ABSTRACT
Within both the arts and the business literature, there have been wideranging debates as to what constitutes value and how it can be defined or measured. In this chapter, we focus on the visual arts market, particularly since there has always been a significant lack of understanding as to how this market operates and how art is valued or indeed which values are being considered: aesthetic, social, cultural, critical and/or financial. Despite the art market being an increasingly valuable sector in the global economyestimates indicate that auction and private sales amount to $50 billion annually, not including revenue made from public institutions (Horowitz, 2011)—it is the least transparent and least regulated major commercial activity in the world (Buck, 2004). The process through which art is valued therefore illuminates a market often considered impenetrable by outsiders to the field and thus can fruitfully provide insight into the question of value from the perspectives of both the arts and business (Robertson, 2005).
