Skip to content

Amazon Opens Fine Art Store (Wine and Cheese Not Included)

The Seattle megaretailer is crashing the fine art party

By Brangien Davis August 6, 2013

screenshot2013-08-06at31043pm

Amazon Fine Art (beta) launched today, right on the heels of the gigantic news that Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post (not a copy of the newspaper, but the entire newspaper). The timing has many people fretting about Bezos becoming king of the world, but until that happens we might as well explore the new art offerings at Amazon.

The press release boasts 40,000+ artworks from more than 150 galleries, including three from Seattle: Linda Hodges, Catherine Person and Abmeyer + Wood. That translates to a bunch of Northwest artists whose work is now up for sale in front of a gazillion eyeballs. For example, Seattle artist Jennifer Beeden Snow’s cool pool painting ($1000; via Linda Hodges) or an intriguing tin tray painting-collage by local artist Deborah Faye Lawrence ($1890; via Catherine Person). 

In addition to plenty of affordable options (including a couple hundred works in the $250-$500 range), there are some impressively high-ticket offerings. Extreme Beatles fans might consider photographer Harry Benson’s archival print of the Fab Four having a pillow fight for $16,500 (plus $308 shipping). Those with a more Impressionistic bent can snap up an original Monet for $40K (plus $250 shipping). Prefer Pop Art? How ‘bout Andy Warhol’s 14”x14” screen print of flowers for $1,150,000 (plus $350 shipping)?

It’s hard to replicate the element of “discovery” in an online shopping environment, but if you establish some parameters (price range, medium, style), you can wander around inside them. Looking at the art by “subject” is perhaps the most akin to exploring an art fair—with all the associated pros and cons: “Animals” pulls up all manner of paintings and photos of goats, birds, bears and horses, but “Emotions” is a mysterious bag indeed, including an oil portrait of a Native American in full regalia, a vintage photograph of the Brooklyn Bridge and an illustration of a chicken next to the number 8. (Perhaps I’m not sufficiently in touch with my emotions to get the connection here. Or perhaps it’s a tagging issue.)

If you’re worried about how a piece will look in your home, click on the decidedly silly “in room” thumbnail to see it virtually hung on a large white wall, above a mod gray chair and a green cube ottoman. Don’t have a mod gray chair and a green cube ottoman? Well, you can probably buy those on Amazon too.

 

Follow Us

Studio Sessions: Jo Cosme

Studio Sessions: Jo Cosme

The Seattle-based multimedia artist and 2026 Neddy Award winner challenges the postcard version of Puerto Rico and centers the persistence of its people.

Jo Cosme knows how seductive a postcard can be. The Seattle-based Boricua (Puerto Rican) multimedia artist works across photography, installation, video, sound, and interactive elements to examine and pull apart how Puerto Rico is seen, sold, and misunderstood from the outside. Trained in photojournalism, with a BFA in photography from Puerto Rico School of Fine…

Seattle's Drag Brunch Has History

Seattle’s Drag Brunch Has History

The city’s Sunday shows started long before the mimosas got bottomless.

There was a time not too long ago, when drag performances—now a mainstay of Seattle’s queer scene—were kept under wraps. And when brunches, complete with singing and dancing queens dressed in dazzling drag as you sipped mimosas, weren’t a Sunday staple.  During the 1940s and ‘50s, an era largely shaped by restrictive laws and bias…

Studio Sessions: Sangram Majumdar

Studio Sessions: Sangram Majumdar

Working at the confluence of history, culture, and various painting traditions, UW associate professor Sangram Majumdar is one of this year’s Neddy Artist Award winners.

Discover the art of UW professor Sangram Majumdar, a 2026 Neddy Artist Award winner. Learn about his inspiration and upcoming Seattle exhibition at Cornish.

Rearview Mirror: A Georgian Dinner, Sidewalk Sips, and One-of-a-Kind Clothing

Rearview Mirror: A Georgian Dinner, Sidewalk Sips, and One-of-a-Kind Clothing

Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).

A new life for old clothes To celebrate one year in its current studio, the FXRY—a clothing repair service available via in-person appointments, home pickup, or mail-in drop off—is dropping its first collection. A small batch of reworked pieces, Second Mark will feature 13 vintage barn jackets, cropped, chain-stitched, and renewed into a completely unique, one-of-one…