Amazon Art has launched.
The early reviews are not good. Tyler Cowen does not think it will revolutionize the art world. Greg Allen says the search "filters have nothing to do with how I look for and buy art." Hyde or Die: "Blech."
Strangely, though, the Washington Post thinks it's awesome.
UPDATE: Via The Art Market Monitor, the on-site commenters are having a field day with this.
UPDATE 2: Matthew Yglesias: "This is probably not going to work for seriously high-end art where things Amazon is great at like shipping and customer reviews aren't very important. That said, I wouldn't be quite as down on this as Tyler Cowen. My feeling is that there's a real business opportunity in the 4-5 figure range selling stuff that art snobs would look down on to people who art snobs would look down on."
UPDATE 3: The NYT's Patricia Cohen: "The day after Amazon unveiled its new fine art marketplace, the online retailer was finding that its customers are as willing to offer their opinions on a $1.45 million oil painting by the Impressionist master Claude Monet as they are of the $2.74 Hutzler 571 banana slicer."
