SMART MONEY AND ART

1st Edition, Station Hill Press, Berrytown, New York, 1986, 256 p., hardback w/dust jacket. Dust jacket illustration: detail from 'Oh those reds..etc 1969-73' by Tom Phillips. ISBN on dust jacket differs from copyright page. From the dust jacket: This book is about collecting fine art. "A work of art," says Walter D. Bannard, the artist, "is a coherent physical entity put before a special apperception called taste." An object becomes collectible as art when it is declared and accepted as art. Can the collecting of fine art be a profitable investment? Blending his own experiences with specific down-to-earth suggestions, Martin A. Ackerman tells us that the successful collector is one who can find a way to improve his own experience in looking. Collecting for profit, he says, is not about buying and selling fine art but knowing what to buy. But in order to know what to buy, one must improve his own experiences in learning how to look. One must become a visually literate person. In the end, Ackerman suggests that, once the mind and the eyes start to work together, you develop an experience of taste - that is, a power to discern and appreciate whatever constitutes the best. Martine A. Ackerman gained national attention by winning control of the Curtis Publishing Company. Ten years ago, the flamboyant wheeler-dealer traded in his New York law practice, his Lear Jet, and various other baubles for his life in the not-so-fast land and a chance to pursue his growing interest in art. Today, he's a world renowned authority on the subject, a legal advisor to both artists and dealers, and a noted patron of the arts.