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- Epilogue: the Future Economy of the Arts: Is this Book’s Representation of the Economy of the Arts Outdated?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
1 - Sacred Art: Who Has the Power to Define Art?
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- Epilogue: the Future Economy of the Arts: Is this Book’s Representation of the Economy of the Arts Outdated?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
Feeling Uncomfortable About Art
Alex, who is both artist and economist, lives in a house with six adults and two children. They share a living room and eat dinner together. The other adults have above average educations and work in technical professions. Alex noticed that at home he usually behaves like an economist rather than an artist. That way they all speak the same language. When he begins to behave like an artist, his housemates feel less comfortable.
Once a week Alex picks little Judith, one of the children in the house, up from school and they spend the afternoon together. Sometimes they visit galleries or museums. Judith is four and still enjoys it. The other day her father, Eddy, confided to Alex that he is pleased that Alex is bringing some cultural education into Judith's life. She really can't expect to receive much cultural education from her parents, Eddy added apologetically.
Cultural Superiority versus Inferiority
Alex finds it hard to characterize his own art. People knowledgeable about art usually characterize his artwork as so-called contemporary or avantgarde. They add that his art reveals aspects of outsider art or ‘art brut’.1 Alex thinks that this puts him in a no-man’s-land where his work is respected in both avant-garde art and traditional circles. He exhibits in both areas. However, Alex soon discovered that these two areas in the arts do not carry the same weight in the art world.
Each year Alex exhibits his pastel drawings of ‘heads’ – as he calls them – in an annual portrait show. The portrait painters who exhibit in this show have one thing in common: they are not ashamed to reveal their traditional schooling. One day during the course of the show, Alex had to be an attendant. He had plenty of time to watch people. From earlier experience he already knew that the longer visitors remain in front of a particular artist's work the higher their appreciation of the work. Most of the people, however, pass right by his work without stopping, as if there's nothing to see. When he confronts them later, they usually apologize, even though they do not realize he is the artist.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Why Are Artists Poor?The Exceptional Economy of the Arts, pp. 17 - 33Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2008