Artist in Society te w~i pienlity' and ad- NOT ALL of these, however-in (Continued from Page 12) probability, very few if any- will be as a result of being an sons which resulted. By the art- artist: lawyers, housewives, and istes storming against the conven- shop clerks are also liable to devia- tions and proclaiming the arts tions from the social norms. It is the realm of the different, the interesting, however, that when an field of the arts was seen as a artist or arts-hanger-on is deviant. refuge or place of development the blame for this is usually laid for not only the persons legiti- to his identification with the arts. mately qualified for the arts, but This general attitude - almost also for any non-art, lunatic fringe entirely confined to the western social misfits. world-seems to stem from the The shoutings and flauntings of era of the rise of Christianity these latter have come to be iden- when the arts were declared be- tified with art and its practice to yond the pale as pagan. the hurt and confusion of the However, the artist may or may qualified practitioners and the' not (depending largely on the in- public in general. The practitioner dividual) identify with and be ac- wonders "can these values be 'cepted by his society as easily as valid"?, and the public, in ex- most other highly specialized asperation, concludes, "they're all members of the group. mad." The designer is in a position rather similar to that of the art- THERE IS presently a fourth tait, but, because of the bent of our classification of the art piac- 'ociety to venera mass produc- titioner taking form-the design- tion, and the great urgency to keep er-artist. up with the Joneses by even the The industrial revolution and lowest middle classes, the designer rise of industrialism took over has a far greater prestige and, most of the art areas and largely often, income. In effect, connec- replaces the traditional art prac- tion with an assembly line obliter- titioners with the industrial and ates any questions of unaccept- commercial designer. ability. The designer, largely an Amer- The artiste is often in sad condi- Lean invention, has gained tre- tion. Not only are the artiste's mendois prestige both on snob ._-'notions of his own position often appeal and on actual merit, partly FINE ART-The aesthetic value unreal, but the ideas concerning because our culture is largely a of art or the difference between him are usually unreal also. snob one and partly because our fine and applied art is seen in The prime examples of artistes culture is oriented to the idea of this statue. today are probably those engaged technology and efficiency. in motion picture making. The ex- The designer is the production it should be noted that the classi- tremes of animosity and adulation, line's solution and adaptation of fications are types rather than the absurdly varying tensions and the artist role. He is a high rank- particular persons; it is quite pulls and drives in almost every ing