Arts and Cultural Industries

Arts and Cultural Industries 

Dr. Shakir Abdel Hamid

 

Art and life are almost inseparable. Just as art will continue to exist as long as life endures, the arts strive to make life more meaningful, fertile, rich, significant, beautiful, and powerful. 

 

The relationship between art and life, or human culture, became increasingly intertwined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and even today, with artistic influences extending from paintings to clothing, land and metal arts, architecture, songs, series, films, and video games. We have reached a point where, as some critics note, nothing in life can no longer be transformed into an artwork. 

 

The relationship between art and the economy has become one of the essential components of progress, prosperity, and the well-being of nations and peoples today. The German philosopher Theodor Adorno (1903–1969) was among the first to discuss this relationship, introducing the concept of "cultural industries" alongside his colleague Max Horkheimer. Within the framework of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, they coined this term in 1947 in an article titled "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception." Adorno's subsequent writings on cinema, radio, newspapers, jazz, and popular music reinforced his message that, under monopoly capitalism, art and culture are now absorbed within the economy. 

 

"Cultural industries," as Gaston O’Connor noted in his 2010 study on cultural and creative industries, are a direct extension of the new industries associated with mass production and distribution that began at the turn of the 19th century, with the emergence of cinema, sound recording technology, widely circulated daily newspapers, and popular print media (books, magazines, newspapers), followed by radio, broadcasting, television, and more. 

 

By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, motion picture photography and the recording of elusive sound on wax cylinders were developed. At the end of the 20th century, digital technology opened up new and significant possibilities. 

 

Despite all this, the true beginnings of the relationship between the arts and the economy may extend over five centuries ago or more, rooted in the early attempts of artists to assert their distinct status and gain independence. 

 

The Struggle of the Middle Ages 

 

During the Middle Ages (from the 5th to the 15th century), artists in Europe were viewed as a group of craftsmen. The first guild of painters was established in Italy in the late 13th century, followed by guilds for sculptors, architects, builders, brickmakers, and others. Artists like Donatello were seen merely as "stone cutters and skilled specialists in bronze and other metals." 

 

As the economic and social status of artists improved, they began to oppose the oversight of guilds. Filippo Brunelleschi refused to pay dues to the building guild in 1434 and was imprisoned, only to be released after intervention from the church, returning to work on the great dome of the Florence Cathedral. 

 

The guilds' control over artists weakened, but they were still regarded as a group of craftsmen earning money through manual labor. Michelangelo's family saw his choice to become an artist as a cause for shame because it suggested he would no longer rely on manual work, but rather on his intellect with the help of assistants. 

 

Gradually, artists began to gain more freedoms, and a new model of the independent artist emerged, but the economy remained dominant. By the 15th century, they began to rebel against paying dues to guilds of manual trades, trying to improve their image as distinct from manual workers. As Chino Chini said, a good artist is one whose behavior reflects his elevated status, practicing art for the love of it, not merely to escape poverty, and his life should resemble that of those studying theology, philosophy, and other sciences. Leonardo da Vinci urged artists in 1510 to focus on their art rather than on making money from it. 

 

From Craftsman to Artist 

 

Thus, during the 15th and 16th centuries, the status of art and artists rose from that of craftsmen to that of artists, or from manual workers to intellectual and talented creators. Michelangelo famously stated, "The artist paints with his mind, not his hand," suggesting that the mind is superior while the hand is lesser, despite the strong connection and necessary interaction between mind, eye, imagination, and hand, and the manual and non-manual skills involved. 

 

At the same time, artists like Titian (1490–1576) naively believed that "he should not seek profit and money," viewing it as narrow-minded and unrealistic. Exceptional artworks should command exceptional prices. Titian no longer used his brushes unless commissioned for a specific job at a satisfactory fee, and similarly, Raphael, Michelangelo, and others leveraged their genius to amass great wealth. 

 

With the rising status of artists in society, a division emerged between fine arts (painting, sculpture, etc.) and applied arts like pottery and architecture, later including photography, graphic design, fashion, and more, despite the blending of fine and applied arts in modern and postmodern contexts. 

 

 Salons 

 

In the late 19th century, the government in France replaced the patronage system that had previously dominated, based on the support of nobles, kings, wealthy merchants, and traders commissioning and purchasing art. Large corporations, such as the Dutch East India Company, also commissioned artists, including the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt, while his contemporary Vermeer refused such roles. 

 

In France, a significant change occurred in the art institutions themselves in the late 19th century. A new system of competition replaced the old patronage model, where the government was the dominant first buyer of valuable artworks. Instead, a new system emerged based on competition, replacing the monopoly that occurred through the official state-run Academy Salon, which was the only legal venue for exhibiting and selling artworks. Beginning in 1874, the principle that small salons organized by artists could independently exhibit and sell important artworks was established. 

 

The existence of an independent competitive art market led to a decisive change in the prices of Impressionist paintings, which had previously been rejected by the Academy. 

 

Galleries 

 

During the 20th century, the number of collective salons decreased in favor of galleries owned by independent art dealers. These galleries became the marketplace for new art, showcasing groups of artists or specific artists. One of the first to exhibit there was Pablo Picasso, despite the gallery owners being considered enemies of art and artists. Joan Miró, upon arriving in Paris in 1919, found that Picasso produced most of his works for a specific dealer who sold his paintings. 

 

After World War II, the center of art shifted from Paris to the United States, leading to a global art market with an increase in art auction houses (which had existed before). However, terms from the stock market began to be used in these auctions, such as speculation on prices, price growth, and market value. This led to significant investments in the market for paintings and artworks, resulting in conflicts between artists' idealistic values and the market's consumer values. Developments in advertising, media, cinema, consumption, and the replication of artworks and computer arts contributed to the unprecedented growth of creative cultural industries. 

 

Notable art institutions focused on art auctions played a significant role in promoting the works of major artists and became instrumental in promoting and selling both Arab and international artworks, with Sotheby's and Christie's being the most famous. 

 

The art market, as we know it today, is a relatively modern phenomenon, although professional intermediaries dedicated to marketing artworks emerged in Paris in the mid-18th century. Sotheby’s and Christie’s date back to the second half of the 17th century. In the art market, the value of an artwork is determined by economic and cultural factors, including the artist's name, the historical period in which their works are sold, and the current state of acquisition or purchase by institutions such as museums or private collectors. 

 

For example, Van Gogh's "Irises" reached a new level of fame in 1991 when it was sold for a record $53.8 million to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Other paintings were later sold at extraordinary prices; in 2006, American abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock’s "Number 5, 1948" sold for $140 million. 

 

In both cases, neither painting inherently possesses financial value; instead, they reflect the changes that have occurred in the art market, as seen in the case of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani's "Reclining Woman," sold recently to a Chinese investor for $170 million. 

 

Thus, the arts have evolved from merely being a means of entertainment or leisure to becoming one of the key drivers of the global economy in both the East and West.