For the 24th episode of "Reading the Art World," host Megan Fox Kelly speaks with Natasha Degen, author of "Merchants of Style: Art and Fashion After Warhol," which was published by Reaktion Books in London just last year.
"Merchants of Style" explores the accelerating convergence of art and fashion, looking at the interplay of artists and designers – and the role of institutions, both public and commercial – that has brought about this marriage of aesthetic industries. Natasha Degen argues that one figure more than any other anticipated this moment: Andy Warhol. Beginning with an overview of art and fashion’s deeply entwined histories before picking up where Warhol left off, "Merchants of Style" tells the story of art’s emboldened forays into commerce and fashion’s growing embrace of art.
Natasha Degen is actively engaged in the current thinking at the intersection of art, culture, and commerce. A highly regarded curator, critic and author, Natasha is Professor and Chair of Art Market Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She earned an AB from Princeton University and an MPhil and PhD from University of Cambridge where she studied as a Gates Scholar. She edited "The Market,” (MIT Press, 2013), an interdisciplinary anthology tracing the art market's interaction with contemporary practice, and she has contributed to publications including The New Yorker, The Financial Times, The New York Times, Art Forum and Frieze.
"Reading the Art World" is a live interview and podcast series with leading art world authors hosted by art advisor Megan Fox Kelly. The conversations explore timely subjects in the world of art, design, architecture, artists and the art market, and are an opportunity to engage further with the minds behind these insightful new publications.
Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.
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Purchase "Masters of Style: Art and Fashion After Warhol" at Reaktion Press.
Music composed by Bob Golden