Visual Arts Management

by Jeffrey Taylor

Published 27 November 2017

The arts sector is of vital importance to the global economy and students aspiring to a career in the visual arts are increasingly required to gain an understanding of the business side of the arts world. This textbook introduces the field of arts management with a focus on visual arts.

Visual Arts Management provides the first comprehensive textbook to the art business. The book covers the full range of the art world from contemporary galleries, secondary market, auction houses, art fairs, and museums. Topics include overviews of the distinct sectors of the business, but also delves in to technical topics: curatorship, antiques, cultural heritage compliance, marketing, art criticism, taxation, customs, insurance, transportation, appraising, conservation, and connoisseurship. Each chapter concludes with a real-world case study to provide cautionary tales of the dangers and pitfalls of the art business.

This unique textbook, authored by an experienced instructor, presents a global perspective on the rapidly developing art business in a way that is relevant for arts management classes and art professionals worldwide.


The Art Business

by Jeffrey Taylor

Published 29 September 2023

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the professional activities of the art business. Addressing this fast-moving industry, The Art Business: Art World, Art Market analyses the sector’s institutions and structures, including galleries, auction houses and art fairs.

The rapid development of art finance and its deployment of art as an asset class are covered, and up to moment observations are delivered on the quickly evolving auction system that includes dramatic changes at the major auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s. This edition highlights growing crises in the market including the ever more unbearable costs of art fair attendance and the lack of a reliable system for establishing ownership and title of artworks. Ever more pressing ethical issues such as toxic museum donors, cultural heritage compliance, and problems of corrupt provenances are explored in detail. Enhanced by new data analytics on the US art market, the author also distils advice and guidance for working art professionals hoping to build their careers.

The result is an up-to-date picture of an art business suitable for students and practitioners across the creative sector.