Finding the Muse: A Sociopsychological Inquiry into the Conditions of Artistic Creativity

by Mark Freeman

Overview

Finding the Muse explores the lives of a group of aspiring fine artists from the mid-1960s, when they completed art school, to the mid-1980s, focusing especially on problems of artistic creativity as they relate to such issues as the mystique of the artist, the challenge of establishing community among artists, the place of the art market in the construction of artistic identity, and the limits and possibilities of modern and postmodern art itself. By identifying the salient problems of contemporary artistic activity, the author seeks both to reconstruct more optimal conditions of creativity and to provide direction for how these conditions might be brought about.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521044790
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2007
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; 1. Social reality and the space of creativity; 2. To be an artist; 3. In the company of others; 4. Creativity and the market; 5. The dream of artistic freedom; 6. The conditions of creativity; Appendix: the Artists Project; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"An outstanding work...Engaging, critically, a variety of 'individualist' views focusing on the encapsulation of the artist, the author makes a strong case for the socio-historical-cultural constitution both of artists and works of art. An exceptionally well written book, accessible both to professional scholars and to intelligent general readers. A 'find.'" Choice

"Finding the Muse can be read as a work on the sociopsychology of creativity and artistic work. It should be read simultaneously as a statement of viewpoint about directions for psychology as a field. In both readings, it is a significant contribution that deserves serious intention." Margery B. Franklin, Contemporary Psychology

"Finding the Muse will be welcomed in social psychological circles..." Caterina Pizanias, Theory of Psychology

From the Publisher