5 books every art collector should read

Five books every collector should own
Collecting is an art in itself, and finding success requires learning the ropes of the market ecosystem. To help you build your own collection, we've suggested five books that offer certain templates for where to start.

1.The Rise and Rise of the Private Art Museum by Georgina Adam
Since the beginning of the pandemic, great collectors such as François Pinault and He Jianfeng have opened private museums; Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Nicolas Berggruen and Mera and Donald Rubell opened new ones in the coming years. Of course, this trend isn't going away anytime soon, hence the carefully chosen title for this book. Journalist Georgina Adam demonstrates that private museums are more than just tax shelters – they are increasingly important ways to support artists too.

2. Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil
In the mid-20th century, married collectors Dominique and John de Menil helped make Houston a destination for modern art by opening a museum. That's the subject of this gripping biography, which, at nearly 800 pages, is a closer look at how great works by Andy Warhol, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and others. The book also demonstrates how his collection became a form of activism.

3. Duveen: A Life in Art
Perhaps no dealer in British art history has had as much influence as Joseph Duveen, who brokered some of the most famous art sales of the 20th century. In 1921, it involved the sale of Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy to railroad magnate Henry Huntington for the current equivalent of around $10 million. Meryle Secrest's biography recounts how the dealer amassed a Rolodex of leading American collectors of the day (including Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Mellon) - and how Duveen's deep connections across the pond paved the way for masterpieces to leave Europe forever.

4. American Art: Merrell's Collection and Connoisseurship
Let's say you want to assemble a collection of American-made art over the centuries. Where can you start? Stephen M. Sessler, a collector in his own right, used that question to guide this book, which aims to provide a brief history of American art along with insights into the market. Find some of these insights in art historian Tiffany Elena Washington's essay on the rebirth of unknown figures and learn what recent retrospectives have done to the market.

5. Boom: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art byMichael Shnayerson
As journalist Michael Shnayerson reminds us in Boom, it's almost too easy to take the current art market system for granted, in which a few rich people regularly make multimillion-dollar deals. It wasn't always like this; the trend is quite recent. The opaque web that dealers Larry Gagosian, David Zwirner, Iwan Wirth, and other figures cultivate can be difficult for budding collectors to infiltrate, so consider this book something of a blueprint for today's market—and a possible entry.