Art’s Properties

**A revisionist reading of modern art that examines how artworks are captured as property to legitimize power** In this provocative new account, David Joselit shows how art from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries began to function as a commodity, while the qualities of the artist, nation, or period themselves became valuable properties. Joselit explores repatriation, explaining that this is not just a contemporary conflict between the Global South and Euro-American museums, noting that the Louvre, the first modern museum, was built on looted works and faced demands for restitution and repatriation early in its history. Joselit argues that the property values of white supremacy underlie the ideology of possessive individualism animating modern art, and he considers issues of identity and proprietary authorship. Joselit redefines art’s politics, arguing that these pertain not to an artwork’s content or form but to the way it is “captured,” made to represent powerful interests—whether a nation, a government, or a celebrity artist collected by oligarchs. Artworks themselves are not political, but occupy at once the here and now and an “elsewhere”—an alterity—that can’t ever be fully appropriated. The history of modern art, Joselit asserts, is the history of transforming this alterity into private property. Narrating scenes from the emergence and capture of modern art—touching on a range of topics that include the Byzantine church, French copyright law, the 1900 Paris Exposition, W.E.B. Dubois, the conceptual artist Adrian Piper, and the controversy over Dana Schutz’s painting __Open Casket__—Joselit argues that the meaning of art is its infinite capacity to generate experience over time. "From the modern period until the present day, artworks have exhibited a well-known paradox: they promise a rich aesthetic experience and revolutionary qualities of innovation while simultaneously serving as a luxury commodity whose sale is directed toward a global class of oligarchs. Art's Properties proposes a new way of understanding this paradox, relating art's qualities-its properties-to its status as commercial property. In Art's Properties, esteemed art historian and theorist David Joselit argues that art's fundamental ontological property is its capacity to give access to experiences of alterity--the state of being other, or different. These experiences may appear as the image of a god, or the utopian dimensions of a black square on a white ground. Joselit goes on to explore artwork's relation to infinitude. As he explains, every work of art, in its material and visual qualities, can be host to an unlimited number of events and encounters with spectators, which persist through and over time. This infinitude is curtailed as art becomes property and is made to serve as a representation. In the modern period, white artists have been presumed to manifest an unmarked, supposedly neutral national character in Europe and the United States, while artists of color are often made to stand in for the identity attributed to them. In place of this dynamic of representation, Art's Properties will advocate for privileging narration over representation. While representation is finite-one thing is put in the place of another-narration has no end; it can be multiplied to encompass the many stories an artwork might enable. In focusing on the forms of narration that an artwork can contain, this book explores art's infinite aesthetic and material alterity"-- Provided by publisher

A revisionist reading of modern art that examines howartworks are captured as property to legitimize power Inthis provocative new account, David Joselit shows how art from thenineteenth to the twenty-first centuries began to function as acommodity, while the qualities of the artist, nation, or periodthemselves became valuable properties. Joselit exploresrepatriation, explaining that this is not just a contemporaryconflict between the Global South and Euro-American museums, notingthat the Louvre, the first modern museum, was built on looted worksand faced demands for restitution and repatriation early in itshistory. Joselit argues that the property values of white supremacyunderlie the ideology of possessive individualism animating modernart, and he considers issues of identity and proprietaryauthorship. Joselit redefines art's politics, arguing that thesepertain not to an artwork's content or form but to the way it is"captured," made to represent powerful interests-whether a nation,a government, or a celebrity artist collected by oligarchs.Artworks themselves are not political but occupy at once the hereand now and an "elsewhere"-an alterity-that can't ever be fullyappropriated. The history of modern art, Joselit asserts, is thehistory of transforming this alterity into private property.Narrating scenes from the emergence and capture of modernart-touching on a range of topics that include the Byzantinechurch, French copyright law, the 1900 Paris Exposition, W.E.B. DuBois, the conceptual artist Adrian Piper, and the controversy overDana Schutz's painting Open Casket-Joselit argues that themeaning of art is its infinite capacity to generate experience overtime.

A revisionist reading of modern art that examines how artworks are captured as property to legitimize power In this provocative new account, David Joselit shows how art from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries began to function as a commodity, while the qualities of the artist, nation, or period themselves became valuable properties. Joselit explores repatriation, explaining that this is not just a contemporary conflict between the Global South and Euro-American museums, noting that the Louvre, the first modern museum, was built on looted works and faced demands for restitution and repatriation early in its history. Joselit argues that the property values of white supremacy underlie the ideology of possessive individualism animating modern art, and he considers issues of identity and proprietary authorship. Joselit redefines art’s politics, arguing that these pertain not to an artwork’s content or form but to the way it is “captured,” made to represent powerful interests—whether a nation, a government, or a celebrity artist collected by oligarchs. Artworks themselves are not political, but occupy at once the here and now and an “elsewhere”—an alterity—that can’t ever be fully appropriated. The history of modern art, Joselit asserts, is the history of transforming this alterity into private property. Narrating scenes from the emergence and capture of modern art—touching on a range of topics that include the Byzantine church, French copyright law, the 1900 Paris Exposition, W.E.B. Dubois, the conceptual artist Adrian Piper, and the controversy over Dana Schutz’s painting Open Casket —Joselit argues that the meaning of art is its infinite capacity to generate experience over time. A revisionist reading of modern art that examines how artworks are captured as property to legitimize power In this provocative new account, David Joselit shows how art from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries began to function as a commodity, while the qualities of the artist, nation, or period themselves became valuable properties. Joselit explores repatriation, explaining that this is not just a contemporary conflict between the Global South and Euro-American museums, noting that the Louvre, the first modern museum, was built on looted works and faced demands for restitution and repatriation early in its history. Joselit argues that the property values of white supremacy underlie the ideology of possessive individualism animating modern art, and he considers issues of identity and proprietary authorship. Joselit redefines art's politics, arguing that these pertain not to an artwork's content or form but to the way it is "captured," made to represent powerful interests—whether a nation, a government, or a celebrity artist collected by oligarchs. Artworks themselves are not political but occupy at once the here and now and an "elsewhere"—an alterity—that can't ever be fully appropriated. The history of modern art, Joselit asserts, is the history of transforming this alterity into private property. Narrating scenes from the emergence and capture of modern art—touching on a range of topics that include the Byzantine church, French copyright law, the 1900 Paris Exposition, W.E.B. Du Bois, the conceptual artist Adrian Piper, and the controversy over Dana Schutz's painting Open Casket —Joselit argues that the meaning of art is its infinite capacity to generate experience over time. Contents Prologue Alienability and Alterity Constituent Moments 1793–1815 Modern Art Was Always Conceptual The Burden of Representation Witness The Object as Witness Afterword Acknowledgments Notes Index Image Credits