ART WORKS FOR ALL

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30316, 17 December 1963, Page 9

ART WORKS FOR ALL

Instalment Purchases

In the United States, art collecting may soon lose its traditional status as a pastime reserved for an exclusive elite. Several big department stores are now buying paintings by the truckload to sell them to the general public on the instalment plan. The rise in recent years of American museum attendance and art sales has given these stores the idea of adding paintings and art reproductions to their stock. In order to sell original works at low prices (one store’s stock ranges from 10 dollars to 10,000 dollars a painting), they commission artists and buy their entire production. Stores usually choose works with the help of a wellknown expert. While this method may shock the purist, it encourages both contemporary painters and people who otherwise might never step into an art gallery or even think of buying a work or art.—Unesco Feature.