Page 15 - Studio International - April 1974

plural prototypes, some drawn from the mind, I've suggested that components of an art from the time it enters the art system and trace
some from nature, and some from other art, the system evaluate according to their functioning. its contacts with various components of the
preservation of the art unit leads by association The practising artist may value past and present system with regard to the records it produces in
increasingly towards claims for the preservation achievement in a condition of inspiration or its path through the system. It is this path of
of its sources and prototypes. Thus the heightened enthusiasm, or whatever, that is units through the system which, more than
production of each new work of art (in the conducive to personal invention. perhaps anything else, calls the components
special sense) leads to the emergence of an Archaeologists, historians and critics evaluate into functional interaction.
increasingly complex and functionally- within the contexts of their respective I want to turn now to a consideration of the
interrelated structure of art works, sources and disciplines; dealers and auction houses evaluate industrial system. But first a few comments on
prototypes, in the form of heritage.2 in terms of the contemporary art market. But all the pre-industrial situation. Prior to the
Around this structure there has developed these values, it seems to me, are mediated by Industrial Revolution most works of art were
a system of supporting components by which what we might describe as the interacting handicrafted in the workshops of craftsmen or
the fine-art mode of production functions in beliefs and values of the art system as a whole. of artists under the aegis of guilds or academies.
society. Among these components may be noted If this is so values are acquired by individual Despite conflict on social and economic matters
an educational component which transmits works of art by a process of accretion and the guilds and academies usually succeeded in
beliefs, attitudes and methods not without mediation. Works of art are subject, of course, establishing a modus vivendi based on the ideal
modification, from one generation to another; a in the market, to the general economic factors of the handicrafted masterpiece. The difference
group of intellectual disciplines and techniques, which affect the market at large. But the value between the craft masterpiece and the art
such as archaeology, anthropology, of a work of art qua art is not determined solely masterpiece is, however, as we have already
connoisseurship, art history and art criticism, by its competitive market relationship with seen, not only a matter of status. It resides in
by means of which the quality of past products which are desired for utilitarian the distinctive modes of sequential production
achievement is recovered and valued; a group reasons. It is determined by the resolution employed by the craftsman and by the artist.
of public and private institutions such as within the art system, by interaction and The artist's mode of differential production
museums and galleries where works of art are mediation, of the values it has acquired in flourished mainly in what we might call the
stored, conserved and made public; a series of contact with component parts of the system academic triad of the visual arts : architecture,
techniques, such as engraving, by means of during its effective 'life' or duration within the sculpture and painting. Theoretically, there is
which works of art are made available by system, and in competition with other art works no reason why the differential mode might not
reproduction; and commercial organizations in the system. be applied to the minor arts, such as tapestry,
such as art dealers and auction houses, by In order to assess some of the ways by which ceramics, carpentry and joinery, etc: and of
means of which, in a monetary economy, works the fine-art system functions coherently we course it quite often was. It is well to remember
of art are normally transferred from one owner might devise some empirical tests. I shall that empirically there is always something of the
to another. outline three: the education, the institution, artist in the craftsman; and that in the best
These components interpret, modify and and the art-language test. artists there is often much of the craftsman.
elaborate the central beliefs and values of the The education test. A child discovers a Nevertheless in the minor arts the fine art mode
system according to modes appropriate to their talent for drawing at school and is enrolled in of differential production did not become the
functioning. For the beliefs and values of the an art school only to find that artistic production typical mode. The reason, doubtless, is in part
system are not maintained with a doctrinal is not for him or for her. Yet the world of art economic. Compared with the craft mode, unit
rigidity; although the hypostatization of belief continues to hold an attraction. In the logic of for unit, the fine art mode of production
may occur in specific instances as in the case of the situation such a person, endeavours to find requires more time and more experience. The
some academies of art. In normal practice, a niche in the system according to talent, patrons of the academic triad of arts were able
however, the beliefs and values of the system disposition, expectancy. Even in cases where and willing to pay for the extra cost in time,
are subject to revision by means of disputation, the components of the system have developed experience and materials that the fine-art mode
elaboration and changes of taste, as a result of their own educational institutions a considerable of production required whereas the patrons of
contact with component parts of the art system movement of students within the art system as the minor arts were not. For useful objects the
and also with external factors which may act a whole may still be found. To a considerable craft mode sufficed. There may be a sociological
both upon the components and upon the system degree the fine-art system is educationally a reason also. Traditionally architecture,
as a whole. functionally complementary world. sculpture and painting developed as the arts by
Now you might well ask, to what extent can The institution test. Fully-developed fine-art means of which tribes, churches and states
such a system be shown to be coherent and systems tend to function in cities large enough sought to consciously express their corporate
functional and not a mere congeries of loosely to sustain heterogeneous professional beliefs and values. Perhaps it is to be expected
related activities ? To answer that I would ask populations. Components of a system tend to be that conscious individual expression should
you first to reflect upon the ways in which the urban-based, even when the influence of the first appear in those arts where conscious
components of the system are drawn into play system is national or international in its range. corporate expression had long been the rule.
by what we might describe as a typical act An historical investigation as to the ways by During the Industrial Revolution a major
within the system. This takes place whenever which the establishment of one institutionalized shift occurred in the proportion of human talent
an artist, influenced by another work of art, component stimulates the establishment of devoted to the production of craft, fine art,
proceeds to produce a work of his own and then another such component would be of interest, and machine sequences of production. During
sells, exchanges or gives it away. Consider how as would the pattern of temporal succession or an unprecedented period of history, two or
many components of the system are drawn into geographical dispersion of such components. three generations of craftsmen-turned-
play up to that point. Later the work may In universities, for example, an endowment engineers, often stimulated by scientists,
change hands, get lost, be found again. Unless which results in the establishment of one developed a passionate enthusiasm for
it is destroyed it will go on calling components component of the system, a gallery say, inventing machines. Mechanical invention, of
of the system into activity; and even if it is stimulates a demand for the establishment of course, possesses a venerable history. It was not
destroyed it will continue if it has influenced associated components. the novelty but the intensity with which the
existing works to go on setting up echoes in the The art-language test. I have mentioned passion for mechanical invention swept
system, especially if it has left a few material something similar to this earlier. One might Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth
traces. take, as one does for other reasons, a work of art centuries that is remarkable.
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