Pages ahead of the market

It's Art Basel Miami Beach time again. Today's daily fair edition of The Art Newspaper (PDF) has short article on the resurgence of interest in artist Francis Picabia (1887–1953). Several galleries, the article notes, are showing Picabia's work at the fair. While the gallerists themselves suggest, "It kind of just happened,” and "I think when you have changes in the market, people re-evaluate why they were buying things in the first place," I'd posit a different reason for the new-found interest: MIT Press' publication of two Picabia books last fall.

The books -- one a critical study and the other a volume of the artist's writings -- were both critically acclaimed, showing up on a number of "Best Of 2007" lists, and both, I believe, were popular sellers. There's no doubt in my mind that the resurgence started with the books' publication and is just now filtering through to the market. Too often, book publication is overlooked (sometimes intentionally so) as a driver of the art market and of popular interest in particular artists and art movements. It's made even more interesting, I think, when that publication originates at a scholarly press. The divide between art scholarship and the art market is usually illustrated as much wider than it actually is and I have seen little frank conversation about this fact in the art media. Picabia at Art Basel Miami Beach would have seemed an obvious and interesting time to try.

I Am a Beautiful Monster: Poetry, Prose, and Provocation, Francis Picabia, Marc Lowenthal trans. (2007, MIT Press, $39.95, 9780262162432)

The Artwork Caught by the Tail: Francis Picabia and Dada in Paris, George Baker (2007, MIT Press, $39.95, 9780262026185)