The Global Rules of Art: The Emergence and Divisions of a Cultural World Economy

by Larissa Buchholz

Overview

A trailblazing look at the historical emergence of a global field in contemporary art and the diverse ways artists become valued worldwide

Prior to the 1980s, the postwar canon of “international” contemporary art was made up almost exclusively of artists from North America and Western Europe, while cultural agents from other parts of the world often found themselves on the margins. The Global Rules of Art examines how this discriminatory situation has changed in recent decades. Drawing from abundant sources—including objective indicators from more than one hundred countries, multiple institutional histories and discourses, extensive fieldwork, and interviews with artists, critics, curators, gallerists, and auction house agents—Larissa Buchholz examines the emergence of a world-spanning art field whose logics have increasingly become defined in global terms.

Deftly blending comprehensive historical analyses with illuminating case studies, The Global Rules of Art breaks new ground in its exploration of valuation and how cultural hierarchies take shape in a global context. The book’s innovative global field approach will appeal to scholars in the sociology of art, cultural and economic sociology, interdisciplinary global studies, and anyone interested in the dynamics of global art and culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691245447
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	11/22/2022
Series:	Princeton Studies in Global and Comparative Sociology
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	871,160
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Larissa Buchholz is an award-winning sociologist whose work centers on the dynamics of artistic production and art markets within a global context. She is also interested in broader questions of global theorizing, particularly regarding advancements in transnational/global field theory. In addition to a PhD in sociology from Columbia University, Buchholz’s education encompasses art history, philosophy, media studies, and anthropology. She is assistant professor at Northwestern University and faculty fellow at the Critical Realism Network at Yale University. She was a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, the first woman elected from her discipline. Her work has garnered several awards, including Columbia University’s Robert K. Merton Award, the ISA Junior Theorist Prize, and the ASA Junior Theorist Award, among others.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

List of Tables xiii

Preface: An Unsettling Success xv

1 A Global Field Approach to Art and Culture 1

Part I The Emergence of a Global Field in the Contemporary Visual Arts 23

2 The Genesis of a Global Artistic Subfield 27

3 From an International Avant-Garde Market to a Global Commercial Subfield 67

Part II Dynamics of Artistic Recognition in the Globalizing Field 107

4 Cross-Border Valuation between Art Experts and the Market: From Bonrdieu's Conversion Model to a Dual Cultural World Economy 111

5 Diversity and Careers in a Dual Cultural World Economy 121

Part III Creative Lives: From the "Periphery" to Global Recognition 161

6 Becoming a Global Artist at the Relatively Autonomous Pole: The Case of Gabriel Orozco 165

7 The Hype of the Chinese Market Star Yue Minjun: A Globalizing Speculation Game 217

8 "Global Art" between Autonomy and Heteronomy 262

Epilogue: COVID-19, Geopolitical Shifts, and Deglobalization? 274

Acknowledgments 277

Appendices 285

Notes 303

References 347

Index 375

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“At once lucid, rigorous, sweeping, and innovative, The Global Rules of Art is a true tour de force, a must-read for cultural sociologists, art historians, social theorists, and scholars of globalization. A stunning achievement that sets a new standard for sociological analysis.”—Philip Gorski, Yale University

“A remarkable examination of the globalization of the art world over the past forty years and the new questions and forces with which it is confronted today. Adapting what Pierre Bourdieu called the ‘rules of art’ to the new geographies and internal tensions in this expanded field, this magisterial analysis exemplifies the vital role that a systemic sociology of culture can play for us today.”—John A. Rajchman, Columbia University

“Impressive and important. The Global Rules of Art is exquisitely written and theoretically and empirically exceptional.”—Clayton Childress, author of Under the Cover: The Creation, Production, and Reception of a Novel

“With polished, sophisticated prose and a dazzling command of her subject, Buchholz provides a novel explanation of how the international contemporary art world expanded and diversified from the 1980s to today. The Global Rules of Art is a stunning scholarly achievement.”—Fiona Greenland, author of Ruling Culture: Art Police, Tomb Robbers, and the Rise of Cultural Power in Italy

Editorial Reviews

"Larissa Buchholz has written a magnificent account of the Global art market over the last half century. The book combines extensive, and highly nuanced, discussion of a wide range of relevant cultural theories, with an enormous amount of wonderfully researched data and studies of the Global art market and the relevant personnel including artists, curators, gallerists, art critics, art purchasers, and museum personnel. As a result, the book is an empirical and theoretical treasure."—-David Halle, Social Forces

"An amazingly rich study, with a high level of density, complexity, and nuance, a reference book for now and future generations."—-Kitty Zijlmans, 21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual

From the Publisher