The American Artist as Uneconomic Man

Leonardo, Vol. 5, pp. 351-354. Pergamon Press 1972. Printed in Great Britain THE AMERICAN ARTIST AS UNECONOMIC MAN* Russell Lynes** It is unlikely that there has ever been a time in America when patronage of the arts has received more coverage in the mass media, consumed more hours of discussion at cultural conferencesor drawn more money from thecoffersofprivate philanthropy than now. It may be equally unlikely that there has ever been less general understanding of the problems of the individual artist, who works alone when he can work at all. An abundance of romantic literature and a good deal of myth surround the solitary painter, sculptor, writer and composer, his tribulations, his lack of recognition, his alienation but there is little published solid fact. Artist know how their colleagues do or do not make out; few others have any idea. The artist who has been getting most, though not quite all, of the attention in debate over the state of the arts is the performing artist. He and the vast, uneconomic cultural centers being built for his performances have been the subjects of several studies. Until recently, however, there had been no comparable study, as far as I know, of the nonperforming arts;no investigation into the problems of the painter, sculptor, writer or composer. NOW, at least a preliminary investigation has been undertaken by the MacDowell Colony in southern New Hampshire (Table 1). The colony provides art-makers with, as nearly as possible, an ideal situation in which to ‘do their thing’ in solitude, and a comfortable studio is provided. During the past sixty years, a large amount of distinguished work has been done in the colony’s studios, which are spotted around 400 acres of countryside, by such creative talents as Edwin Arlington Robinson, Milton Avery, Aaron Copland, Thornton Wilder and James Baldwin. It is a place for artists who have demonstrated their professionalism and seriousness of purpose. The study of the MacDowell Colony deals with men and women between 20 and 80years of agewho * Abridged version of ‘The Artist as Uneconomic Man’, which appeared in The Saturday Review,p. 25 (28 February 1970).Published with permission. Copyright 1970 Saturday Review, Inc. N.Y. 10028, U.S.A. (Received 3 March 1972.) ** MacDowell Colony, 1083 Fifth Avenue, New York, have worked at the colony. Of 750 questionnaires sent to former colonists, about 350 were completed. As samplings go, this is a large one but what it reveals must be regarded as indicative rather than conclusive. The artist who earns a living solely from what he creates is rare indeed. Most artists live on the byproducts of what they create, which means they live on the reputations they have made by their creating. Painters and sculptorsteach and, sometimes,supplement their incomes with commercialjobs. Nine out of ten painters and sculptors replied to the questionnaire that they design window displays, work as colorists for textile firms, make models and picture frames, illustrate text books, do interior decorating andhaveoccupationsthat areatleastcousinsoftheir primary business. But they also reported that they wait on tables, teach figure skating, dig ditches, take clerical and sales jobs, pick apples, cut grass in cemeteries and, logically, paint houses. Writers and poets give readings and lectures or teach ‘creativewriting’ in colleges; composers work as performers in orchestras or local symphony groups, teach or conduct amateur choruses. This is nothing new in America. To an artist, making money from art is a necessary by-product; it is rarely an end in itself. Luxury in his life is the act of working as an artist. Responses reveal that painters and sculptors are, by and large, in worse economic straits than composers , who in turn are less well off than writers. Roughly half of the plastic artists, writers and composers earned less than $1,000 from what they made in 1968, and about 10 per cent of the artists sold nothing at all in that year. Artists, if they are successful enough to have periodic one-man shows at a gallery, may make no sales between exhibitions. A composer may work for several years on a symphony and, if he is lucky enough to have it performed, receive a few hundred...