Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art Business

First Advisor

Betsy Thomas

Second Advisor

Agnes Berecz

Abstract

This thesis asks a simple question: does the language in lot notes relate to price and to whether a lot beats or misses its estimate? I study eight Abstract Expressionist artists: Ad Reinhardt, Adolph Gottlieb, Barnett Newman, Franz Kline, Joan Mitchell, Lee Krasner, Robert Motherwell, and Sam Francis because their works are less representational and often need supporting text to explain the context. The main sample includes only lots sold for more than $1 million at Christie’s or Sotheby’s in New York or London over the past ten years. I measure a small set of writing features that are easy to replicate in a spreadsheet: word and sentence counts,  an index of International Art English (IAE) vocabulary, nominalizations, subordinators, and comma use. Outcomes cover both price level (log of price realized) and performance against estimates (over low estimate, over high estimate, plus simple over‑high and under‑low estimates binary flags). I calculate Pearson correlations for 2014 - 2025 and compare average writing style to a 2000 - 2009 baseline. Two distinct patterns stand out in this study. First, longer, more clause‑connected notes tend to accompany higher price results. Second, these same notes do not help beat estimates. If anything, leaner lot notes are more common where price overperforms auction house estimates. The IAE vocabulary index, on its own, appears to be weaker than those structural signals. Results are descriptive, not causal, and every step, cleaning, counts, rates, and correlations, is implemented with transparent spreadsheet formulas so another reader can reproduce the analysis.

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