The Art Jungle

...With The Art Crowd, Sophy Burnham had the advantage of having her book, subtitled "The Inside Story of How a Few Rich and /or Powerful Figures Control the World's Art Market," come out at a moment when people were stirred by newspaper reports of alleged irregularities that have involved New York's respectable, and even stodgy, Metropolitan Museum of Art...

...True, being generally better educated than most dealers and collectors, and often having started out with high-minded principles, they should not stoop to the game of "payola" by accepting all kinds of camouflaged or even open bribes from dealers...

...Yet the author concentrates on the few greedy ones who have sold their consciences to the highest bidders...

...The more "sensational" it is, the more avidly it is read, as one would read a detective story— and quickly forgotten until the next "disclosure...

...reviewed by Alfred Werner Every once in a while the public is mildly aroused by a muckraking expose of the sinful art world which is made out to be dominated by greedy, unscrupulous characters...

...Burnham offers a few suggestions for clearing up the art jungle...

...Werner is a distinguished art critic and historian...

...museums ought to cease acting as tax shelters for the rich...

...magazines must not accept articles that are paid for by galleries...

...Not every artist has had a rich father who left him a fortune, like C6zanne, nor a self-sacrificing brother to keep him from starving, as had Van Gogh...

...This tragedy was best summed up by the eminent painter, Paul Klee, who, at the peak of his creativity, bitterly complained, "Uns traegt kein Volk"—the people do not support us...

...She is not unaware of the fact that most art critics are honest and are shabbily paid for scholarly work, and that all are exposed to offers that would enable them and their families to live as comfortably as the next man...

...She is rough on the editors and publishers of art magazines, and on their writers...

...She heartily disapproves of corruption...

...Burnham knows, of course, the pressures to which museum curators and directors are subjected, the plight of the art magazines which can hardly pay for the costly color illustrations, and with their small circulations and scant advertisements often barely manage to survive...

...But why should this surprise anyone...

...Most artists are not in a position even to quarrel with their dealers, much less to go to court," she concedes...

...To be highly successful in our competitive society, one cannot afford to be a saint...

...Will her vividly written, but rather superficial, "revelations" lead to any earnest soul-searching by those whom she accuses of the most unethical behavior...

...Mr...

...The real villains, perhaps, are not the big wheels of the Art Establishment, but the masses who have not the slightest interest in the arts and through their complete indifference allow this sorry state of affairs to persist...

...If there are many brash and vulgar megalomaniacs among the collectors, who use art mainly for the sake of safe investment and even safer self-aggrandizement, the percentage of dealers who are villains is equally large...

...For years he was able to go on painting only because his wife gave piano lessons to provide for him and their child...

...She accurately notes that the artist "is in the art world, but not part of it, and he is torn between wanting its respect and deriding its commerce...

...Unfortunately, at all times the ranks of the big collectors have included more ruthless and vainglorious men who acquired paintings or sculptures out of snobbery than true and unselfish art lovers who knew what they liked, bought what they loved, and did not reject works by gifted men and women who had yet to achieve recognition...

...Some employ the most reprehensible methods to obtain and sell works of art, often at the expense of the artist, who is rarely a financial wizard...

...But the intellectuals who belong to the Establishment are caught in a predicament...

...The book is largely based on interviews with dozens of the Art Establishment, among them dealers and critics who talked to her about their activities and philosophies with a frankness that brings to mind the cliche: write what you please but spell the name right...

...Complaints about the wickedness of patrons, dealers, and'even artists have appeared in print since the Renaissance...

...Burnham knows this, yet she exclaims, "Art has become a commodity," as if this statement would fully explain the current unhealthiness of the situation...

...There are, of course, dealers who are scrupulously correct in their transactions with artists and customers alike, but Burnham ignores those who are satisfied with a modest profit...

...Was art something else in the times of the Borgias...

...She puts down for their naivete those few collectors who are shocked by the wheeling and dealing on Madison Avenue : "They believe that art, being the highest form of visual expression, is governed by the highest moral code...

...But even if these excellent reforms are introduced, they would be mere palliatives...

...Yet her holier-than-thou attitude is ill-suited to the contents of her book, which concentrates on the juiciest bits of gossip, pries into the private lives of people in the art world, and is silent about the many exceptions to the rule of misconduct, as if they were of no significance...

...Burnham is more mercifully inclined towards the artist whose precarious situation she understands...

...Auction houses should announce the "reserve" price, set by the owner...