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Analysis of institutional authors

Lopez Hernandez, IsabelAuthor

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July 25, 2020
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Bruce Chatwin: Utz, His Novel About the Art-World

Publicated to:Revista De Humanidades (Costa Rica). 10 (2): - 2020-01-01 10(2), DOI: 10.15517/h.v10i2.41806

Authors: Lopez Hernandez, Isabel

Affiliations

‎ Univ Politecn Madrid, Madrid, Spain - Author

Abstract

British writer Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989) makes a compulsive collector the central axis of his novel Utz. Through that character, he reflects on the art world remembering his work at the auction house Sotheby's. His experience there gave him the knowledge and look that would condition his life. He learnt to analyze a work of art, to describe it in just a few words and to value it in the market. All of it can be noticed in his writing style, in which he pursues the kind of the precision observed in cataloguers. He developed his own technique. Besides, he acquired a strong contact network around the world. He put his eyes on peculiar personalities that led to the creation of Utz, personification of all those art dealers and collectors that he met during his time as the head of the firm's Impressionist and Modern Art department. Moreover, his work at Sotheby's awakened his eternal dilemma between possession, search for immortality and creation. This article examines how the author treats the above topics in his novel.

Keywords

Art collectionMuseumPorcelain

Quality index

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-07:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 1.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 1 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 2.85.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 3 (Altmetric).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (LOPEZ HERNANDEZ, ISABEL) and Last Author (LOPEZ HERNANDEZ, ISABEL).