From Manet to Manhattan: Rise of the Modern Art Market - Softcover

Concentrating on paintings as well as books and oriental art, this is a panorama of the art market during the past century, covering collectors, dealers, auction houses and sales. It portrays the rise of the auction houses - Sotheby's and Christie's - and reviews controversial transactions and spectacular auctions in which such works as Picasso's "Au Lapin Agile" and Van Gogh's "Irises" and "Portrait of Dr Gachet" changed hands and broke records. The narrative is underpinned with financial facts and a discussion of art-price trends.

Peter Watson was educated at the universities of Durham, London and Rome. He has spent most of his life in newspapers, as a correspondent or an editor for the Sunday Times, The Times and the Observer, where he writes a weekly column on the art market. He has also written for the Spectator and is a contributor for the New York Times. In 1983, after posing as an international art dealer, he exposed a ring of art theives and smugglers moving stolen paintings from Italy to America. His investigation resulted in four people being convicted. His account, The Carvaggio Conspiracy was awarded a Gold Dagger by the British Crime Writers' Association. It was dramatised by the BBC, and nominated for an 'Emmy'. He has since published four thrillers set in the art world. Peter Watson lives in London and the south of France. His recreations are fishing, cricket and opera.