Artist and Public, and Other Essays on Art Subjects

"Artist and Public, and Other Essays on Art Subjects" by Kenyon Cox is a compilation of essays offering perspectives on art criticism from the beginning of the 1900s. The book examines the dynamic between artists and those who view their art, focusing on how art has changed along with society, especially following the French Revolution. Notable artists like Raphael and Jean-François Millet are discussed as Cox points out the difficulties artists encounter when trying to relate to the public, whose preferences and knowledge of art are always changing. Cox introduces his belief that modern artists and their audiences are fundamentally disconnected, blaming revolutionary societal shifts, and challenges the idea that great artists are doomed to be misunderstood, suggesting that artists of the past had a strong connection with their patrons and the community and emphasizes the disarray of current art due to a lack of understanding.