Rare Art Traditions - The History of Art Collecting and Its Linked Phenomena

A cultural and social history of art collecting, art history, and the art market

In The Rare Art Traditions, Joseph Alsop offers a wide-ranging cultural and social history of art collecting, art history, and the art market. He argues that art collecting is the basic element in a remarkably complex and historically rare behavioral system, which includes the historical study of art, the market for buying and selling art, museums, forgery, and the astonishing prices commanded by some works of art. The Rare Art Traditions tells the story of three important traditions of art collecting: the classical tradition that began in Greece, the Chinese tradition, and the Western tradition. The result is a major original contribution to art history.

About the author

Joseph Alsop (1910-1989) was a prominent American journalist, syndicated Washington columnist, and art collector. His books include From the Silent Earth: A Report on the Greek Bronze Age.

Product details

• Authors: Joseph Alsop, Alsop Joseph
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 15.08.2023
• EAN: 9780691252254
• ISBN: 978-0-691-25225-4
• No. of pages: 752
• Series: The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts; Bollingen Series
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; China, ART / History / General, HISTORY / Asia / China, ART / Business Aspects, ART / Asian / Chinese, History of Art, Asian History, BCE to c 500 CE, Art: Financial Aspects, Oriental art, BCE period – Protohistory