Introduction: Understanding Artists (original) (raw)

Artists' lives are fascinating, complex and inspiring. Their "inner drive" and ambition bring out the key characteristics of artistic production, informing the artists' image and reinforcing the myth surrounding their identity and behaviour. This book concentrates on visual artists based in Saxony, one of the five East German Länder and takes a fresh look at the intricacies of their careers, against the backdrop of the cultural, social and political changes triggered by German unification. It focuses on the perceptions and beliefs of individual artists, how these developed over time and how they are reflected in the contemporary cultural policy agenda. The study considers approximately the last 70 years, as covered in the lifetime of the oldest participating artists, situating them at the crossroads of ideological change as experienced through German unification in 1990. It covers how the artists' upbringing and professionalisation were shaped under the ideological and political umbrella of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), as well as their positioning in the democracy that was adopted after the collapse of the communist regime. Every book is unique but this monograph is a first in cultural policy studies surveying the identity and careers of East German visual artists as a longitudinal study following unification. As a result it introduces memory as a new perspective for cultural policy research while merging identity, myth CHAPTER 1