Duveen: The Story of the Most Spectacular Art Dealer of All Time | 
 enlarge | Author: S.n. Behrman
Publisher: Little Bookroom
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $5.65
You Save: $9.30 (62%)
New (18) Used (15) Collectible (1) from $3.66
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 509469
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 242
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 1892145170
Dewey Decimal Number: 380.1457092
EAN: 9781892145178
ASIN: 1892145170
Publication Date: March 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A startling number of masterpieces now in American museums are there because of the shrewdness of one man, Joseph Duveen, art dealer to John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon, Henry Clay Frick, and William Randolph Hearst. In a series of articles originally published in The New Yorker, playwright S.N. Behrman evokes the larger-than-life Duveen and reveals the wheeling and dealing, subterfuge, and spirited drama behind the sale of nearly—but not quite—priceless Rembrandts, Vermeers, Turners, and Bellinis.
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| Customer Reviews:
 a must read for art sellers and buyers May 3, 2008
This amusing read, describes Duveen's single-handed effort in creating America's most serious art collectors. Laying-out the process of cultivating a deep desire for the very best in fine art from Europe in America's richest, most insecure industrial giants. Duveen's plan unfolds; culminating in fantastically expensive, name-brand, catalogs and the pinnacle of his career, an art Museum in Washington, in which his clients, the industrial giants of the early 1900's, would achieve victory in their quest for immortality. All art sales associates and those considering art buying should read this book first.
 Is it real or is it Duveen? February 9, 2004
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
While this book is enormously entertaining, it's value is limited as a serious work of history. The reality is; Lord Duveen, grandson of a blacksmith from Delft, who went on to be an English Baron, was much more of a hustler than this 1950's era fantasy makes him out to be. For a more modern take on Lord Duveen try: Artful Partners: Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen by Colin Simpson.
 Duveen September 16, 2003
2 out of 17 found this review helpful
This book was horrible! There was no logical order to the book because it is just a bunch of stories put together about Duveen. It is so boring, all the book does is talk about how dumb millionares were and how they were stupid enough to buy from Duveen and his crazy ways. This book was so bad, please save yourself the time and money and not buy this book.
Witty History December 26, 2000
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is one of the most fabulous books that you will ever read. At about 100 pages it is a fast read. Too fast. Duveen is the most amazing art dealer that the world will ever see and Behrman tells the life story of this undeniably interesting man with quick wit.
Duveen's divine December 16, 1999
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Excellent biography of a forgotten man and his times - a man that changed the way Americans collected European art. Funny, witty and appallingly honest. A must read for anyone serious about art buying.
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