¶ … Power and the Changing Social Role of the Artist
The process of artistic creation is often taken for granted as the product of some singularly brilliant talent acting alone in his or her inspiration. However, this notion undermines the importance of art as reflecting certain social or cultural conditions pertinent to the time and place of its creation. This is the premise at the center of the article by Wind (1985), which weighs the relationship between individual will power and artistic creation. Wind's writing offers a compelling and nuanced consideration of the ways in which the artistic processes has changed with the shifting of socioeconomic structures and how, accordingly, the artist's psyche must also change.
Article Summary:
Wind's article describes the considerable difference between producing art in the feudalist eras and today, examining various relationships between prominent artists and project commissioners over history. Largely, this describes a relationship between iconic artistic figures and members of royal families or religious authorities. Wind uses examination of these working relationships to deliver a thorough discussion on how changes in the way that members of the public consume art -- decidedly at a greater distance and in a more passive fashion than those who commissioned paintings during the Renaissance -- are constantly altering the way that the artist must behave in pursuit of his works. In particular, Wind considers the ways in which the artist must temper his own will and ego in order to satisfy consumer interests and desires, particularly now that artists will rarely work under the sometimes rigid terms imposed by commissioned works several centuries ago.
Thematic Approach:
The theme which largely drives Wind's approach is that relating to propositions of the human will. To Wind, the will plays a crucial part in helping humanity to breach new discoveries, to achieve innovations and to render expressions not heretofore uttered or exhibited. This denotes, Wind asserts, that the will is a fundamental instrument in supposing and pursuing...
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