Working Paper: NBER ID: w11899
Authors: David W. Galenson
Abstract: Pablo Picasso was by far the greatest artist of the 20th century: textbooks of art history contain more than twice as many illustrations of his work as of that of his closest rival, Henri Matisse. A survey of textbooks also identifies Jackson Pollock as the greatest American artist, by a narrow margin over Andy Warhol. The 15 greatest artists of the century include nine conceptual innovators, who made their greatest contributions early in their lives, in their 20s and 30s, and six experimental innovators, who generally did their greatest work in their 40s and 50s - and even, in the case of Mondrian, in his 70s. Contrary to the belief of many humanists, the textbooks show that in art, as in all intellectual activities, importance is determined by innovation.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: J0; J1
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| innovations of artists (O35) | importance of an artist (Z11) |
| innovations of artists (O35) | re-evaluation of artistic practices (Z11) |
| importance of an artist (Z11) | innovations of successors (O35) |
| number of illustrations in textbooks (Y90) | perception of artistic importance (Z11) |
| Picasso's innovations (B24) | perceived importance of Picasso (Z11) |
| Matisse's innovations (B13) | perceived importance of Matisse (Z11) |