The process of consecration in modern art: artistic careers and circles of recognition

Abstract

The present article analyses the mechanisms that allow modern artists (painters and sculptors) to achieve success. The analysis is based on the study of two groups of artists who began their careers in the decades of 1900 and 1940, representatives of the first and second avant-gardes. Art historian Alan Bowness suggests that artists must pass through four stages of recognition —recognition by peers, by critics, by the market, and by the public. Here, we argue that modern artists in fact go through just two main stages. In the initial stage we find a nucleus comprising an informal network of artists, collectors, critics and art dealers. In the second stage (the stage of consolidation) we find the author accepted —legitimated— by institutions, museums and the specialist literature.