than life personalities are better than the characters created by novelists. You'll meet the crooks and their victims and realize that both are actually our creation. We all participate in the fraud and foolishness that props up an art market that buys and sells civilization's greatest treasures and most horrible junk. Be prepared to put aside everything you think you know and have heard from art dealers and read in the press. The international auction houses, the big name galleries, superstar artists, and the museums are haunted by fakes and forgeries which collectors usually buy for all the wrong reasons. Arrogance or ignorance? It's both. The art market is where the intent to deceive meets contributory negligence and willful ignorance and most of those who have been defrauded don't even know it. This book will entertain you as it gives you the tools to more fully enjoy and safely buy art.