SUPERCOLLECTOR - Softcover

Rita Hatton; John A. Walker

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841660248 ISBN 13: 9781841660240

Publisher: ellipsis London Ltd, 1999

Synopsis

A detailed examination of the advertising mogul and art collector Charles Saatchi, a man who is estimated to spend 2 million a year buying contemporary art, displaying it in his own gallery in north London and, famously, at the 'Sensation' exhibition which opened at the Royal Academy before touring to Berlin and the Brooklyn Museum, an event that provoked an extraordinary clash between art and politics. Regarded by many as a modern Medici, Saatchi exercises tremendous power in the international contemporary art market. He can make and break artists' reputations, and he has had the power to define the character and direction of recent British art. Surprisingly, this is the first book to look at Charles Saatchi as art collector. While it quotes a range of opinions, the book is primarily a critique written from a socialist standpoint, applying ideas derived from a number of sociologists including Marx, Moulin and Veblen.

About this title

Review

A thorough-going account of Saatchi's rise to the status of supercollector. Roger Cook -- Art History, 2000

A valuable counter balance to the weight of vanity publications associated with the subject. Colin Gleadhill. -- Art Monthy, 2000

Simultaneously entertaining and relentless in its structure ...good value for money. Julian Freeman. -- The Art Book, 2000

Small and malignant, this book slots into the pocket as snugly as a gunslinger's Bible. Keith Miller. -- Times Literary Supplement, 2000

Takes a fresh look at the shadowy world of private patronage as it operates today. Steve Jones. -- Socialist Appeal, 2000

From the Author

Second Edition. This book is the only in-depth study of Charles Saatchi as an art collector. It tells the story of the Saatchi advertising agencies, the famous Silk-Cut campaign and political posters for the Tory Party, and their effort to achieve global domination by means of take-overs and acquisitions. It argues that advertising values permeate the kind of art Charles supports. However, it also discusses works by artists such as Hans Haacke and Jamie Wagg that are critical of Saatchi. Also considered is the influence Saatchi has exercised on public galleries and institutions.
It explains how Saatchi devised a whole value-adding apparatus – collection, gallery, exhibitions, tame critics, books – in order to boost the monetary worth of the art objects he purchased cheaply from young artists desperate for fame. The Saatchi Collection is not permanent – repeated sales and purchases means that it changes all the time. Exhibitions of the YBAs such as ‘Sensation’ in London and New York ensured maximum publicity and the invention of spurious ‘art movements’, such as the New Neurotic Realism, indicated a desire to determine the course of the history of art.

The text is informed by the political and sociological writings of Marx, Veblen and Raymonde Moulin. While it cites a wide range of opinions about Saatchi, it is primarily a hostile critique written from an anti-capitalist perspective. Those who dominate the economy, politics and ideology - and culture too – use their power for their own benefit. Their patronage of art is an alibi for continuing the system of exploitation and inequality, and deflecting criticism. This book illuminates the process of control. If knowledge really is power, then it will have a use-value.
The Second Edition, which is physically larger than the first edition, contains a new chapter of 17,000 words that brings the Saatchi saga up to date with an account of his gifts, sales and purchases, exhibitions since 1999, the ‘power couple’ Charles and Nigella Lawson, and the new Saatchi Gallery at County Hall. There are 50 black and white illustrations.

About this edition

• Publisher: ellipsis London Ltd
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1841660248
• ISBN 13: 9781841660240
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240