The Vicissitudes of Taste: The Market for Pop

Abstract

The emergence of American Pop art as a major avant-garde movement had a significant impact on the market for contemporary art and, with it, the perception of America's newly achieved cultural superiority. A detailed examination of sales records of avant-garde galleries in New York reveals Pop's appeal to collectors (especially businessmen), despite significant critical disdain, and links the formal qualities and subjects of Pop art to widely-held assumptions about modes of viewing and social class.

Keywords

• Pop art, Collectors, Taste, Bourdieu, Wolfflin