This year, a controversial painting was exhibited as part of the Cent
Jours d'art contemporain, an annual event in Montréal which takes
place in the Fall. Produced by two artists, Komar and Melamid, and entitled
"Le tableau idéal", this work proposed to represent visually
a survey of people's artistic tastes and their attitudes to related matters.
The survey, which had been conducted in fifteen countries, allowed these
artists to produce for each country both an ideal and a least ideal painting.
The Centre International d'Art Contemporain (C.I.A.C.) presented only the
American version of these works. According to the survey of 1001 people,
conducted by the Nation Institute Company, Americans prefer the colour blue,
autumnal scenes, images of wild animals, and also enjoy representations
of the heroes of American history. As Canadians were not questioned on
their
aesthetic tastes, no ideal painting exists for their country.
In my research on the market for reproductions of works of art in Québec
(1), I interviewed museum directors, commercial editors, distributors and
dealers on public tastes in art reproductions. What struck me when comparing
my findings to the procedure adopted by artists Komar and Melamid, was that
public tastes are defined similarly in the two cases. As in the Komar and
Melamid survey, these representatives of the market for reproduced art spoke
to me of their "bestsellers", mentioning the importance of colours
and themes. One topic raised by them which is not specified in Komar and
Melamid's procedure is the existence of fashions. Might we therefore suggest
that public tastes for works of art are subject to change? If a reproduction
is an "image" of the original work, one might be tempted to conclude
that there also exist fashions in people's tastes for original works.
Making the hypothesis that public tastes in original works and in reproductions
of art are possibly the same -- it would be interesting to test in a survey
of the general population and not only the specific markets of collectors
or art specialists -- and given that no survey concerning the ideal work
has taken place for Canada, I thought it worthwhile to present to you a
summary of the results of my meetings with those involved in the reproductions
market as they concern people's tastes for reproduced art. Please note
that I do not claim these data to be statistically significant: they are
simply the result of interviews with 24 people involved in this market.
All those interviewed formally confirmed the existence of fashions. In
museums as much as in commercial publications and galleries, they were unanimous
in saying that landscapes sold best. Speaking specifically about the Québec
market, certain editors said that the Winter landscape was an excellent
seller in that province, but that it was difficult to export, being too
tied to the local context.
As for colours, several participants speaking about the Québec market
mentioned that green and mauve were the ones preferred in the reproductions
favoured at the time of interview. However, someone spoke of a vogue in
pastel colours and of the imminent return of bright colours. Even if there
was no consensus, all agreed that colour was a decisive factor and that
it was necessary to take account of it when choosing works to be printed.
Apart from that, the editors often mentioned the importance of themes in
the choice of reproductions. Mr. Laroche, editor at Multi-Graph, spoke
of
five principal fashions which alternate in cyclical fashion. He had noticed
this and had had it confirmed by another editor who was active in the business
for over forty years (2).
- Still lifes, house interiors, culinary representations . . . also including street scenes
- Landscapes
- People
- Nature, animals
- In the Atlantic provinces, people are more conservative, preferring landscapes, religious subjects and maritime reproductions.
- The Québecois will buy works that are specifically Québecois (Winter scenes, traditional subjects). They tend to opt for French rather than Anglo-Saxon artists. They like pastels and often buy with a view to having the colour blend in with their decor.
- In Ontario, there are no distinguishing features. There are less differences between shops, so that a good seller will succeed virtually everywhere.
- In British Columbia, consumers are bolder and more avant-garde, and will buy lesser-known artists or reproduction of abstract or Pop Art works. They like bright colours.
(1) These interviews, which were part of doctoral studies in communication
at McGill University, were conducted between October 1993 and February 1994.
The thesis, completed in July 1995, is entitled "Découverte
d'une industrie culturelle, la reproduction des oeuvres d'art au Québec"
(Discovery of a cultural industry, the reproduction of works of art in Québec).
(2) Unfortunately, I do not know who this editor was.