ABSTRACT
TH E D O M I N A N T I D E A O F the artist in the modern west imagines anisolated creator, who produces works of art as an expression of a unique and individual aesthetic vision, which forms the basis of the value of a work of art. Classical sociological theory was centrally concerned with criticising the individualistic account of human life of which this idea of the creative artist is one strand. Recent work in the ‘production of culture’ perspective has shown how even apparently isolated artists, such as contemporary easel-painters, are deeply embedded in systems of social relationships. Social relationships and social interests shape opportunities for doing innovative work. They shape the success of artists, the critical esteem they enjoy and the material rewards they receive for their work. Correspondingly, art styles are as much a function of social interests which shape the ways in which artists interact with other art-world participants as they are of a desire for individual aesthetic expression or communication.
