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An Insider´s Guide to Buying, Collecting, and Selling Art

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Grounded in real-life stories, Art Collecting Today is the essential practical guide to today´s art market. A lightly regulated industry with more than sixty billion dollars of annual sales, the art market is often opaque and confusing to even the most experienced collectors. But whether a seasoned collector, an uninitiated newcomer, or an art-world insider, readers will learn within these pages how the art marketplace works in practice and how to navigate it smartly. Those who may have been put off by art-world practices will finally feel they have the knowledge needed to participate freely and fully, and collectors will be able to pursue their passion with more confidence.

Important topics covered include:

How to evaluate, buy, and sell art while avoiding costly mistakes and time-consuming roadblocks
How the market works in practice for essential artists like René Magritte, Christopher Wool, Amedeo Modigliani, and Yayoi Kusama
How collectors can be taken advantage of, and the actions they should take to protect themselves
Why tax laws in the United States reward "art investors" yet penalize "art collectors"
How cultural property laws impact the market for works by such artists as Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol
Advice for new and prospective collectors

Informed by close to one hundred interviews with collectors, lawyers, art advisors, gallerists, and auction specialists in the United States and Europe, as well as by the author´s own experiences, Art Collecting Today offers a lively and thought-provoking analysis of the day-to-day workings at play today in the fine art marketplace.

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Doug Woodham brings a unique perspective to the art market from his lifelong interest in art, business, and collecting. A trained economist with a PhD from the University of Michigan, Woodham served as president of the Americas for Christie´s, the international auction house. He is currently on the board of the arts venture Twyla. Earlier in his career, he was a partner with McKinsey and Company, working primarily with asset and wealth management clients. He continues his advocacy for collectors by advising private clients on legacy planning associated with their art collection, including helping them to asses alternative disposition strategies. Woodham and his wife, who are based in New York City, are avid collectors with a focus on drawings by artists associated with minimalism, conceptualism, and land art.

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