Is it reductive to call art a commodity? Not necessarily.
This week, I’m sharing a variety of responses to the question, “What insight or idea has thrilled or excited you?” This installment courts courtesy of Jordan Ellenberg, a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who recalls a framework for thinking about art that has stuck with him through the years––and that informs the way that he conceives of his own field. He explains:
I had an art history professor in college, Howard Lay, who was a Marxist critic, and who always reminded us that a painting was labor transformed into a physical object with the purpose of being bought and sold.
Email conor@theatlantic.com to share an idea or insight that has thrilled or excited you.
Read Paintings Are Objects That Are Bought and Sold on theatlantic.com
More From The Atlantic