Highsnobiety

A new study has found that becoming a successful artist is more about who you know than how creative or original your art is.

Published by Columbia Business School and reported by Artsy, the research paper “The Art of Fame” maps the social networks of early 20th century abstract artists like Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Wassily Kandinsky. It found that the artists' networks were more likely the reason that they succeeded professionally.

“Contrary to conventional literature, there was no statistical support for the relationship between an artist’s creativity and the fame they ultimately achieved,” the paper states.

“Those individuals who possessed a diverse set of personal friends and professional contacts from different industries (an artist in a ‘cosmopolitan’ network position) were statistically more likely to become famous.”

The study took its data from MoMa's 2012 exhibition “Inventing Abstraction: 1910–1925.” To determine what made a work original, researchers got machine learning algorithms to rate how unique a piece was compared to a range of artworks from the 19th century. The study also had a group of art historians rank artworks based on based on originality and innovation.

We Recommend
  • The Artist Is Dewy: A Closer Look at Marina Abramović's Perplexing Beauty Line
    • Beauty
  • The Mile-high Mindset: Get to Know the Emerging Artists From Delta’s Art Week Initiative
    • Culture
  • The 7 Most Famous Masters of Quiet Luxury
    • Style
  • Did Anyone Notice Travis Barker Quietly Relaunching His Clothing Brand?
    • Style
  • TikTok’s SoundOn Artist Camp Is Calling All (adidas) Originals
    • Culture
What To Read Next
  • Veja's New Running Shoe Is a Surprisingly Slick Crossover Sneaker
    • Sneakers
  • The Trader Joes Tote Bag Is No Stanley Cup
    • Style
  • Ghettotech, Bootytech, Sextech, meet the Detroit trio HiTech
    • Culture
  • Kendall Jenner in Business Bottega Is Best-Dressed Material
    • Style
  • 2024, the Year of the Beautiful Celeb Couple
    • Culture
  • A Love Letter to Ferrari's IYKYK Super Car
    • Culture
*If you submitted your e-mail address and placed an order, we may use your e-mail address to inform you regularly about similar products without prior explicit consent. You can object to the use of your e-mail address for this purpose at any time without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs according to the basic tariffs. Each newsletter contains an unsubscribe link. Alternatively, you can object to receiving the newsletter at any time by sending an e-mail to info@highsnobiety.com

Web Accessibility Statement

Titel Media GmbH (Highsnobiety), is committed to facilitating and improving the accessibility and usability of its Website, www.highsnobiety.com. Titel Media GmbH strives to ensure that its Website services and content are accessible to persons with disabilities including users of screen reader technology. To accomplish this, Titel Media GmbH tests, remediates and maintains the Website in-line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which also bring the Website into conformance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Disclaimer

Please be aware that our efforts to maintain accessibility and usability are ongoing. While we strive to make the Website as accessible as possible some issues can be encountered by different assistive technology as the range of assistive technology is wide and varied.

Contact Us

If, at any time, you have specific questions or concerns about the accessibility of any particular webpage on this Website, please contact us at accessibility@highsnobiety.com, +49 (0)30 235 908 500. If you do encounter an accessibility issue, please be sure to specify the web page and nature of the issue in your email and/or phone call, and we will make all reasonable efforts to make that page or the information contained therein accessible for you.