Seven Days in the Art World – A Review
A Look at Sarah Thornton's Inside View of the Art Market
Nov 3, 2009
The art world – often an elite inner circle of time-pressed, fast-talking people who have the sort of funds to drop a couple million at a Christie's auction without so much as batting an eye. Drawn around this inner circle of dealers and passionate collectors is drawn a veil that is left undisturbed by most who wish to gain entry into their elite conversations and holdings.
Breaking Into the Subculture
Sociologist Sarah Thornton, as described in Publisher's Weekly, "is a cluster of intermingling subcultures unified by the belief, whether genuine or feigned, that nothing is more important than the art itself. It is a conviction, she asserts, that has transformed contemporary art into a kind of alternative religion for atheists. Thornton, a contributor to Artforum.com and the New Yorker, presents an astute and often entertaining ethnography of this status-driven world. Each of the seven chapters is a keenly observed profile of that world's highest echelons: a Christie's auction, a crit session at the California Institute of the Arts and the Art Basel art fair."
Art as Religion
Thornton raises the point that for some art is a religion. She uses her astout observations to paint a clear picture of what it is like to be on the inside of one of the world's most elite and closed off groups. For them, art is a religion and without it most of their society and even their world as a whole would not be able to function. Thornton paints a concise and accurate portrayal as to what it is like to be stuffed into the press section of some of these infamous auctions while trying to vie to become one of the art world elite.
Thornton's Strengths
What is most impressive about Thornton's book outside of her observations, is her ability to remain the journalist. She never falls victim to blaming or chastizing the inner circle that she has so astutely observed. Instead, she presents a balanced and clear picture of what it is like for someone outside of the inner circle. Koudos to Thornton for remaining the journalist through and through.
Overall, Thornton's Seven Days in the Art Worldis a precise and unbiased view of what the art world and its inner workings are like. The author's journalistic approach only adds to the novel's appeal and its strengths.
Sarah Thornton's Seven Days in the Art World is available for Purchase through W.W. Norton & Co with ISBN 039333712X.
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