The Love of Art
European Art Museums and Their Public

Pierre Bourdieu (Author), Alain Darbel (Author), Dominique Schnapper (Author)

9780745619149, Polity Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 March 1997

192 pages
22.8 x 15.4 x 1.5 cm, 0.255 kg

"At last, this important book is available in translation. It is an essential component of Bourdieu's œuvre, and of his contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the social basis of High Culture. It also provides theorists of the arts with that rare but necessary critical tool: factual information about the world of the museum." Janet Wolff

"This is vintage Bourdieu, showing how class generates culture, which in turn reinforces class." Museum Anthropology

Museums and art galleries appear to be and would claim to be open to all, and yet, in fact, they are visited only by a small segment of the population. Who are those whose love of art brings them into museums? What distinguishes them from the majority of people who exclude themselves or who are effectively excluded?

In this classic study, Bourdieu, Darbel and Schnapper address such questions on the basis of a wide-ranging survey of museum visitors throughout Europe. By examining the social conditions of museum practices, they show that cultivated taste is not a natural gift but a socially inculcated disposition which is distributed unevenly, and which predisposes some to distinguish themselves through their love of art, while others are deprived of this privilege.

Translators' Note.

Preface.

Subject Areas: The arts: general issues [AB]