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The Triumph of Serious Art

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The Changing Social Economy of Art

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Abstract

In what I call “the period of serious art” (circa 1880–1980), respect for serious art—and not popular art—is high. Presently it is going down. I discuss the emergence of a separation between serious art and popular art as well as other entertainment in the second half of the nineteenth century. In this period, art-worlds become established. They run prestigious halls, theatres and museums, and determine what is art, what is not really art, and who is a real artist and who is not. Non-profits are established. Art-worlds guard quality and progress in the arts and construct a tangible and intangible art heritage. For their functioning, the new art-worlds rely on public and private support.

Within art-worlds there is innovation, and this leads to conflicts and occasional revolutions. Unlike in the popular arts, mainstream art is taboo, the same as imitation and retro art. It is unrecognized and inferior art. In popular art, innovations are diffused in a more organic way and without major conflicts. Audiences more easily go along. This partly explains the success of popular art.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    (De Marchi & Van Miegroet, 1996) 50.

  2. 2.

    (White & White, 1995) 18.

  3. 3.

    Among others (Durkheim, 1965) and (Collins, 2005) use the term “sacred object” and (Anderson, 1991) the term, imagined community.

  4. 4.

    (Collins, 2005).

  5. 5.

    (Blanning, 1969) 131.

  6. 6.

    The Centre Pompidou clearly surpasses its counterpart, the Lloyd’s building in London, which was designed by the same architect.

  7. 7.

    Cf. (Pine & Gilmore, 2011).

  8. 8.

    An example is the Design Museum in London.

  9. 9.

    (Throsby & Withers, 1983).

  10. 10.

    Cf. (Frey & Pommerehne, 1989).

  11. 11.

    (Campbell, 1987).

  12. 12.

    (Blanning, 1969) 135.

  13. 13.

    Dimaggio (1982).

  14. 14.

    (Levine, 1988) presents many other examples.

  15. 15.

    (Oettermann, 1980) (in German). One of the few remaining panoramas is the well-known Panorama Mesdag in The Hague.

  16. 16.

    Smithuijsen, C. (2001) (in Dutch).

  17. 17.

    Gay (1995), 14.

  18. 18.

    (Weber, 1984) 175.

  19. 19.

    Cf. (Weber, 1984) 176.

  20. 20.

    (Velthuis, 2016).

  21. 21.

    (Weber, 1984) 182.

  22. 22.

    For the USA: (Levine, 1988).

  23. 23.

    Cf. (Dimaggio, 1982).

  24. 24.

    See website.

  25. 25.

    (Weber, 1984) 192.

  26. 26.

    (Gay, 1995).

  27. 27.

    Cf. Hobsbawn and Ranger (1983). The Invention of Tradition is the title of their book.

  28. 28.

    Cf. (Hernstein Smith, 1988) 34 and (Klamer, 2016) 84.

  29. 29.

    (Hernstein Smith, 1988) 32. Speaking about the role of interpretation, the philosopher Arthur (Danto, 1986) 26–43 comes to a similar conclusion.

  30. 30.

    (Nietzsche, 1990) 24.

  31. 31.

    (Finkelstein & MacCleery, 2005).

  32. 32.

    Cf. (White & White, 1995).

  33. 33.

    For visual art: (White & White, 1995) and (Arora & Vermeylen, 2013).

  34. 34.

    (DiMaggio, 1991) 135.

  35. 35.

    Cf. (Bourdieu, 1984) 3.

  36. 36.

    For a visual artist having a first exhibition certainly is important, also for becoming a more successful artist. Cf. (Fraiberger, Sinatra, Resch, Riedl, & Barabási, 2018).

  37. 37.

    (Susan Jahoda & a.o., 2014).

  38. 38.

    Cf. (Towse, 2006).

  39. 39.

    This is a broad definition of path dependency. (Mahoney, 2000) presents a detailed treatment of the concept.

  40. 40.

    (Doorman, 2003) in Dutch.

  41. 41.

    (Doorman, 2003) 12 (in Dutch).

  42. 42.

    For an exposition of the various forms of the so-called Reflection Approaches in art sociology, see (Alexander, 2003) 21–40.

  43. 43.

    (Vermeylen & Van Dijck, 2013).

  44. 44.

    Cf. (Bennett, 1995).

  45. 45.

    Tradition can be said to have been invented in the nineteenth century. Cf. (Hobsbawn and Ranger, 1983). The Invention of Tradition is the title of their book.

  46. 46.

    Cf. (O’Hagan, 1998).

  47. 47.

    (Abbing, 2002).

  48. 48.

    Cf. (Becker, 1982).

  49. 49.

    (Doorman, 2003) 22 and 73 (in Dutch).

  50. 50.

    (Bourdieu, 1993). To prevent confusion, I use the more general term “area”; in order to not get involved in the specifics of what Bourdieu calls a “field”.

  51. 51.

    (Laermans, 2009) 133.

  52. 52.

    Cf. (Gielen, 2010) 282.

  53. 53.

    Over time, in the USA, the share of the war-horse repertoire of music (only music of European composers) is going down but still high. For the period 1842 to 1969, see (Dowd, Liddle, Lupo, & Borden, 2002).

  54. 54.

    The text in this paragraph is inspired by (Lena & Peterson, 2008) and (Lena, 2014) who did research on trajectories in the popular arts.

  55. 55.

    Nevertheless, most artists also travel and meet in person. On the importance of meeting in person, see (Collins, 2005).

  56. 56.

    (Bourdieu, 1977).

  57. 57.

    Cf. (Lena & Peterson, 2008) and (Lena, 2014).

  58. 58.

    On smaller group being protective of a “sacred object”, see (Collins, 2005).

  59. 59.

    (Bourdieu, 1977).

  60. 60.

    This does not apply to seperate (sub)genres. For instance, in the case of underground Rap music (Oware, 2014) speaks of restricted production.

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    Hans Abbing

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Abbing, H. (2019). The Triumph of Serious Art. In: The Changing Social Economy of Art. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21668-9_2

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