Excerpt from a Bloomberg.com article on Katherine Kuh's life in modern art, entitled, "Buying Kandinsky, Man Ray for $110: Katharine Kuh's Last Laugh".
In January 1937, Katharine Kuh was fortunate enough to attend an art sale in Chicago where the auctioneer had ``no idea what he was doing,'' as she put it. That day she bought two Kandinskys, two Man Rays, a Gabriele Muenter and a Bonnard lithograph -- for a grand total of $110.
Her conclusion? ``Prices, then as now, are interesting social barometers having nothing to do with the quality or staying power of art,'' she wrote in her posthumously published memoirs, ``My Love Affair With Modern Art.''
Check the money quote; I think she summed it up nicely.
In January 1937, Katharine Kuh was fortunate enough to attend an art sale in Chicago where the auctioneer had ``no idea what he was doing,'' as she put it. That day she bought two Kandinskys, two Man Rays, a Gabriele Muenter and a Bonnard lithograph -- for a grand total of $110.
Her conclusion? ``Prices, then as now, are interesting social barometers having nothing to do with the quality or staying power of art,'' she wrote in her posthumously published memoirs, ``My Love Affair With Modern Art.''
Check the money quote; I think she summed it up nicely.