Cultural Policy in Finland (review)

Books 341 community pays artists to do what they enjoy doing on its behalf. Now that more essential services are breaking down under the strain ofcomplexity plus lack of funds, one would expect the less popular visual fine arts to come fairly low on a list of social priorities. But, naive though Schorr is, at least he sent me back to some of the old masters-Morris and Lethaby, who put the problem rather more succinctly and elegantly and suggested answers too. Rediscoveries in Art: Some Aspects of Taste, Fashion and CoUecting in England and France. Francis Haskell. Phaidon, London, 1976. 246 pp., illus. £8.50. Reviewed by Barron M. Hirsch * This is a book based on the 1973 Wrightsman Lectures presented by Haskell under the auspices ofthe Institute ofFine Arts ofNew York University, in which he attempts to analyze the complex phenomena oftaste, fashion and collecting in art in England and France. He finds that a state of anarchy prevails in the art world today in that there is a readiness to admire the art of any period and civilization. He points out that such a situation is most unusual in the history of art. An aesthetic system, he states, is bound up with numerous forces: religious, political, nationalist, economic and intellectual. There is a constant conflict between those wanting to maintain a prevailing fashion and taste, and dealers, artists, historians, clergymen, politicians and collectors demanding a change. As an illustration, he discusses the changes in taste that occurred in England and France between 1790 and 1870. Because of the immense social, religious and political upheavals that occurred during this period, radical revolution of artworks took place. Haskell does not ignore the role of the marketplace in his study. Fashion, he states, is affected by the availability of good artworks. Moreover, they must be available at low cost to art dealers, so that they can make large profits. He cites the tax imposed by Napoleon's government on members of the Italian nobility that forced them to dispose ofitems in their collections at low prices. This led to a large flow of previously unfashionable Italian paintings to France and England. In summary, the author considers the phenomena of taste, fashion and collecting in the light of the following factors: the availability of recognized masterpieces; the impact on contemporary art of religious or political loyalties that affect aesthetic preference; the effects produced by public and private collections and by new low-cost techniques of reproduction; the kind and amount of publicity spread on artists and their works; the actions ofdealers to increase sales and profits; and the attitude to art works as financial assets. Although Haskell feels that he has made only a preliminary study of the subject, readers of Leonardo will find his \rook of much interest. Cultural Policy in Finland. Unesco, Paris, 1972. 73 pp., iIIus. Paper, US £2.00; FF8.00; £0.60. Reviewed by Yrjiinii Levanto** A rainy autumn day in the Art Museum of the Ateneum, Finland's unofficial central art museum, may treat exhibition visitors to an unusual spectacle. Pails, pots and pans placed here and there on the museum floor to catch water dripping through the ceiling. Leaking roofs, but dry floors: it was discovered during electrical repairs that powder-dry straw had been used as filling in walls and floors. The museum even lacks the modern luxury of a lift. During a recent exhibition of Egyptian art, exhibits weighing several tons were carried up a good hundred steps to the exhibition rooms by dozens of men, like they might have been in ancient Egypt. The Ateneum building may well be regarded as a symbol of Finnish cultural life. It is the art shrine of a culturally underdeveloped country, which could instantly become a crematorium for the treasures it holds. The cultural debate being conducted in *5469 Mary Court, Saginaw, MI 48603, U.S.A. **Perustie 28 B 27, 00330 Helsinki 33, Finland. Finland at present frequently comes back to the Ateneum building. Apart from the art gallery, the Finish Academy ofFine Arts SchQol (Finland's most important pictorial arts school) and the University of Industrial Arts operate under the same roof. The...