Art, history and tourism: The role of the travelling artist

Abstract

The scope of this theoretical study is centred on the analysis of artistic practices developed during travel, focusing on the construction of the relationship between art and travel from the 16th century to the present. In order to do this, a historical perspective focuses on the journey to Italy, the obligatory destination for travellers in the modern era. From the nineteenth century onwards, contemporary artists sought to observe how travel became an artistic discourse. The term 'artourist' is introduced as a description of the artist who is a traveller and a developer of artistic projects. The research followed the methodology of virtual curatorship, which subjectivises and expands a reflective body of works of art and tourism. This article promotes the argument that tourism, despite the veiled pejorative connotation of academic profiles of the visual arts, can be an essential mechanism for artistic creation and imagination. In defence of free-thinking, this article presents an expanded reflection, pointing to theories and cases that reveal the contributions of the relationship between art and tourism as two complex systems through its protagonist: the travelling artist.

Keywords

• art
• history
• tourism
• travelling artist
• artourist