Prophets, Paupers or Professionals? : A Social History of Everyday Visual Artists in Modern Germany, 1850-present

This series aims to reflect the importance of both culture and linguistics to the study of German in Britain and Ireland. It publishes books which deal with German in its socio-cultural context, in multilingual and multicultural settings, in its European and international context and with its use in the media. The series also explores the impact of movements and economic trends on German society and discusses curriculum provision and development in universities in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

How did German visual artists relate to the broader society around them between the invention of the artist as «genius» and visionary, in the Romantic era of the nineteenth century, and the struggle to overcome pauperization and social marginalization through collective professionalization during much of the twentieth? The collective – if not always agreed – aspirations and expectations of artists in this long period are best reflected in the schools and academies that came to dominate their education, in their professional associations, and their strategies of marketing and economic well-being. Like members of other German learned professions, visual artists struggled to achieve autonomy from state, church, and other powerful social and economic forces while also raising and maintaining ever-evolving professional standards. Like other professions, they were forced also to make compromises with power and money, losing many battles in the process. The subjectivity of values surrounding art, the de facto economic status of artists as small entrepreneurs unable or unwilling to submit fully to corporate, bureaucratic, or union organization, and the practical inability to limit their numbers all conspired to undermine fully successful professionalization. By bringing the tools of social history to bear, this book sheds rare illumination on the little-known history of the many «everyday» German artists, rather than on the better-known works of the few.