Abstract

LOPEZ HERNANDEZ, Isabel. Bruce Chatwin: Utz, His Novel About the Art-World. Humanidades [online]. 2020, vol.10, n.2, pp.33-43. ISSN 2215-3934.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/h.v10i2.41806.

British writer Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989) makes a compulsive collector the central axis of his novel Utz. Through that character, he reflects on the art world remembering his work at the auction house Sotheby´s. His experience there gave him the knowledge and look that would condition his life. He learnt to analyze a work of art, to describe it in just a few words and to value it in the market. All of it can be noticed in his writing style, in which he pursues the kind of the precision observed in cataloguers. He developed his own technique. Besides, he acquired a strong contact network around the world. He put his eyes on peculiar personalities that led to the creation of Utz, personification of all those art dealers and collectors that he met during his time as the head of the firm's Impressionist and Modern Art department. Moreover, his work at Sotheby´s awakened his eternal dilemma between possession, search for immortality and creation. This article examines how the author treats the above topics in his novel.

Keywords : Porcelain; Art collection; Museum.

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