ABSTRACT
The question of how and why artists achieve or do not achieve recognition at any moment has long fascinated the art world. In the modern era, or at least since World War II, success or lack of it has been determined through a consensus of key artists and art professionals, dealers and collectors; art editors, critics, and historians; and museum directors, curators, and trustees. They established what has been of significance and value in the visual arts. In Europe, postminimal art, arte povera and related tendencies were promoted primarily by a network of young museum professionals and art dealers. Feminist artists achieved growing recognition, primarily through their own efforts. Museums also began to exhibit pattern and decoration painting. The first major European museum survey, Patterning Painting, was mounted at the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, in 1979.
