The markets for painting

The earliest Paleolithic artists painted and carved animal, human, and even mythological, figures on cave walls, tens of thousands of years ago, and did so simply to express themselves. They probably earned nothing but self-satisfaction and wondering grunts from others of their tribe. However, it cannot have been long before even these artists were painting and carving those particular symbols and scenes that brought even more appreciative grunts from their audience. They had a market. Since then, very few painters have been able to indulge in their talent for many hours a day without either independent wealth, or a sponsor (as Van Gogh and Monet had), or a profitable market for their paintings. Therefore, the available market is almost as important as inspiration in painting.

Lascaux Caves - 15,000 BC   Han Gan 750 AD   Reliquary 630 AD   Cimabue - 1285   Brueghel - 1565   Steen - 1663   Vermeer - 1666   Francoise Boucher - 1750   Toulouse Lautrec - 1893   Constable 1903   Furr - 2006   Hirst - 2006

20,000BC to 1000 AD Early in civilization, as far back as 20,000 BC, the most common art forms were pottery and its decoration. The pots and plates were useful so their artistic forms and decoration were a bonus. Then, wealthier users could afford the decoration to appreciate for its own sake and they even commissioned statuettes that had no function other than to be looked at. In China, in the Tang dynasty, an ink painting of a horse on silk created by Han Gan in about 750 AD became the property of the Emperor. The Emperor apparently was appreciative and, knowing that, his officials followed suit. There was little religious in the Chinese drawings of mountains, animals, and trees for the Emperor and the court bought silken scrolls for their private pleasure or for display to visitors but not for the Buddhist temples. The Emperors and the higher officials of their courts became the Chinese market. In Europe, a Reliquary of the True Cross in cloisonné was made in Constantinople in about 630 AD. It had no other use but for the religious picture that it portrayed. Indeed, all early European art was usually in the form of illustrations of religious themes on pottery, medallions, manuscripts, and panels for churches. The 'church' had become the market whether it was the Church of Rome or some other sect. Dark churches needed decoration. So, because of this religious patronage painters did not have much choice of subject. The subject had to be acceptable to the church fathers and religious and moral paintings became the vogue. 1000 -1500 AD Cennu di Peppi (1240-1302). later known as Cimabue, was one the earliest Italian painters. He painted in tempera on wooden panels as well as frescos and he created mosaics for the decoration of Catholic churches. His subjects were almost always Christ or the Madonna. He also taught Giotto and it was he who expanded the subjects of painting to portraits of cardinals and popes. Even so, the Roman Catholic Church, in one way or other, was the prime market for art so it is not surprising that painting developed around the Church markets in Rome, Milan, and Florence in Northern Italy. During this time, because trade routes shifted and it was possible to sail from China around Africa, Venice lost its importance as the principal European port. The northern ports of Bruges and Antwerp grew in importance. Thus, Chinese pigments and paints were now available in the Low Countries so painting was able to flourish around Antwerp. Jan van Eyck was active in Flanders in 1422. All of his paintings and those of his contemporaries were of religious themes, such as Crucifixions and tales from the bible. Just as in the south dignitaries began commissioning paintings for their own palaces. Chancellor Rolin commissioned van Eyck to paint his portrait. Nevertheless the portrait also included the Madonna and child. It was tough to get away from the church. As in Northern Italy the principle markets for the painters in the Low Countries were still the church and church officials. 1500 - 1800 AD The Reformation began on October 31, 1517, when German monk Saint Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg. Apart from a profound disturbance to people's thinking he also changed the markets for painting since the reformed church was not in favor of church decoration. In Northern Europe the market for religious paintings and semi-religious portraits quickly dried up. In August 1566, iconoclasts, at reformed priests' urging, stormed the main Flemish churches and destroyed their paintings to emphasize the views of the reformed church. Fortunately this was a prosperous era, so painters found a new market among the general population and among the gentry for portraits. Sometimes these privately purchased paintings still carried a moral theme as in Brueghel's Land of Cockaigne appeal against laziness and gluttony, but his painting of Hunters in the Snow, for example, allowed him to indulge in pure entertainment for his new lay customers. The experience of selling art at the Antwerp market was a microcosm of the history of Europe in these years. In the Low Countries, houses were small so the paintings purchased were far smaller than those that had been commissioned by the church to cover a cathedral wall. A fashion developed for small paintings to be placed in a small ‘entertainment’ room in the house. The two Jans, Steen and Vermeer, both painted for this market. Jan Steen including little sexual puns for the titillation of his customers. They knew well what oysters, or a herring and a pair of onions, or a rod resting against barrel with an open bung, or some broken eggs on the floor, represented. It was like having Playboy centerfolds on their walls. Jan Vermeer on the other hand stuck to more sedate subjects such as a woman reading a letter, playing a harpsichord, or drinking a glass of wine with friends. 1800 - 1900 AD Nobility also became an important patron of the arts and their courts followed suit. It was as well to appreciate what the King liked. So, the church suddenly became a relatively minor market in the North, even though Italian painters such as Caravaggio, located near Rome, were still fully supported by different churches in need of alter-pieces and other decoration to the end of the 16th century. For some time, the Cardinal Del Monte commissioned Caravaggio to paint compositions that contained pretty naked boys as tiny angels to adorn his palace walls. The priesthood wasn’t above using religious paintings for their private titillation. Wealthy and ambitious Italian families, such as the Medici and the Estes, which also became important patrons, often wanted their portraits painted as part of a religious tableau. Following nobility, portraiture of private persons came into its own, in the nineteenth century. 1900 - 2000 AD While dignitaries had been the principle market for portraits now a market arose among the landed gentry. These included, not only pictures of the wealthy person and their families but also portraits of horses, houses, and lands, showing the wealth of their owners. John Constable’s painting of Wivenhoe Park was typical. At this time too, established painters found that there was a market for their paintings whose subject they themselves selected, though Van Gogh never managed, In the latter half of the 19th Century, particularly in Paris, a new market opened. Many impoverished painters made their living by illustrating books, pamphlets, and theater posters. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, for example, specialized in posters for the Moulin Rouge. Present Now, from the end of the twentieth century, the market has changed once again. As the churches have declined there is almost no religious painting and most portraits can be replaced by photographs, which do away with the need for hours of sitting for a fine painting. Also, the Internet provides an open market place for most things. For almost no investment, any artist can open an individual web site to sell his or her wares, either those already painted or as custom offerings in which the purchaser defines the subject. The artists can also offer digital copies of paintings for electronic use. Indeed, many paintings are now drawn digitally so that the artist is no longer restricted by investment, by supplies or by location. A painting finished in Arizona can easily find a market in Abu Dhabi. Because of this international market, Internet prices are still on a par with those offered through more traditional outlets such as galleries and any retail location that can hang paintings for sale. Variations Within these physical and economic markets there have always been those painters who want to stand out … sometimes, in each age they have been minimalist, or have used the latest techniques (such as Vermeer's Camera Obscura or Hirst's computer-aided graphics), sometimes some emphasized colour over form or vice versa, but these forms of art can be considered sub-markets. There are more painters and paintings than ever before as the markets have become more diverse than they previously were. Even small markets contribute to a large spectrum of opportunities for the aspiring artist