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Amazon launches Amazon Art marketplace

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Re: Amazon launches Amazon Art marketplace

#11

Post by justincormack »

jdmitch wrote: post #10

This seems pretty incredible, unless there is something not entirely straightforward about who has actually made them. $1200-$2000 for an original limited edition Salvador Dali or Marc Chagall print, seems like a steal. Maybe I just don't know much about how less rare artworks of well-known artists tend to be priced though...

Prints are cheap. These are not signed, "signed on plate" means the engraving plate was signed but that does not mean the print was supervised by the artist so they are semi mass produced. But even signed prints by moderately well known artists are cheap as they are very unfashionable.

Re: Amazon launches Amazon Art marketplace

#12

Post by tagawa »

hesslau wrote: post #2

quick question: does anyone know of a service that serves free (as in »free beer«) art (paintings, photography, illustrations etc.) to download in high resolution so you can print them yourself?

Maybe this: http://www.fromoldbooks.org/ ? Might not be as high resolution as you'd like but still an interesting collection of art from old books.

Re: Amazon launches Amazon Art marketplace

#13

Post by xmmx »

jdmitch wrote: post #10

This seems pretty incredible, unless there is something not entirely straightforward about who has actually made them. $1200-$2000 for an original limited edition Salvador Dali or Marc Chagall print, seems like a steal. Maybe I just don't know much about how less rare artworks of well-known artists tend to be priced though...

Why are reproductions so expensive? Why is this item (http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Comedy-Inferno-Canto-Minotaur/d...) so much more expensive than this one (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Salvador-Dali-DIVINE-COMEDY-INFERNO-...) even though neither are originals?

Re: Amazon launches Amazon Art marketplace

#14

Post by ippisl »

adregan wrote: post #3

I wonder what the Artsy ( http://artsy.net/ ) folks think of this? I won't speak to the quality of art on the Amazon site as I browsed rather shallowly and don't have anything nice to say. Rather I will comment on the presentation. This is certainly a time when Amazon's one size fits all store presentation falls flat. There is a whole field of expertise involving the presentation of art, and they haven't done a great…

Maybe their strategy is to build generic stores, but let affiliates do customizations ?

Re: Amazon launches Amazon Art marketplace

#15

Post by 7952 »

adregan wrote: post #3

I wonder what the Artsy ( http://artsy.net/ ) folks think of this? I won't speak to the quality of art on the Amazon site as I browsed rather shallowly and don't have anything nice to say. Rather I will comment on the presentation. This is certainly a time when Amazon's one size fits all store presentation falls flat. There is a whole field of expertise involving the presentation of art, and they haven't done a great…

Other sites tend to make "viewing" part of the experience, and I'm guessing this doesn't actually lead to sales most of the time. Anyway the best way to view a painting is in person.

Making the commercial aspect of buying art just like any other purchase is appealing to me (instead of a mediated experience). I think the benefit of this is similar to the buy it now button on eBay; its for people who just want to buy and don't want to mess about.

For expensive art this is just going to be a friendlier alternative to auction. For cheaper stuff it could make buying original art like any other purchase. For that you need a good returns policy that every one trusts. Who is better than Amazon for that?

Re: Amazon launches Amazon Art marketplace

#16

Post by adregan »

jdmitch wrote: post #10

This seems pretty incredible, unless there is something not entirely straightforward about who has actually made them. $1200-$2000 for an original limited edition Salvador Dali or Marc Chagall print, seems like a steal. Maybe I just don't know much about how less rare artworks of well-known artists tend to be priced though...

If you refine your search to exclude prints, you can find original Dali for $78,500[1]. I'm not finding a lot of information on the "limited" nature of many of these lithographs, though.

1: http://www.amazon.com/Baie-Port-Lligat-LHomme-Croix/dp/B00E1...

Re: Amazon launches Amazon Art marketplace

#17

Post by contingencies »

hesslau wrote: post #2

quick question: does anyone know of a service that serves free (as in »free beer«) art (paintings, photography, illustrations etc.) to download in high resolution so you can print them yourself?

Not a unified one, however most museums have decent interfaces to their collections these days. I would highly recommend the Met Museum in New York's catalog, for instance. Some produce limited resolutions or force you to decode some kind of image-slicing, but in general you can get super high resolution copies for free that would be suitable for personal use.

Re: Amazon launches Amazon Art marketplace

#18

Post by adregan »

7952 wrote: post #15
adregan wrote: post #3

I wonder what the Artsy ( http://artsy.net/ ) folks think of this? I won't speak to the quality of art on the Amazon site as I browsed rather shallowly and don't have anything nice to say. Rather I will comment on the presentation. This is certainly a time when Amazon's one size fits all store presentation falls flat. There is a whole field of expertise involving the presentation of art, and they haven't done a great…

Other sites tend to make "viewing" part of the experience, and I'm guessing this doesn't actually lead to sales most of the time. Anyway the best way to view a painting is in person. Making the commercial aspect of buying art just like any other purchase is appealing to me (instead of a mediated experience). I think the benefit of this is similar to the buy it now button on eBay; its for people who just want to buy a…

That's an interesting thought concerning what leads to sales. Galleries don't really A/B test, and aesthetics and appearance are perhaps more important than sales.

I wonder if Amazon will be able to create bridges to the galleries in the same way that a site like Artsy might? The fine art world cares a great deal about the image it projects—will galleries want to be on Amazon (will people spend 10s of thousands of dollars via 1 click shopping)?

Part of me is excited about this as it might knock the crazy fine arts world down a few notches. I highly recommend the documentary with the late great Robert Hughes "The Mona Lisa Curse." It explores the extreme amount of capital that flooded the art world, drove up prices, and led to a world of less than stellar art. Maybe if Koons or Hirst start selling on Amazon, things will start to even out.

Re: Amazon launches Amazon Art marketplace

#19

Post by smackfu »

xmmx wrote: post #13
jdmitch wrote: post #10

This seems pretty incredible, unless there is something not entirely straightforward about who has actually made them. $1200-$2000 for an original limited edition Salvador Dali or Marc Chagall print, seems like a steal. Maybe I just don't know much about how less rare artworks of well-known artists tend to be priced though...

Why are reproductions so expensive? Why is this item ( http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Comedy-Inferno-Canto-Minotaur/d... ) so much more expensive than this one ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/Salvador-Dali-DIVINE-COMEDY-INFERNO-... ) even though neither are originals?

The expensive one is signed in the bottom right, and also has some kind of red block print in the middle bottom.

It says it is a woodblock print, so these are the "originals". But print pricing is very dependent on external factors. An artist may produce 100 prints when he starts, but then when he gets famous (or after his peak when he needs $$$), someone gets him to create another 5000 prints from those same blocks. Both sets may look identical, but if someone can identify something that proves yours is 1 of 100 rather than 1 of 5000, it is much more valuable.

Also, as a practical matter, Dali prints are very often faked, so buying it from a real gallery who can provide a provenance is for the best.

Given all that, the details given on the Amazon Art page for this print are completely insufficient for anyone who is going to spend that much on a print. I would not buy one at a tenth that price without seeing it in person.

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