The Who, Where and What of Value in the Art Market: Understanding the Authentic

Abstract

In the contemporary visual art market, for art to be valuable, it must be deemed authentic. In this chapter, we deconstruct the space within which the authentication of art takes place to understand the structural underpinnings of value and its ideological foundations. Through a three-part model, we demonstrate how authenticity in the art market, as a socially constructed concept, relies on the interpretation of cultural brokers who demonstrate recognition of the artist's vision in the work by placing it within an art context and thus legitimising it as culturally valuable. In our spatial analysis, we illustrate the complexity of visual art products and their valuation, demonstrating how authenticity operates through multiple dimensions. Ultimately, we demonstrate that authenticity is an autopoietic market practice which serves to further monopolise power.

Citation

Rodner, V. and Preece, C. (2021), "The Who, Where and What of Value in the Art Market: Understanding the Authentic", Lehman, K., Fillis, I. and Wickham, M. (Ed.) Exploring Cultural Value, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 11-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78973-515-420211003