Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Sacred Art: Who Has the Power to Define Art?
- 2 The Denial of the Economy: Why Are Gifts to the Arts Praised, While Market Incomes Remain Suspect?
- 3 Economic Value Versus Aesthetic Value: Is There Any Financial Reward for Quality?
- 4 The Selflessly Devoted Artist: Are Artists Reward-Oriented?
- 5 Money for the Artist: Are Artists Just Ill-Informed Gamblers?
- 6 Structural Poverty: Do Subsidies and Donations Increase Poverty?
- 7 The Cost Disease: Do Rising Costs in the Arts Make Subsidization Necessary?
- 8 The Power and the Duty to Give: Why Give to the Arts?
- 9 The Government Serves Art: Do Art Subsidies Serve the Public Interest or Group Interests?
- 10 Art Serves the Government: How Symbiotic Is the Relationship between Art and the State?
- 11 Informal Barriers Structure the Arts: How Free or Monopolized Are the Arts?
- 12 Conclusion: a Cruel Economy: Why Is the Exceptional Economy of the Arts so Persistent?
- Epilogue: the Future Economy of the Arts: Is this Book’s Representation of the Economy of the Arts Outdated?
- Notes
- Literature
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
3 - Economic Value Versus Aesthetic Value: Is There Any Financial Reward for Quality?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 January 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Sacred Art: Who Has the Power to Define Art?
- 2 The Denial of the Economy: Why Are Gifts to the Arts Praised, While Market Incomes Remain Suspect?
- 3 Economic Value Versus Aesthetic Value: Is There Any Financial Reward for Quality?
- 4 The Selflessly Devoted Artist: Are Artists Reward-Oriented?
- 5 Money for the Artist: Are Artists Just Ill-Informed Gamblers?
- 6 Structural Poverty: Do Subsidies and Donations Increase Poverty?
- 7 The Cost Disease: Do Rising Costs in the Arts Make Subsidization Necessary?
- 8 The Power and the Duty to Give: Why Give to the Arts?
- 9 The Government Serves Art: Do Art Subsidies Serve the Public Interest or Group Interests?
- 10 Art Serves the Government: How Symbiotic Is the Relationship between Art and the State?
- 11 Informal Barriers Structure the Arts: How Free or Monopolized Are the Arts?
- 12 Conclusion: a Cruel Economy: Why Is the Exceptional Economy of the Arts so Persistent?
- Epilogue: the Future Economy of the Arts: Is this Book’s Representation of the Economy of the Arts Outdated?
- Notes
- Literature
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
Summary
Market Success Demonstrates Low Quality, But not if the Artist's own Work is Successful
When Alex goes to the local pub with his artist friends, a recurrent theme in their conversations is the question of whether the prices of artworks reflect their artistic quality. The other day the work of a colleague who has recently become successful in the market was being discussed. They scolded him for accepting such high prices for such dreadful paintings. (This particular colleague frequents a different bar.) They are angry at the stupid art world, which buys all this crap – literally and figuratively. They question the existing order, in what it does to sales and reputations, but mostly regarding its critical judgment.
Alex and his colleagues can be expected to think this way. Within their group, they have developed a specific notion about aesthetics. As artists, it is essential to them to offer, through artistic means, critical commentaries on society, including the market. Because people cannot be expected to purchase painful commentary, society should furnish a sanctuary for art outside the realm of the market. For them this is the raison d’être for subsidies. Thus, it's fairly obvious that their notions about aesthetics means that art with a low market value has a high aesthetic value and vice versa.
Later on, that evening something strange happens. Alex's colleagues ask him whether he has sold anything during his present exhibition. They congratulate Alex when he tells them he has sold several drawings. They say he deserves it. One colleague says she thinks Alex's work has improved a lot over the past two years. Alex suddenly realizes that they often berate the market when it favors artists who are not their friends, and conversely, if one of their own suddenly tastes success, they tend to attach almost too much significance to it. The market suddenly goes from being something coincidental to something righteous. And so they have to justify its righteousness by concluding that Alex has worked hard and that his work has improved. But Alex wonders: maybe his work did not improve at all. Is it possible that his colleagues look at his work afresh because it is selling and that they suddenly see qualities they did not see before?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Why Are Artists Poor?The Exceptional Economy of the Arts, pp. 52 - 77Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2008