The Daily Telegraph’s parent company was ordered Tuesday to pay more than $100,000 in damages over a book review. The British newspaper lost a lawsuit for libel and malicious falsehood in the high court.

A high court in London today ruled that The Daily Telegraph libeled journalist Sarah Thornton in their review of her book Seven Days in the Art World, and ordered that the paper pay her £65,000, plus her legal fees.

A terrific review in Spanish of SEVEN DAYS IN THE ART WORLD. "Siete días en el mundo del arte es un gran reportaje. Es "el" reportaje sobre la escena plástica contemporánea."

Sarah Thornton's Seven Days in the Art World (W. W. Norton, 2009) never mentions food except in passing. Her work is a delightfully articulated ethnography of subcultures in the art world. I read it for a complete diversion from work—but, throughout, I kept thinking about the different interests, powerful and weak, moneyed and poor, who inhabit the world of food. Ultimately it inspired me to seek an ethnographic assignment I am pursuing next month—four days in a commercial kitchen observing and participating in the rhythms of what "really goes on" to produce massive numbers of meals in limited space, high temperatures, and little time for error.

SEVEN DAYS IN THE ART WORLD -- #10 in pbk nonfiction

Alexander McCall Smith chooses SEVEN DAYS IN THE ART WORLD. William Dalrymple chooses IN OTHER ROOMS, OTHER WONDERS. Christopher Brookmyre chooses THE ABYSSINIAN PROOF. Janice Galloway chooses MURIEL SPARK: THE BIOGRAPHY.

“Seven Days should be welcomed as a breakthrough contribution to the
ethnography of contemporary culture: a close to definitive glimpse,
through brilliant polished windows, at one of the most revealing
examples of a genuinely global social milieu. With rigour and
subtlety, Thornton displays what qualitative sociology can do at its
best: listen, observe and learn, while paying meticulous attention to
the life-worlds of research subjects themselves.”

Seven Days in the Art World By Sarah Thornton. Granta, £8.99
With the rest of the economy still blundering about in a recession the art market has remained buoyant, a notable example being last year’s Damien Hirst sale which netted more than £100 million. Sarah Thornton brings such scenes wittily alive as she commutes between the Venice Biennale, the Berne arts fair and the Tate’s Turner Prize. Aesthetics, it seems, give place to common-or-garden greed. I have a feeling that it was always so; indeed Benvenuto Cellini, that great autobiographer, would agree. Nicholas Bagnall

He just finished reading ‘‘Seven Days in the Art World,’’ by the sociologist Sarah Thornton. ‘‘It’s a gossipy peek at art-tribe rituals like auction houses, Art Basel and the Turner Prize process,’’ Nilsson says.

Sarah Thornton on Maurizio Cattelan in the Economist

Like any commodity, art is worth only what someone is willing to pay for it. But unlike anything else, its value is entirely subjective. For brand-name artists to emerge and command breathtaking price-tags, a makeshift consensus is necessary. How does this happen? Or, as Robert Cottrell once asked: "Why $73m for a Rothko--and not $7.3m, or $173m?"

Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton. ”Seven Days in the Art World is a social history of the recent past. Set in New York, Los Angeles, London, Basel, Venice, and Tokyo, the book is populated by colorful characters who espouse conflicting definitions of art…In a series of day-in-the-life narratives,

Sarah Thornton's chronicle of the booming art world of a year or two ago might just as well be an anthropological study of an isolated tribe of the Amazon rain forest or some other far off locale. It is a piece of ethnographic writing, where the social and cultural behaviors of a group of people are described in depth, using thorough and careful "participant observation" (fly on the wall reporting) as the primary research method. This is not to say that this book is academic and boring; just the opposite in fact - it is well paced, gossipy at times, and generally highly entertaining. It is not, however, much about the art itself, but an in-depth study of the subcultures and social signals that make up the ecosystem that surrounds it.

Sarah Thornton, a Canadian sociologist and writer based in London, UK, is the author of a recent book on contemporary art that’s making waves for its observant distillation of today’s art scene. The book, Seven Days in the Art World, is based on first-hand involvement that takes readers inside auctions, crits, art fairs, prizes, magazines, studio visits and biennales. Thornton speaks in Toronto at the Art Gallery of Ontario on April 15, and then in Vancouver at Vancity Theatre on April 18. Earlier this winter, she answered questions about her book from Canadian Art contributor Charlene K. Lau.

Last Thursday, Sarah Thornton, author of Seven Days in the Art World, gave a lecture in Toronto at the Art Gallery of Ontario. As I've pointed out here last fall, I really enjoyed the book—so much so it even made my top ten list for 2008. I tend to understand art objects, but not the structures and subcultures around them, and Thornton's book is all about those structures and subcultures. To boot, it's pretty well written.

Leah Sandals top ten for 2008: #8. “7 Days in the Art World” by Sarah Thornton: I know that technically as an art writer I’m supposed to understand a lot that goes on in the art world. Yet I really, really don’t. So it was a total treat to read sociologist Thornton’s condensed take on seven facets of the art biz, from auctions and art schools to studios and biennales.

Sarah Thornton's Seven Days in the Art World chronicles a world flush with money and a time when the newly wealthy and the old money competed for fame as collectors. During Thornton’s narrative, which takes place from 2004 to 2007, the art community tilts toward excess:

Sarah Thornton, who has a B.A. in art history and a Ph.D. in cultural sociology, has deconstructed the contemporary art world by investigating seven of its most famous and arguably most important indicators: the Christie’s auction, a Cal Arts art crit, the Basal Art Fair, the Turner Prize, ArtForum magazine, a famous art studio (Takashi Murakami’s), and the Venice Biennale. If you are involved in the art world in any way, you will enjoy this revealing fast read – and figuratively brushing shoulders with some of today’s major players (the book is based on 250+ high profile interviews).

You’d think the intended audience for Seven Days in the Art World is as narrow in focus as some of the contemporary art it references. Yet jet-setting author Sarah Thornton manages to achieve broad-based appeal for what could otherwise be a sluggish academic tome. Her crisp writing style, attention to quirky details, and ability to demystify an enigmatic system never detracts from the fascinating people who inhabit it.

Wry and informed, witty and engaging, Sarah Thornton's smart précis of the art world's inner workings is sure to stand as an exemplar of the ethnographic form, an entertaining and revelatory work that is sure to change how readers look at contemporary culture and its many boosters.

For those interested in art, Thornton provides an incredible peek inside arenas that are normally off limits to those of us without credentials, money, or connections. Like any industry, there are rules and protocols within which any painter, gallery owner, broker, or buyer must operate. For those of you that thought otherwise, you are in for quite a surprise. You may just wish that you were never let behind the curtain.

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