Amazon has just announced that it’s partnered up with over 150 galleries and art dealers across the US to sell you fine art through its new initiative Amazon Art.
The site offers over 40,000 original works of fine art, showcasing 4,500 artists. That, perhaps unsurprisingly, makes it the largest online collection of art directly available from galleries and dealers. Partners in the project include Paddle8 in New York, the McLoughlin Gallery in San Francisco, and the Catherine Person Gallery in Seattle.
Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon — which will reportedly take a 5 to 20 per cent cut on all sales — was planning to launch the new service. At the time, it seemed that plenty of galleries thought that selling art online via Amazon may be distasteful. Clearly, that negative feeling hasn’t stopped Bezos & Co..
Given Amazon’s last attempt at selling art — a project with Sotheby’s back in 200 — only lasted 16 months, it’ll be interesting to see how the initiative works out. It’s certainly an interesting idea, but how happy would you be spending big bucks on art online? [Amazon Art via PR Business Wire via Verge]
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