O objetivo geral desta pesquisa é estudar os dispositivos de atuação dos agentes no campo das artes através dos vernissages, estes eventos sociais aglutinadores que servem não apenas para inaugurar uma determinada exposição, mas também como palco para a construção de capital simbólico e social, necessários para o funcionamento do próprio campo. Pretendemos analisar a atuação dos convidados no espaço expositivo e os conceitos associados à experiência pessoal de cada agente do campo artístico, a partir de entrevistas; por fim, pretendemos mostrar a importância dos vernissages para o mundo da arte. Por que o vernissage é importante? Sua existência traz, de antemão, um poderoso instrumento de divulgação e de coesão social – o convite privado e público que faz a seu público: um chamamento. Desta forma, pretendo apresentar um estudo relevante para uma melhor compreensão sobre o funcionamento do campo artístico, dos papéis dos diversos agentes nesse campo, mostrando que os vernissages podem ser, em boa medida, um importante instrumento para a própria construção do público de arte. / The general aim of this study is to investigate the mechanisms of the action of agents in the art world through vernissages (art openings), social events that bring people together, not just to open a particular exhibition, but also as the stage for the construction of symbolic and social capital necessary for the operation of the art world itself. It aims to analyse the behaviour of guests in the exhibition space and the concepts associated with the personal experience of each agent on the art scene conducted through interviews; and finally it aims to show the importance of these vernissages for the art world. Why is the vernissage important? Its existence is a powerful anticipatory instrument for publicising and for social cohesion – the private and public invitation that is created for its audience: a convocation. I intend to present a study that is relevant for a better understand of the running of the artistic field, and of the roles of the various players in the field, showing that vernissages may be, in large measure, an important instrument for the actual construction of art public.

O objetivo geral desta pesquisa é estudar os dispositivos de atuação dos agentes no campo das artes através dos vernissages, estes eventos sociais aglutinadores que servem não apenas para inaugurar uma determinada exposição, mas também como palco para a construção de capital simbólico e social, necessários para o funcionamento do próprio campo. Pretendemos analisar a atuação dos convidados no espaço expositivo e os conceitos associados à experiência pessoal de cada agente do campo artístico, a partir de entrevistas; por fim, pretendemos mostrar a importância dos vernissages para o mundo da arte. Por que o vernissage é importante? Sua existência traz, de antemão, um poderoso instrumento de divulgação e de coesão social – o convite privado e público que faz a seu público: um chamamento. Desta forma, pretendo apresentar um estudo relevante para uma melhor compreensão sobre o funcionamento do campo artístico, dos papéis dos diversos agentes nesse campo, mostrando que os vernissages podem ser, em boa medida, um importante instrumento para a própria construção do público de arte. / The general aim of this study is to investigate the mechanisms of the action of agents in the art world through vernissages (art openings), social events that bring people together, not just to open a particular exhibition, but also as the stage for the construction of symbolic and social capital necessary for the operation of the art world itself. It aims to analyse the behaviour of guests in the exhibition space and the concepts associated with the personal experience of each agent on the art scene conducted through interviews; and finally it aims to show the importance of these vernissages for the art world. Why is the vernissage important? Its existence is a powerful anticipatory instrument for publicising and for social cohesion – the private and public invitation that is created for its audience: a convocation. I intend to present a study that is relevant for a better understand of the running of the artistic field, and of the roles of the various players in the field, showing that vernissages may be, in large measure, an important instrument for the actual construction of art public.

Artistas pernambucanos que iniciaram suas carreiras ainda na primeira metade do século XX foram facilmente classificados pela crítica, ou pelos pares, como regionalistas. Por vezes utilizado de maneira explícita e consciente, o regionalismo foi um trunfo importante para se produzir uma arte original. Ao mesmo tempo, criava entraves para que o artista fosse reconhecido nacionalmente por meio de classificações distintas de primitivista, regionalista, folclórico. Observando a trajetória de artistas que, em sua maioria, optaram por fazer suas carreiras no Recife Murillo La Greca, Manoel Bandeira, Lula Cardoso Ayres, Cícero Dias, Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Francisco Brennand, Abelardo da Hora, Ladjane Bandeira, Wellington Virgolino, José Cláudio da Silva, Gilvan Samico, entre outros , foi possível reconstruir o cenário das artes plásticas de Pernambuco, identificar as principais condicionantes sociais da produção artística e perceber como cada um desses atores se movimentou para, produzindo sua obra, viabilizar sua carreira. Diferentes materiais, desde fontes visuais, entrevistas, depoimentos, artigos de época, até comentários críticos, memórias, e catálogos de exposições, foram mobilizados para recuperar cada uma das trajetórias que, vistas em conjunto, permitem vislumbrar as condições e possibilidades criativas desses artistas instalados na periferia do sistema cultural brasileiro. / The artists from Pernambuco, who have started their careers at the first part of the 20th century, have been classified frequently as regionalists by the critics and their partners. At times used explicitly and consciously, the regionalism was an important resource in order to produce an original piece of art. At the same time, it creates obstacles so that the artist was nationally recognized by distinctive classifications of primitivist, regionalist, folklorist. By observing the trajectory of the artists that, in their majority, have opted to constitute their careers in Recife Murillo La Greca, Manoel Bandeira, Lula Cardoso Ayres, Cícero Dias, Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Francisco Brennand, Abelardo da Hora, Ladjane Bandeira, Wellington Virgolino, José Cláudio da Silva, Gilvan Samico, among others , it was possible to reconstruct the scenario of the (plastic) arts from Pernambuco, identify the main social conditioning of the artistic production and realize how each of these artists have managed, by producing their work, to enable their careers. Different material, from visual pieces, interviews, testimonies, news articles from the period, up to critical comments, memories and exposition catalogues, were mobilized in order to recover each of the trajectories that, taken as a whole, allow glimpsing the creative conditions and possibilities for these artists, laid in the periphery of the Brazilian cultural system.

Un nouveau courant de recherche en gestion est récemment apparu : celui de la gestion des événements culturels au sein des "festival and event studies". Nous interrogeons la portée et la pertinence de ce champ à partir de l’étude d’un événement artistique dont nous avons pu observer et expérimenter en première personne l’organisation. Dans un premier temps, nous avons analysé les récits faits par les participants à l’événement. Nous constatons que les récits obtenus ne sont aucunement superposables ou compatibles, et nous en arrivons à interroger la possibilité d’un tel récit d’un événement artistique. Le "management des événements artistiques" n’est qu’une forme de récit possible, dont nous montrons les limites et postulats et qui surtout nie les conflits de valeurs entre les mondes de la gestion et les mondes artistiques. Dans un second temps, nous nous tournons vers les travaux qui comme ceux de Boltanski et Chiapello ou Le Theule reconnaissent une conflictualité entre mondes de l’art et de la gestion au sein du capitalisme. Nous tentons de donner un récit dialogique et polyphonique de cette conflictualité dans le cas étudié mais nous concluons qu’un tel récit ne reconnait pas une pleine place à la notion d’événement, qui est pourtant si importante pour les acteurs. C’est la raison pour laquelle, dans un troisième temps, nous nous tournons vers le concept d’événement de Derrida et de la difficulté de raconter l’événement. Nous proposons à partir d’une telle lecture que l’organisation d’un événement artistique devrait être abordée comme un nouvel événement chaque fois singulier, laissant s’il est réussi une trace dans le parcours de tous les protagonistes. On ne saurait définir un mode de gestion générique de tels événements. Il s’agit à chaque fois de réaliser l’impossible (en conférant à ce mot une signification très précise). La gestion des événements artistiques devrait pouvoir accepter la conflictualité et les puissances distinctes de ces trois termes. Ne pas chercher à enserrer l’événement artistique dans le cadre maître de la gestion, mais d’inventer chaque fois une nouvelle manière de les articuler, que le cadre soit ouvert à de l’inattendu, qu’un événement (artistique) advienne – au risque sinon de n’organiser qu’un non-événement / Recently a new field of research on management became known: it is the management of the cultural events within the scope of the "festival and event Studies". Based on an artistic event that we had the chance to observe and experience, in the first person, we question the range and the pertinence of this segment. Initially we analysed the narratives of the people who were taking part of the event and realized that these comments were not consistent with each other neither could they be superimposed. This led us to question the possibility of such a narrative of an artistic event. Thus, we understand "the management of artistic events" as only one possible form of narrative, in which we underline the limits and the principles, and above all, it disregards the conflict of the values between the management worlds and the artistic universes. In a second phase, we will talk about the works, like the ones of Boltanski and Chiapello or Le Theule, which recognize the existing conflicts in the two worlds, above mentioned, inside capitalism. We tried to propose a polyphonic and a dialogic narrative of the conflict in the subject studied, but we came to the conclusion that such a narrative does not recognize a significant place to the concept of the event, which is yet so important for the actors. Because of this, in a third moment, we will evoke Derrida’s concept of event and also the difficulty in describing the event. Based on such a reading we propose that the organization of an artistic event should be approached as a new event, unique each time it happens and, if it is a success, it is able to leave traces on every protagonist’s course. We would not know how to define a format for the general management of these events. The point is: to make the impossible become possible at each event (giving to "(im-)possible" a very precise meaning). The management of artistic events should adopt the conflict and the individual power of these three terms. It should not fit the artistic event in the "master framework of the management", on the contrary, it should devise, every single time, a new way to articulate it, to guarantee that the Framework is open to the unexpected and that an (artistic) event could emerge – otherwise we run the risk of organizing only anything but a non-event

Il s’agit de montrer comment la trajectoire du peintre finlandais Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946) est typique de celle d’une artiste femme finlandaise à la fin du XIX° siècle et au début du XX° siècle et comment, en dépit de ces caractéristiques communes, elle demeure unique dans le champ artistique national. Orienté dans une perspective de genre, ce travail rappelle le contexte socio-historique et culturel dans lequel le peintre a exercé, exploite ses données biographiques et étudie son œuvre selon certaines clefs d’interprétation proposées par les études de genre anglo-saxonnes appliquées à l’histoire de l’art, et par la sociologie de l’art. / This dissertation aims at revealing how the Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck’s (1862-1946) trajectory is typical of a Finnish woman artist at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, but remains unique from national artistic viewpoint. Providing a gender study perspective, this dissertation depicts the socio-historical and cultural context in which the painter worked, builds on her biography, and interprets her output using a selection of analytical tools provided by gender studies specializing in art history, and by sociology of art.

(in English): This thesis deals with the sociology of art, its prevailing discourse and the search for other possible ways of taking a sociological approach to art. The text is divided into three complementary sections. The first section addresses the problem of the representation of art through the interpretation of art history as the history of display and the resulting conceptual duality of illusion versus schematicity. In the second section, the focus is on analysing the assumptions underlying the dominant stream of art sociology. These are the social determinations of artistic discourse, the denial of the axiology of art, the legitimisation of art on the basis of its social function, and the unequal approach of the perception of art in society. The relevance of these propositions is, in the present work, parsed in much the same way as the unifying theoretical framework underlying these premises, namely the Marxist aesthetic theory. The work presented in this thesis therefore identifies Marxist materialism as an agent of determinism and the levelling of values in the sociology of art, based on well-founded arguments, and concludes that the Marxist approach to art is unsatisfactory and destructive to sociology. In the end, the work seeks other ways for the sociological reflection of art, through...

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The value of art is a critical concept in theoretical discourse. As a result, the high prices of artworks on auctions pose questions about the various processes of value construction and the status of art in these processes. This thesis adopts a sociological approach to the construction of value of art on South African auctions. This approach is situated within a socio-historical perspective, which introduces the various social structures and conditions of cultural production. The main premise of this approach is that a multiplicity of social and cultural influences permeates the art market, its processes and structures, and therefore the determination of value. This research therefore indicates that the value of art on auction is socially constructed. As such, the value of an artwork does not reside in itself, but is produced (and constantly reproduced) through processes that are subject to the codes and conventions of the art world. Within the context of the art market, artworks function as commodities for economic exchange. Since economic exchange is socially and culturally situated, the distinctive ways in which art auctions in South Africa (as a market intermediary) encompass certain social and cultural processes, is also explored. To asses the various factors that influence the value and exchange of artworks on auction, the study introduces the Components of Value Model. The Aesthetic and Historical Factors; the Supporting Documentation and Material Attributes of an artwork, as well as the Financial and Economic Factors collectively indicate that values are, first and foremost, social categories. The value of art on auction is therefore a socially constructed value. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die waarde van kuns is ‘n kritiese konesep in teoretiese gesprekvoering. Na aanleiding van die hoë pryse wat kunswerke op Suid-Afrikaanse veilings behaal, word verskeie vrae gevolglik gestel rondom die verskillende prosesse van waarde samestelling en die status van kuns in hierdie prosesse. Hierdie verhandeling neem ‘n sosiologiese benadering aan tot die samestelling van die waarde van kuns op veilings. Dié benadering is gesetel binne ‘n sosio-historiese perspektief wat verskeie sosiale strukture en voorwaardes van kulturele-produksie inlei. Die hoof premis van hierdie benadering is dat ‘n aantal sosiale en kulturele invloede die kunsmark se prosesse en trukture deurweek, en gevolglik ook die bepaling van waarde. Hierdie navorsing kom dus tot die gevolgtrekking dat die waarde van kuns op veilings sosiaal geskep word. Gevolglik is die waarde van kuns nie intrinsiek nie, maar word geproduseer (en aanhoudend geherproduseer) deur prosesse wat onderhewig is aan die kodes en konvensies van die kunswêreld. Binne die konteks van die kunsmark, funksioneer kunswerke bloot as kommoditeite vir ekonomiese verhandeling. Omdat ekonomiese vehandeling sosiaal en kultureel gesetel is, word die eiesoortige wyse van hoe kunsveilings (as ‘n marktussenganger) sekere sosiale en kulturele prosesse omvat, ook ondersoek. Om die veskeie faktore wat die waarde van kunswerke op veilings beïnvloed te ondersoek, word die ‘Komponente van Waarde Model’ ingebring. Gevolglik dui die Esteties- en Historiese Faktore; Ondersteunende Dokumentasie en Materiële Eienskappe van kunswerke asook die Finansiële en Ekonomiese Faktore gesamantlik aan dat waardes hoofsaaklik sosiale kategorieë is. Die waarde van kuns op veiling is gevolglik sosiaal gekonstrueer.

Ce mémoire propose une analyse du rôle qu’exerce le collectionneur d’art, un acteur ayant une capacité accrue à agir concrètement sur une part importante du monde artistique. La capacité des collectionneurs à agir comme mécènes pour certains artistes, à acheter leurs œuvres, à les vendre, à les exposer, sont autant d’actions qui ont un impact direct sur la carrière des artistes. Plus le collectionneur est reconnu comme une instance capable de légitimer le travail d’un artiste, plus il peut voir sa sphère d’influence devenir importante. Pour adéquatement saisir les effets qu’ont ces actions sur l’entièreté du monde artistique, nous avons choisi de prendre comme objet d’étude une figure particulière qui exemplifie le méga-collectionneur, Charles Saatchi. En assumant lui-même, tour-à-tour, plusieurs rôles dans le monde de l’art, il est reconnu comme un agent apte à reconnaître la légitimité d'une proposition artistique. La première partie de ce mémoire nous permet d'observer l'élaboration d'une véritable tradition du collectionnement et ses principaux acteurs derrière celle-ci. Dans un deuxième temps, le mémoire présente les théories qui expliquent l'avènement du pouvoir prépondérant reconnu au méga-collectionneur. Sont ainsi observés les principes de coopération, propres aux « mondes de l'art », ainsi que les phénomènes de médiation. Finalement, nous étudions, décrivons et définissons les actions et les interactions des divers acteurs et agents qui participent au réseau dont Saatchi est le centre afin de cerner la place qu’il occupe dans le champ culturel, donc sa propre légitimité et sa capacité à reconnaître et à consacrer d’autres acteurs. / This thesis proposes an analysis of the role exerted by the new art collector, an agent with an increased capacity to act on an important part of the art world. The ability of collectors to act as patrons for artists, to purchase their works, to sell and expose them, are all actions that have a direct impact on the careers of artists. The more a collector is recognized as an authority able to legitimize the work of an artist, the more he can see its sphere of influence grow. To adequately perceive the effects of these actions on the art world, we have selected a particular figure that exemplifies the new supercollector, Charles Saatchi. By assuming several roles in the art world, he is perceived as an agent capable of recognizing the legitimacy of an artistic proposal. The first part of this thesis will observe the development of a tradition of collecting and the key agents behind it. Subsequently, this research presents the theories that explain the advent of the all encompassing power of the supercollector. Therefore, the theory of cooperation, specific to the « art worlds », and the phenomena of mediation are observed. Finally, we study, describe and define the actions and interactions of the various agents involved in the network of Saatchi. This will allow us to identify his place in the cultural field, so his own legitimacy and ability to recognize and bestow legitimacy to other actors.

La série Body Techniques (2007) a été réalisée par l’artiste britannique Carey Young dans le cadre d’une résidence offerte par la biennale de Sharjah, aux Émirats Arabes Unis. Les huit photographies de format tableau constituant la série montrent l’artiste qui, portant l’uniforme d’une femme d’affaires, réinterprète huit œuvres célèbres associées à la mouvance de l’art conceptuel. Des paysages singuliers, situés aux abords des villes de Sharjah et Dubaï, servent de toile de fond à ces actions et leur confèrent une aura futuriste. La présente analyse tâche de démontrer que la série est habitée par un paradoxe remettant en question le statut d’art engagé que l’artiste revendique pour son œuvre. Ce paradoxe se manifeste à travers trois axes, autour desquels s’articule notre réflexion : les médiations se glissant entre Body Techniques et les œuvres que la série réinterprète, la déconstruction du « médium » du paysage, et le rôle actif occupé par le dispositif photographique. Cet examen attentif de chacune des occurrences du paradoxe permet de révéler Body Techniques comme une incarnation exemplaire de la double contrainte traversant toute œuvre d’art contemporain engagé : celle permettant aux artistes de critiquer le système auquel ils participent, mais les forçant en retour à participer au système qu’ils critiquent. / British artist Carey Young’s Body Techniques (2007) series was created in the context of a residency at the Sharjah Biennal, in the United Arab Emirates. The eight large-scale photographs of the series depict the artist, dressed in a business woman’s attire, reenacting eight famous works associated with conceptual art. The backdrops to these actions are unusual and futuristic-looking landscapes from in and around the cities of Dubai and Sharjah. This analysis attempts to demonstrate the paradoxical essence of the series, which calls into question the political status that Young claims for her artwork. The paradox unfolds through three axes, which are used to structure this investigation: the varied mediations between Body Techniques and the artworks it is inspired from, the deconstruction of the landscape as “medium”, and the active role played by the photographic apparatus. This detailed examination of each of the paradox’s occurrences serves to reveal Body Techniques as an exemplary embodiment of the double bind presiding over any work of political contemporary art: that which allows artists to criticize the system they participate in, but also constrains them to participate in the system which they criticize.

Nesta tese foi abordada a união dos pintores que estiveram juntos no Palacete Santa Helena por cerca de cinco anos, de 1935 a 1940, bem como as produções pictóricas dos mesmos, em especial as que se referem às pinturas de gênero produzidas neste período. Por meio da análise destas obras observamos como estes pintores construíram a imagem de São Paulo no período em que dividiram o ateliê no Palacete Santa Helena. Suas pinturas sugerem uma modernização às avessas da cidade, pois ao invés de produzirem imagens de uma São Paulo urbana, industrial, a partir de cenas nas quais há um ambiente atribulado, com muitas pessoas, carros e edifícios elementos que propõem diretamente a idéia de modernização da cidade notamos que as obras destes pintores nos mostram em grande parte os arrabaldes, as cercanias da cidade e não o centro. De maneira diferente, o pintor italiano Fulvio Pennacchi apresenta, em seus cartazes publicitários da década de 1930, a modernização da cidade de forma mais direta, pois enfatiza o crescimento e desenvolvimento de São Paulo por meio de imagens que mostram produtos decorrentes da industrialização, como o café, o cigarro, os chapéus, o carro e o pneu. Em contrapartida, a São Paulo apresentada pelos pintores do Palacete Santa Helena, incluso Pennacchi, é o lugar povoado por gente humilde, trabalhadores e trabalhadoras que vivem na roça ou em bairros mais afastados do centro de São Paulo, lugar onde muitas vezes também executam suas atividades laborais e inclusive desfrutam os momentos de lazer. Quando estes pintores abordam em suas obras a temática dos trabalhadores urbanos, retratam-nos como fazendo parte de uma engrenagem que auxilia na construção, crescimento e desenvolvimento da cidade e é quando aparecem nas telas destes pintores alguns elementos que sugerem mais diretamente a modernização da cidade, muito vinculada à industrialização. Desse modo, a partir da análise destas obras, podemos notar que a imagem que se tem de São Paulo é a da cidade que se deseja moderna, na qual a periferia está em contraposição ao centro, onde a presença do rural sugere uma etapa anterior ao urbano, e o popular presente principalmente nos arrabaldes sugere a tradição que na cidade vai sendo substituída pela modernização dos edifícios, pela substituição de comportamentos, pela aquisição de novos produtos, de novos modos de vida, hábitos e costumes. A São Paulo na pintura de gênero destes pintores é a cidade dos homens da prática, dos imigrantes e filhos de imigrantes, assim como eles o são. A raiz social é o que os conjumina como grupo. No que diz respeito às temáticas abordadas em suas obras, estes pintores, quando comparados entre si, se aproximam. Já quando se trata da linguagem visual utilizada em suas composições, há dissonâncias entre eles, pois utilizam referências diferentes. Estas referências têm como fonte alguns artistas modernistas do período, aos quais algumas vezes os pintores do Palacete se aproximam também no que concerne às temáticas tratadas. Assim, os pintores do Santa Helena apresentam as imagens da São Paulo de 1935 a 1940, nas quais observamos uma cidade que tem a modernização construída às avessas, pelo fato de os elementos compositivos muitas vezes não se relacionarem diretamente com a modernização da cidade, mas que sugerem esse processo. Desse modo, com originalidade e peculiaridades comuns e dissonantes, estes pintores produziram uma obra muito vinculada ao modernismo da segunda metade da década de 1930. / This work is about the union of painters who have been together in Palacete Santa Helena for roughly five years time, from 1935 to 1940, as well as the pictorial works made by them, particularly those referring to the genre scenes made in the period. Through the observation of these works, we see how painters built the image of São Paulo in the period they shared the Santa Helena studio. Their paintings suggest a backwards modernization of the city as they represent much more images from the suburbs instead of the urban and industrial São Paulo, based on busy scenarios, with lots of people, cars and buildings elements that suggest the idea of modernization of the city we observed that Santa Helena painters works and the majority of these paintings showed us the environs of the city not the downtown. Differently, the Italian painter Fulvio Pennacchi shows in his advertisement banners from the 1930s, the modernization of the city straight forward, as he focuses on the growth and development of São Paulo through pictures coming from industrialization at that time, such as coffee, tobacco, hats, cars and tires. On the another hand, the São Paulo showed in the screens of Palacete Santa Helenas painters is a place of humble people, workers who live either in the countryside or in the suburbs. This same place is scenario of labor and leisure activities. When urban workers are the thematic pictured by the painters, they are shown as part of an engine that pushes the construction, growth and development of the city. It is when some elements which suggest the modernization of the city pops up in their screens, pretty much involved with its industrialization. From the analysis of the paintings, it can be observed that São Paulo wants to be a modern city, in which the suburb is on opposite side of the town where the presence of agricultural elements suggest a previous stage to the urban ones, and the popular manifestation mainly in suburbs suggests the tradition in the city had being substituted by the modernization of the buildings, for the change of behaviors, the acquisition of new products, new ways of life and habits. The São Paulo seen from the genre painting of painters is a city of hands on men, of immigrants and immigrants sons as they are, indeed. The social root is what unite them as a group. Concerning the thematic in their paintings, these painters, when compared to each other, converge. However, there are differences regarding the visual identity employed in their paintings as different references are used among them. These references come from some modernist artists of the period which also show some similarity to Palacetes painters concerning the thematic approached. Then, the Santa Helenas painters show images of São Paulo from 1935 until 1940, which is possible to observe a city that has its modernization build backwards, by the fact the elements that compose the paintings frequently do not have direct relation with the modernization of the city but simply suggest it. This way, with originality and some common and dissonant particularities if compared among the painters, originally created paintings tied up to the modernism of the second half of the 1930s.