Anecdotes in this BusinessWeek story suggest that Amazon’s art program hasn’t gained much traction:

Betsy Senior, owner of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, sells work through Artsy but not Amazon. “The Amazon venture is never going to be serious about reaching the kind of collector I want to reach,” Senior says. “It’s too populist.”

Indeed, the high-end gallery owners who have so far joined Amazon haven’t moved much merchandise. Kenneth Friedman, for example, owns an eponymous gallery in Calabasas, California, dealing in work by Chuck Close, Jim Dine and Ed Ruscha. Friedman spent a week loading digital images into Amazon’s system, including a self-portrait by Close for $14,000, a Robert Rauschenberg screen print for $15,000 and a Richard Serra etching for $9,500. Then he waited. And waited.

“We’ve sold one piece,” Friedman says. “And that was an uphill battle.”

It’s not for lack of trying. Friedman shares Bezos’s commitment to the lowest possible prices.

“Nobody has priced material lower than us,” Friedman says. “And I provide free shipping.”

Amazon Puts Art in Cart With Koons to Warhol Just Click Away (Businessweek)