This book views the visual arts as a system, complimenting our earlier studies of the performing arts and the media arts. Using a systematic and systemwide perspective, it describes the state of the visual arts today and identifies how this picture is changing, why those changes are taking place, what they imply for the future, and what policy issues are involved.
The book's approach is based on the observation that the visual arts system has historically reflected the broader culture and society from which it emerges. Correspondingly, we treat the visual arts as a system that responds to internal and external forces in the broader society and thus reflects such trends as growing pluralism in the artistic styles, the new technologies, and changing public expectations about the role of the visual arts in society.
Printed copies of “A Portrait of the Visual Arts: Meeting the Challenges of a New Era” (ISBN 0-8330-3793-5) can be ordered from RAND's Distribution Services by visiting Rand's Web site.