Connoisseurship vs. Theory?

An interview about the photography market with Judith Keller, associate curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum, and Amanda Doenitz resulted from a conference attended at the Getty in March 2004 and, published in the December 2004 issue of art on paper.

Doenitz: It seems to me there is an overbearing emphasis on investing in art. But a discussion of connoisseurship barely exists. Is connoisseurship less important?

Keller: Its importance has been reduced within the art market, but I don't hold the market entirely responsible for this. When a collector is looking at work, the people who are presenting that work should be connoisseurs themselves, and should be able to speak to the merits of the work. But an entire generation hasn't gotten this instruction at the university level. The teaching of connoisseurship has been enormously reduced in the academic world, where theory rules. It's simply not about the object anymore.

And, what is a connoissuer?
- con·nois·seur
cognoscere -- more at cognition
1 : EXPERT; especially : one who understands the details, technique, or principles of an art and is competent to act as a critical judge
2 : one who enjoys with discrimination and appreciation of subtleties (a connoisseur of fine wines or in our case, fine art)
- con·nois·seur·ship

Connoissuership was heard to slack as multiculturalism took hold during the 80s. That was the same time African American, Latino, and female artists were finally allowed onto the stage, so to speak. Not to say it is a complete result of such forces, there has also arisen the use of theory to support art work, especially it seems, conceptual based work. However, since we live in a "free market society" dealers can make their own decisions as to what they want to sell, correct? Create desire, sell high. eBay.com is a good example of how market forces work, if you really need an example. Artists do the same and, make their own choices.

I heard many complaints about the work shown at the art fairs but, I saw lots of good work. Maybe I just didn't want to waste time looking at it and, thinking about it. If there was so much bad work out there, there are definitely a great number of people willing to stake financial risks on it. Maybe they don't think it's a risk. How does it matter that theory is now the trump card?

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