This hefty book aims to explore the phenomenon of more than 75 modern art galleries from the 1940s to the present. The size of the book appears to be intimidating, but curators and critics Kirsty Bell, Adam Szymczyk and Jens Hoffmann have made it accessible and easy to read. The editors, Uta Grosenick and Ramar Stange, also wrote a synopsis introducing the development of significant of art galleries, artists and dealers since the post-war period.
On the whole, this was an ambitious attempt to overview the success and establishment of European and American galleries from the 20th century to the present. Yet, they also miss out on the competitive emergence of 'international art galleries'. Likewise, the editors managed to include only four galleries from non-western countries which are mentioned under a broad and opaque subheading entitled 'The New Millennium: Pure Globalisation'.
Then again, the intention of the book was not about contemporary shifts. Rather, the aim was to revalidate and argue the extent in which Western post-war art galleries have influenced economical and historical value of modern art. The editors also acknowledge art galleries in (once) developing countries, when they first began to renew national and international commercial and critical interests in modern art. This is a standard point. Grosenik and Stange underlines that it is no longer possible to conclude the history of international art galleries based in Europe and America. However, their research on developing stages of 'international art galleries in the post-millennium' appears to be too short, even disinterested. As a result, the book ends up undermining the diversity of contemporary international galleries, artists, spaces and dealers who have contributed to the value of art and the art market which is expanding, variable and unpredictable.
To read the original book review, see, Yujin Min, International Art Galleries: Post-War to Post-Millennium, Contemporary Magazine, no. 81, 2006.
International Art Galleries, Post-War to Post-Millennium: A Narrative Chronology of the Dealers, Artists have Spaces that have Defined Modern Art, edited by Uta Grosenick and Raimar Stange (London: Thames and Hudson), 2005
