Colleague Collectors: A Statistical Analysis of Artists’ Collecting Networks in Nineteenth-Century New York

This article on the history of collecting in the US during the nineteenth century is divided in two parts. Part I uses novel quantitative data and econometric methods to examine the extent to which socioeconomic factors systematically influenced nineteenth-century American art collectors' acquisitions. These statistical tests reveal that American artists were some of the most active collectors of contemporary American art during the nineteenth century. Part II explores the phenomenon of colleague collecting. It argues that nineteenth-century American artists collected one another's work to help each other in an art world and market with inconsistent institutional and commercial support.