On The Margins Of Art Worlds

by Larry Gross

Overview

The concept of the art world confronts and undermines the romantic ideology of art and artists that is still dominant in Western societies. By treating the production of art as work and artists as workers and examining the conditions under which these activities take place, this sociological perspective illuminates much that remains obscured by rom

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367297329
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/31/2021
Pages:	285
Product dimensions:	5.81(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Larry Gross is Sol Worth Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Contested Closets: The Politics and Ethics of Outing and editor of Image Ethics: The Moral Rights of Subjects in Photographs, Film and Television, and On the Margins of Art Worlds.James D. Woods was assistant professor of communications at the College of Staten Island, CUNY, and author of The Corporate Closet: The Professional Lives of Gay Men in America.

Table of Contents

Preface — Art and Artists on the Margins — Negotiating the Critical Discourse: The Armory Show Revisited — Public Art and Cultural Authority — Artists Entering the Marketplace: Pricing New Art — "Woman Artist": Between Myth and Stereotype — From East to West: Polish Artists in the New York Art World — Directorial Intention and Persona in Film School — “A Photograph Is Not a Picture”: Distinguishing Anarchy from Art in the Late Nineteenth Century — Between Art and Industry: Amateur Photography and Middlebrow Culture — Trading Places in the Art World: The Reputations of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans — Graffiti as Public and Private Art — Animation Art: The Fine Art of Selling Collectibles — Native American Art and Artists in Visual Arts Documentaries from 1973 to 1991

Editorial Reviews

These 13 essays by 12 authors follow up on Howard Becker's pioneering sociological study Art Worlds (LJ 5/15/82). Quantitative and historical research examining a variety of media, movements, and artists considered "marginal" was conducted by graduate students working with editor Gross (Annenberg Sch. for Communication, Univ. of Pennsylvania). Readers will linger over the controversial and thought-provoking pieces the students produced, such as "Public Art and Cultural Authority," "From East to West": Polish Artists in the New York Art World," and "Trading Places in the Art World: The Reputations of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans." Unfortunately, however fascinating, the arguments are sometimes tarnished by misconceptions, e.g., that "fine art" excludes functional objects, crafts, and folk art and that it remains the domain of the upper classes and the romantic genius artist. Still, as an addition to the small field of sociology of the art world, this is recommended for larger academic collections.-Mary Hamel-Schwulst, Towson State Univ., Md.

Library Journal

Research studies by graduate students at the Annenberg School for Communication of the University of Pennsylvania question the social arrangements that determine the recruitment and training of artists, the institutional mechanisms governing distribution, and the process of innovation within art worlds. They focus on borderline cases and controversies that expose the invisible rules determining art world practices, and discuss topics such as pricing new art, amateur photography and middlebrow culture, and graffiti. No index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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