Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Verrocchio (Grande) Sconosciuto, Maria Sancho-Arroyo

Faculty Articles

Review of the Verrocchio exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

In Il Giornale dell'Arte, ANNO XXXVII N. 402 NOVEMBRE 2019.

Where Do We Come From? Where Are We Going?, Finn Leong, Carley Nolan

Curating Contemporary Art: Documents & Writings

Sotheby’s Institute of Art is pleased to present Where Do We Come From? Where Are We Going?, a group exhibition curated by Sotheby’s MA Contemporary Art and MA Art Business candidates Finn Leong and Carley Nolan. The exhibition, on view from May 7th to May 13th, 2019, marks the fourth installment in a series of exhibitions curated by MA students enrolled in Curating Contemporary Art.

Gallery K : Business Plan, Shane Shenghan Kong

MA Projects

This business plan is to open a commercial art gallery in Vancouver, Canada. This business plan will elaborate on the art market in Canada, the art market in Vancouver, the gallery’s key partnerships, activities and resources, the gallery’s revenue streams and cost structures, the value propositions that the gallery offers as well as the potential challenges that the gallery faces. The key statistics from this business plan are gathered from Statistics Canada, ArtVenture’s Canadian Art Market Report 2018, Artsy.net, as well as from conversation with art dealers and gallery directors in Vancouver.

Phoenix Fine Art Business Plan, Ruomu Freda Li

MA Projects

In China, contemporary art market has been growing in both value and size for the past few decades. Today, China remains to be a global industry that is worth more than $50 billion annually. (1) Chinese art market according to a report by ArtNet accounted for 20% of the global total sales in 2017. As a result, the work of the Chinese artists fetching multimillion dollars indicates the significance of the market.(2) This growth in the art market is however attracting the attention of investors and raising the confidence of art collectors. In China, traditional Chinese art has become the …

Humanizing The Tattoo: Looking Beyond The Skin's Surface, Julia Schuckman

MA Projects

Tattoos. Works of art on the skin, but what does it mean? One does not just brand themselves without a just cause. There is much that goes into a tattoo; selection of a design, collaboration with an artist, color selection, actual tattooing, and the aftermath/healing. This is the same process no matter the size of the piece. Even as a simple quote in black across a section of skin, there is more behind the ink and skin. There is an individual with a story. The exhibition, Humanizing the Tattoo: Looking Beyond the Skin’s Surface will explore the human relationship to …

A Body Of Work, Ali Edelson

MA Projects

“A Body of Work”, the working title for this curatorial proposal, examines how a group of emerging female artists represent the female form in their work. The representation of the female form, and more specifically the female nude, has long been a key part of art history. For many years, men took ownership over women’s bodies as a commodity, especially in the case of nudes. In the 20th century, feminist artists began to take more power over the ways in which the female form was portrayed by either refusing to commodify or sexualize it or taking ownership over it themselves. …

"Relationship" - An Art Bookstore In Macau, Keer Kang

MA Projects

Mentioned to Macau, most people have the first impression of Macau is the splendid casinos and hotels. Many people think that Macau is just a gambling city. In fact, Macau has a unique culture that is memorable. There are more than 100 ancient architectural relics、20 Western-style churches、40 temples and 20 Museums in the land. As we know, many cities around the world are famous for their unique cultural identity, while Macau is characterized by a blend of multicultural. This business plan is to create and expand the field of commercial art with the background and advantages of Macau's multiculturalism. Therefore, …

Subversive Stitch, Kimberly Reinagel

MA Projects

WhiteBox Harlem is thrilled to present Subversive Stitch, a group exhibition featuring female contemporary artists that work in textiles, curated by Kimberly Reinagel. Presented at this show will be works by Eozen Agopian, Alexandria Deters, Zhen Guo, Lisa Kellner, Mariana Garibay Raeke, Kimberly Reinagel, Leila Seyedzadeh, Victoria Udondian and Christina Whitney Wong. This exhibition will look at the societal reassignment of the textile in the art market. Textiles throughout history have been primarily considered a "feminine" medium. Fabrics, fashion, embroidery and tapestry all connote a feminine background, and have thus notoriously not been received with much gravity. This exhibition is …

Museum Websites And Restitution: Rediscovering Holocaust-Era Objects In The Digital Age, Gabriella Bloom

MA Theses

Under the Third Reich, Europe experienced one of the most far-reaching examples of plunder of cultural property in modern history. While the Allies succeeded in returning many objects and artworks towards the end of the war and initially following it, many objects remained missing and hidden. The late 1990s led to a resurgence of interest in Holocaust-Era looting, resulting in a rise of cases and litigation over previously plundered objects. As many looted artworks materialized in United States museums, museums began further researching their collections’ provenance and inputting this information online. Today, most major museums have a section of their …

From Micro To Marco: Jade Snuff Bottles In Qianlong Era, Jinpeng Wang

MA Theses

Emperor Qianlong, whose original name is Aisin Gioro Hongli, was the sixth emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Qianlong was one of the most famous emperors in Chinese history. As the word “Qianlong” means in Manchu, he was truly blessed by the god: the Qing Empire was already very strong when Qianlong came into power; meanwhile, Qianlong had a relatively stable outside environment. It allows Qianlong to be able to focus on pushing his own governing policy. Qianlong’s policy of agricultural development and tax reduction was very effective, under sixty years of reign, the empire has expanded its territory, and the …

The Celebrity Factor: An Evaluation Of The Effect Celebrity Provenance At Auction, Danielle Gray

MA Theses

The effect of celebrity provenance on value of fine art and design is a recent phenomenon that can be explained by unpacking the changing profile of collectors, the rise of the digital age and contemporary fascination with celebrity. Understanding these changes will shed light on different factors that contribute to the premium often associated with celebrity sales. Although research has been done before on this topic before, the research neglects to look at the auction house as a factor in understanding the effects of celebrity provenance. By evaluating the celebrity, and the auction houses, relationship to the works of art …

Story Of Twin Cities, Who Will Be The Next Storm Center Of Art Fairs?, Rui Bian

MA Theses

Since 2000, with the rapid development of China's economy, the evolution of contemporary art fairs in China has been accelerated. This paper takes two representative cities, Beijing and Shanghai, as examples. In the past one decade, Shanghai and Beijing have respectively led the trend of contemporary art market due to various internal and external factors. This paper uses PEST model to analyze, trying to find out who will be the next center of contemporary art in the next ten years.

The first part of this paper mainly starts from the differentiations in policies and regional distributions of Chinese contemporary art …

Teamlab Research, Chinchen Liu

MA Theses

teamLab undoubtedly opened a new era of art. It allows professionals in multi-industries to use the latest science and technology to create art, they are all popular for local audiences from Japan to the United States, from Italy to China, wherever they go. As a significant representative form of the trendy show and immersive exhibition, teamLab's works are completely different from the past in terms of creative logic, exhibition experience, and collection methods. By going through the development history of teamLab, this article studies the characteristics of its exhibitions, audience, and the connection with traditional art, in order to explore …

What Are The Challenges Of Establishing The Fair Market Value (Fmv) Of Guggenheim Founding Collection? If The Transparency Of An Asset Value Is Possible On Non-Profit Financial Year Report, How Can The Fmv Preserve The Continuity Of Public Art Patronage, In Spite Of, Deaccession Artwork From The Guggenheim’S Collection Being Sold On The Auction Market?, Leng Ho

MA Theses

A collector’s financial interest in purchasing works of art is often motivated by potential return on investment. These collectors have heard countless stories of others gaining huge financial returns after consigning rare works of art from a museum collection. In recent decades, rising debates on the capitalizing of museum collections to gain financial assets allude to long-term negative repercussions. Those opposed postulate that art patron will lose trust in a museum’s ability to care for its publicly-owned collections. Deaccession is a difficult research topic, attempts to resolve any conflicts of interest in the matter of selling cultural work of art …

Contemporary Methods Of Preserving Land Art: A Case Study Of Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, Samara Johnson

MA Theses

The preservation and conservation of Land art has become an increasingly complex and urgent issue as important Earthworks created in the late 1960s and early 1970s continue to age. They present a variety of challenges—both physical and philosophical—to those tasked with maintaining them. Using Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970) as a case study, I have outlined four key guidelines for maintaining and preserving works of Land art. In order to survive, the artist’s intention intact, these works require collective stewardship, an interdisciplinary approach, the promotion of responsible visitorship, and an extension of the museum model. Today, social media has presented …

The Explosion Development Of Chinese Contemporary Art Market From 2000 To 2015, Yaning Wang

MA Theses

After Chinese Culture Revolution, the brand new chapter was approaching which opened for the modern Chinese art history; Chinese contemporary art has been deepened understanding by the art market. In the context of an emerging market, art is as much a matter of cultural economy as socio-politics. Thus the thesis will focus on the challenges facing the market and how tradition and economics providing the framework for the sustainability of art market. It will present a historical overview of emergence of Chinese contemporary art the period of 2000 to 2015 and expose the unbreakable bind between the development of its …

A Study On The Commercial Promotion Mode Of Contemporary Young Artists In China Taking Art Nova 100 As An Example, Han Le

MA Theses

Nowadays, young artists have increasingly become a significant part of the art market in China since there has been a recent emergence of China's art market. Therefore, their personal growth and development would greatly impact the future of art market. With the support of relevant economic and political policies from the government, China has initiated many innovative characterized business modes of cultivating young artists. By looking at Art Nova 100, a quite typical art project of recent years in China, this paper firstly deals with the actual living situation of contemporary young Chinese artist together with considerations for specific historical …

Private Art Museum Backed By Hong Kong Invetment - Wan Fung Art Musem As An Example, Yiye Chen

MA Theses

The rapid development of private art museums in the world can be regarded as the epitome of global economic development. The Chinese government has given unprecedented support to the development of culture and art. As the world's second largest economy, China's middle class has been increasing year by year. The hot art market has attracted European and American auction giants, and famous galleries have entered the Chinese market. Since the birth of the first private art museum in China at the end of the 20th century, Chinese scholars have been constantly exploring the direction of development. From copying the European …

Market Value Analysis Of Takashi Murakami's Artwork Under Howard Becker's Theory, Liu Yi-Ding

MA Theses

This paper is an analysis about the artist Takashi Murakami. As a representative of the corporate artist, he is favored by the Art business world while being criticized by many people. This paper adopts American sociologist Howard Becker's art world theory as a research tool to observe that the construction of Murakami and his art market is not the growth of genius, but the result of collective cooperation. Based on two decades of data on the art trade, Murakami has made his unique brand of ultra-flat theory and otaku work. These labels, along with internalization and external marketing, eventually gave …

How Does Contemporary Artists Consolidate Their Success And Achievements Through Social Media Platform Such As Instagram? : Case Study Of Successful Co-Existing Relationship Developed Between Contemporary Artists Ai Weiwei And Kaws With Their Instagram Account, Rouchen Yao

MA Theses

In the following thesis, I would compare and contrast the two art world phenomenon:Ai Weiwei and KAWS, whom have very distinctive artistic focus and style. And how the two artists utilize their social media platform to achieve different purposes and reflect different values. In the past few years, due to internet accessibility to the art world, online and social media platforms have become an intermediary between the art world and the masses, giving everyone access to art. Being household names from the art world, both of the artists generated a large number of fans on their social media platform of …

Land Art : True Capitalist Art, Annie Gustafsson

MA Theses

Land art is known to exist in remote locations, are immense in scale, are site specific and are incredibly costly to create. All of these traits make Land artworks inherently resistant to conservation and the secondary market.

If these artworks do not present an obvious investment opportunity, how then can an art movement like Land art even exist? What is its role in a capitalist driven society, if it cannot perform as a financial asset? Where then does the value in Land art lie?

This paper will attempt to explore the cultural effects on the movement, the subsequent methodologies developed …

Double-Edged Experiences And Their Impact On The Twenty-First-Century Audience: The Ever-Evolving Museum, Ana Sanz Menchero

MA Theses

The twenty-first-century museum is an ever-changing art institution adapting itself to engage a broader audience. The democratization of the museum becomes the priority to make art accessible to everyone. In the quest to find the perfect strategy, museums commit themselves to a constant transformation that seeks to create a unique “business model.” Along this process, institutions provide two-folded experiences to the public; first, the exhibition of art as a spectacular experience, and second, the staging of the museum as an entertaining entity. Today, museum attendance is not necessarily related to the quality of the show anymore. Welcome to the era …

Artist Frames: A Lost History Tracking The Innovations Of Discarded Visions, Isabella Leokadia Kapczynski

MA Theses

By considering the multiple aspects of a picture frame, this thesis paper explores the relationship between the frame and the painting it surrounds. Functioning to both preserve and present a painting, the frame is often a concern of curators, dealers, restorers and institutions. Though neglected, the painters themselves had opinions about the framing of their work. This research centers on the classification of a picture frame as either fine or decorative art. First, the metaphysical and marketing ramifications of the frame will be considered, followed by a concise history of the frame that will focus on the nineteenth century Impressionist …

The Demand For Women Who Painted: Recent Art Market Trends For Female Artists Of The Premodern Era, Cristina Demiany

MA Theses

A number of events highlighting female artists who lived and worked before the year 1900 are currently appearing in the art world. In consideration of this expanding cultural activity, this paper explores recent art market behavior around premodern female painters by examining sales of their work at auction between the years 1998 and 2019. The larger questions around such an analysis include assessing if the work of premodern female artists presents a new investment opportunity for collectors, and if it could also provide a means of invigorating the Old Master market. Three case studies representing female artists from different locations, …