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The Tastemakers: The Shaping of American Popular Taste

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Lynes does not link the early Nineteenth century -- when his book begins -- with the expansion of the Middle class (and the rise of a monied aristocracy of sorts) and its consequent aspirations, but he does present a history of the results of those aspirations on America during the Nineteenth and the first half of the Twentieth century. The result is a peek at the back end of art and of Art, at the stuff art historians usually bypass.

Lynes divides his history into three parts, one on cultural movements to encourage good taste (especially in housing and interior design) during the Nineteenth century, and the effects of that movement on the Middle class. The second part is about that algal bloom resulting from a lot of Americans getting vastly more money than they could spend sensibly; many, it seemed, purchased shiploads of old masters and built copies of old European villas. The third part is about the art and corporations, primarily, how corporations accidentally or deliberately used art and the aspirations of the Middle class to make lots of money, and also about the kind of art that the Middle class acquired (again, mostly housing and interiors, which is not surprising as that is where people live).

This book comes late enough to chronicle the Upper class's fascination with Impressionism, but too early to chronicle corporations' fascination with monumental Abstract Expressionism. It was written before pop became academic, so is relatively free not only of ideological fixations but even of curmudgeonly grumps (although the curmudgeonly wink occasionally shows through). Altogether, a good (if brief and slightly dated) introduction to the history of America's relationship with the arts, of all levels of brows.