Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 19, 1995 TAG: 9511170102
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TYLER COWEN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Music and the arts have been moving away from government funding since the Middle Ages. The Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the 19th-century Romantic movement, and 20th-century modernism all brought art further into the market nexus. Most of the important work in film, music, literature, painting and sculpture - whether from the present or from the past - is now sold on the market.
It may come as a surprise to some, but the free market has proved the most favorable system for the arts. Most renowned Western artists, from Michelangelo to Mozart to Monet, succeeded in the marketplace. Shakespeare wrote for profit, and marketed his plays to a wide public audience. Marcel Proust lived off the capitalist wealth of his family to produce his innovative "Remembrance of Things Past." The essence of capitalism - bringing producer and consumer together - is a prescription for producing and distributing great art.
Markets base artistic success on inspiring, entertaining and educating other human beings. In a market economy, support for creative endeavors can be obtained only by convincing other individuals - whether customers or patrons - that the project is worthwhile.
The market economy encourages artistic production through diverse means. Growing wealth, for instance, enables more individuals to pursue artistic vocations. Higher standards of living give individuals more time to produce and consume art. Today the world supports a greater number of full-time artistic creators than ever before.
Money fertilizes the artistic spirit. Paul Cezanne lived from family allowances and inheritances. The poet Wallace Stevens worked as an insurance claimsman and William Carlos Williams worked as a doctor. T.S. Eliot worked in a bank while he wrote poetry. Paul Gauguin first accumulated his savings while working as a stockbroker and only later pursued a career in art.
Other artists have engaged in the pursuit of money through their art itself. Mozart once wrote to his father: "Believe me, my sole purpose is to make as much money as possible; for after good health it is the best thing to have." Mozart was a keen bargainer who reaped the maximum profit from each concert or composition. Charlie Chaplin once remarked: "I went into the business for money and the art grew out of it." These great creators did not "sell out," They turned their personal visions into profit by reaching large numbers of eager customers.
Many of the advantages that capitalism offers to artists are often overlooked. The falling prices of artistic materials, brought on by technical progress, allowed the Impressionist and Post Impressionist painters to subsist on the margins of society, outside the mainstream cultural establishment. Later, the Impressionists achieved riches and fame by setting up independent networks of commercial distribution for their artworks.
We tend to take artistic materials for granted, but the affordability of these materials required entrepreneurial innovation through markets. The artistic Renaissance of the Italian city-states sprang out of the growth of medieval commerce, which made painting, marble sculpture and bronze casting affordable on a large scale. The literary revolution came to England in the 18th century when the Industrial Revolution lowered the cost of paper and increased consumers' book-buying incomes. American blues and jazz required the medium of electronic recording to spread and support themselves.
Artists have enjoyed increasing creative freedom over time. Unlike in previous eras, today's artists are not dependent on a single patron or customer. When artists do rely on a single patron, the artist must produce to meet the tastes of that patron or lose support. A multiplicity of sources of financial support allows artists to pick and choose projects to suit their tastes. Michelangelo, who faced strong market demand for his services in Florence, was able to walk away from his work on the Sistine Chapel when a conflict arose. He returned only when Pope Julius allowed him to finish the project to suit his desires.
Despite the historical successes of markets in supporting culture, the American government initiated the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965. Yet even well before the creation of this agency, America led the world in modern art, popular music and cinema, while also holding strong positions in literature, poetry and contemporary classical composition. America's private museums and symphony orchestras have been the envy of the world.
In the current debates over government funding, we should not forget that the history of art is a history of the struggle for freedom.
Tyler Cowen is a professor of economics at George Mason University. This is adapted from a longer essay in The Freeman magazine.
by CNB