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PARTISAN REVIEW
Rosenberg:
You don't know how peop le a re affected. I know some
serious artists who are so morall y decrep it that they would be affected
by anything.
Tumin:
They would start painting in terms of what they think was
now going to sell , given the new publicity?
Rosenberg:
No, but they might make works in styles that h ave been
successful with the media.
Tumin:
Instead of going on to new problems?
Rosenberg:
" Probl ems" aga in. The wrong word.
If
they were a littl e
hungry, they might think of a new idea. I know artists that have
gotten new ideas because the o ld ones weren't selling anymore. But if
you have a ma rket that keeps expanding, you do more and more of
the same thing.
It
goes without saying. Wh a t do you think artists
are?
Tumin:
A touch of poverty is good for the semination of new ideas?
Rosenberg:
There's no ques tion about that. How can you as k such a
question ? Affluence is h eady , you know, and a very dubi ous condi–
tion to develop new ideas, or even to hold o n
to
old ones.
Tumin:
But you wouldn ' t be willing to say.. ?
Rosenberg:
Starvation is also bad .
Tumin:
It 's impossibl e to state the bes t conditi ons under which you
would get th e frees t flowing of ideas?
Rosenberg:
Yes, Tolstoy once sa id tha t government support of the arts
is terribl e, because an artist who is well o ff will never produce a work
of art.
Tumin:
Do you agree?
Rosenberg:
No , because starvation is also bad . Tolstoy is the last guy
in the world who should talk about a subject like tha t.
If
he had any
sense of good mann ers, he would know tha t tha l is no t a subj ect for
him to discuss.
Tumin:
What else would you say about the impact of art on o ther
institutions in society?
Rosen berg:
You mean , like on the Congress?
Tumin:
On political values.
Rosenberg:
We now have a politician in th e Senate named Claiborne
Pell who has made a big thing out of art. We have another one in the
House.
Tumin:
On fundamental values? Where art rea ll y affects fund amental
values?
Rosen berg:
It doesn 't have a direct effect.
If
you 're going
to
find it, you
have to crawl through sewers. You can't find a direct effect of art on
politics. Especially in the age o f the med ia. What kind of effect can a
