A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO MARXIST ART THEORY

VISUALISING THE RELATIONS OF ART

@GLUMBIRD /     MEDIUM.COM/@JRBML.PUBLIC
INTRODUCTION
M ARX makes an
important observation on the
nature of art in The Grundrisse.
Put bluntly: art is an historical
processs which constructs the
ideological shape of reality.  of artistic talent in particular
In this sense, art belongs to what Marx describes
as the ideological superstructure of society in his
1859 Preface to a Contribution to the Critique of
Political Economy. This is not simply a reflective
category, which can be suggested by Marx’s
juxtaposition of the concept against what he calls
the material or economic basis of society, ‘the
real foundation’. Marx’s proposition in Grundrisse
that art plays an active role in the production of
society suggests a far more complex relation
between the superstructure and base of society.
This pamphlet will explore the basics of a
Marxist conception of art as such a process,
culminating with a visual representation of art's
relations. It is an introductory text, intended to
aid study rather than replace other texts.
CAPITALISM
REPRESSES
WORKING CLASS
In The German
ART
Ideology (1845), Marx
and Engels wrote  
that 'the exclusive concentration
individuals, and its suppression in
the broad mass which is bound
up with this, is a consequence of
the division of labour.’
How is artistic talent suppressed
in the broad masses? A primary
method is the economic
exclusion of the working class
from artistic production. To work
in the art industry requires both
time and the means to support
oneself outside of waged labour,
often whilst working unpaid. This
exclusion is evident in statistics:
only 18% of music, performing
and visual arts staff in Britain are
from working class backgrounds.
 BASE
In Marxist thought the economic
base of society is determined by
humanity's relationship to its
productive forces. Under
capitalism this takes the form of
the relationship between the
working class to the capitalist
class - that is, waged labour.
The superstructure of society
'arises' upon its economic base.
This phrase highlights Marx's
understanding that material
reality conditions our thought.
Marx includes the political, legal,
philosophical, artistic and
religious in this category.
SUPERSTRUCTURE
 BASE
SUPERSTRUCTURE
Of course, in reality these processes
are experienced at the same time.
Marx is using an abstract model in
order to explain how power and
ideology operate in class society.
Marx gives the economic base
primacy in determining the class
structure of a society as it is where
class power concretely devolves from.
However, Marx does not position
the superstructure of society as
an inert or secondary process.
Rather, Marx describes the
superstructure as an active
process, dealing with 'ideological
forms in which men become
conscious of this conflict [the
division of humanity into
classes] and fight it out'.
 ART
AND SUPERSTRUCTURE

Having located art as an ideological form within the superstructure of

society, we can now begin to define how it can impact society. As Marx
says, the superstructure of society is where human beings become
conscious of contradictions within the economic organisation of
society (the base) and fight them out. This means that art is one of
several ideological forms which can shape material reality. 

How this takes place on a broad, social scale is beyond the scope of
this pamphlet. In order to even begin answering it, we first need to
understand what art is.
What is of
importance to art,
Marxism and society
is the question:
What social function
is art playing?

DEMYSTIFYING THE ART OBJECT

In an essay on D.H. Lawrence in his 1938

collection Studies in a Dying Culture, the
Marxist artist and critic Christopher Caudwell
(Christopher St John Sprigg) argues that under
'bourgeois society social relations are denied in
the form of relations between men, and take
the form of a relation between man and a thing,
a property relation, which, because it is a
dominating relation, is believed to make man
free.' This applies to art as much as it applies
to other spheres of life. Therefore, in order to
understand what art is, we must first dispel the
Christopher mystification of its definition produced by its
appearance under capitalism.
Caudwell.
 DEMYSTIFYING THE ART OBJECT

T
C
T JE
S B
TI O
R R
T
A A

PRODUCTION

Caudwell argues that bourgeois society demands that the artist 'regard the
art work as a finished commodity and the process of art as a relation
between himself and the work, which then disappears into the market'. In
other words, the economic organisation of capitalist society asks the artist
to consider the art object purely in relation to themself, as a producer of
commodities for the market. This relation is depicted in the diagram above.
To Caudwell, this can produce two ideological effects.

(1) That the artist view the art object purely by its market value and their
own production only by its relation to this value. This leads to the
commercialisation of art.

(2) The commercialisation of art 'may revolt the sincere artist', leading them
to attempt to forget the market and consider art only in relation to their own
- that is, art for art's sake. This leads to art becoming more formless and
individualistic as the art is intended only for its artist.
DEMYSTIFYING THE ART OBJECT

T E
C C
JE N
B IE
O D
T U
R
A A

CONSUMPTION

Just as bourgeois society demands the artist consider art purely in relation
to themselves and the act of production, the audience of an artistic piece
are asked to consider art purely as it relates to their consumption. The art
work seems to appear, fully made, from the market. Its consumption
appears as an activity relating only to the individual, for their pleasure,
completely bereft of any clearly social character or purpose. As such, the
production of art remains mystical. This relation is depicted in the diagram
above.

Understanding that the economic relations of capitalist society obscure the

nature of art is a crucial step in understanding what art is and how it
develops under capitalism. At this point, however, we are still lacking a
concrete Marxist definition of what art is. Caudwell provides such a
definition in the remainder of his essay on Lawrence.
Art is not in any case a relation to a thing, it is a
relation between men, between artist and audience, and
the art work is only like a machine which they must both
grasp as part of the process.
Christopher Caudwell

ECNEIDUA
TSITRA

PRODUCTION CONSUMPTION

T
C
JE
B
O
T
R
A

As Caudwell says, art is a social relationship. Once this is understood, it

becomes far easier to grasp what it is. If I were to produce a painting and
keep it for my own, personal, consumption, it would not be art to anyone
other than myself. If I should die and the painting placed in a gallery, it
would be transformed and become the social relation “art”. What is and is
not art is determined by how an object is used. The diagram above depicts
how this relationship functions in its most basic and abstract form.

DEMYSTIFYING THE ART OBJECT

 ART IN SOCIETY

Understanding that art 'is a relation [...] between artist and

audience' allows us to understand art as a concrete process
carried out by people. 

However, this forces us to face another question. If art

occurs between people it must be conditioned by society, as
all people exist within society. The question is deceptively
simple: how and when does society influence art?
 ART IN SOCIETY

Men make their own history, but they do not

make it as they please; they do not make it
under self-selected circumstances, but under
circumstances existing already, given and
transmitted from the past. The tradition of
all dead generations weighs like a nightmare
on the brains of the living.
KARL MARX
THE 18TH BRUMAIRE OF LOUIS BONAPARTE

It is true that - as Marx says - people 'make their own history' but not 'as they
please'; it is equally true that people make their own art, but not as they please.
Just as people make history in given circumstances they make art in given
circumstances. The traditions of society, both artistic and general, necessarily
place concrete limitations upon what a work of art can be or otherwise
condition its meaning.
ART IN SOCIETY
At its most simplistic level, the notion that
art is conditioned by society and social
tradition is evident. For example, law can
place a clear boundary on what can be
said within a work.  ON THE MEANING
There are, however, other ways in
which art is conditioned. A style may
be dominant in the art form practiced
by an author, and this could influence
them to make something in that style
or in response to it. The artist may
experience a certain historical event,
which then forms the basis of their
work. An artist may promote or
criticise the political, moral or
religious beliefs within their society.
Ultimately, even the building blocs of
art - words, images etc - are
conditioned by society. Put bluntly: an
apple only symbolises sin in western
society because the history of
western aesthetics has conditioned
us to understand the symbolic
meaning of an apple in such a way.
A WORD
OF THE NIGHTMARE OF TRADITION
IN MARX'S
18TH BRUMAIRE
It's easy to miss what Marx means in the
section of the 18th Brumaire quoted on the
last page. Often the meaning is distorted to
imply that 'tradition' is a kind of inescapable,
omnipresent force which determines
human actions.
For Marx, however, 'tradition'  here refers to
forms of behaviour based upon past
practices that are still active in human
society. Tradition 'weighs like a nightmare'
because it possesses a material influence.
Equally, the word 'weighs' is used to show
that human actions are conditioned by
tradition to produce certain outcomes, but
that these outcomes are not a given.
 Understanding that society conditions the
meaning of art from the standpoint of
production forces us to recognise that this
conditioning process must also take place
at the point of consumption. In other
words, the meaning taken from an artwork
by an audience is necessarily conditioned
by the same kinds of forces which
condition artistic production, ranging from
historical events to the socially accepted
meaning of given symbols.

Of course, this does not mean that the

meaning of a work will always align with
that intended by artist, even if an audience
exists in an identical historical context.
This is because the influence of society on
art is mediated by individual experience.
This is depicted in the diagram below.

ECNEIDUA / TSITRA
TXETNOC LAICOS

INDIVIDUAL 

EXPERIENCE

ART IN SOCIETY
 The ideas of the ruling
class are in every epoch
the ruling ideas.
Karl Marx
The German Ideology (1845)

To Marxists, the influence of society on art tends to produce

artworks that promote the values and politics of the ruling class
within that society. This occurs for concrete, material reasons.
As Marx says in The German Ideology, the intellectual
dominance of a ruling class is due to the control it exerts over
'the means of mental production' - that is, universities, schools,
publishing houses, film studios, etc. This allows the
organisation of the production of ideological content and
produces the tendency for ideological works to reproduce the
ideas of a ruling class.

ART IN SOCIETY
A BASIC VISUAL MODEL
OF THE RELATIONS OF ART

The analysis of art's relations put forward in the "Demystifying the Art Object" and "Art in
Society" segments of this pamphlet can be rendered as the visual model above. This is
the most abstracted and simplistic way of understanding the relations of art through
Marxism. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the model provided is useful in understanding at
least where to begin a Marxist analysis of any given artist, art object or audience.
This pamphlet is an attempt
to explain the most basic
elements of a Marxist
analysis of art in a visual
format. Further reading and
other materials with more
detail on the subject are
available on my Medium. If
you have any comments,
don't hesitate to get in touch
on Twitter!

If you enjoyed this work and

would like to support it, then
please make a donation at
the PayPal address below.
Any amount, no matter how
small, would be greatly
appreciated.

paypal.me/jrbml

Feel free to print and

distribute this how you wish. @GLUMBIRD /     MEDIUM.COM/@JRBML.PUBLIC