Arne Glimcher

“I would begin by collecting lithographs and etchings. It's a way of coming in and benefiting from real quality art. Even younger artists make wonderful prints. Prints can become very valuable. That's how I began collecting.”

“Money embarrasses me.”

“In the early 1990s we witnessed the emergence of a revitalized contemporary Chinese art world that began as a reaction against the government-approved Social Realist style. Zhang Xiaogang, Huang Yong Ping, Ai WeiWei, Yue Minjun, and Wang Guangyi were among the first group of artists to establish a movement that became known as Cynical Realism.”

“Fairs are beneath the dignity of art. To stand there in a booth and hawk your wares - it is just not how you sell art.”

“When Robert Benton was doing the movie 'In the Still of the Night,' I'd choreographed the auction scene and supplied the paintings and had a bit part - I was bidding against Meryl Streep.”

“I've been told I'm a good midcareer manager.”

“It's possible to have more than one interest. I've been a painter and did summer stock.”

“If Abstract Expression reached for the sublime, Pop turned ordinary imagery into icons. Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol illuminated the transformative power of context and the process of reproduction. Claes Oldenburg's soft ice-cream cones and hamburgers changed sculpture from hard to soft, from stasis to transformation.”

“I like the idea of a love story between men. There is a great affection between men, which exists much more in ethnic groups: Latin, Italian, Jewish.”

“Art is a tool by which society extends its perception.”

“I've always been in love with the movies. They're the dreams of the 20th Century.”

“People see owning a gallery as a way to get rich. I never thought that I could get rich in the art world. I wanted a life in art. I wanted to live with artists. I wanted to make beautiful shows.”

“No one's ever called me anything but 'Arne.'”

“Historically, art has always had a market. When one medieval fiefdom defeated another they would drag back its jewels, gold, tapestries and art objects as the spoils of war. Art equaled power, riches and culture.”

“Elvis Presley's music never meant anything to me. Mambo was the music I loved - it spoke to me.”

“Draw what you see.”

“I'm a visual person.”

“Film and art are close together.”

“I don't believe in selling art by transparencies. Art is a firsthand experience.”

“Some prescient American collectors, including Vicki and Kent Logan and Mera and Donald Rubell, began collecting Chinese art before 2000 with a genuine passion, but as the auction prices exploded everyone was beating a path to the galleries and artist studios in China. It became the 'China thing.'”