Identifying the Most Important Artists in a Historical Context: Methods Used and Initial Results

The authors collect information on visual artists to allow a broad historical ranking of the most prominent artists. Their purpose is to examine the birth and work locations, and the consequential pattern of labor movement, of prominent artists over a number of long time periods. The article indicates that a relatively simple column-inch approach may suffice for the purpose of identifying the thousand or so most prominent artists, but that much more detailed source material is then required to examine the labor mobility experiences of these artists. A significant bias to the home or target market country is posited in the ranking of artists across countries, even in prestigious publications. Some preliminary data are provided on the ranking of artists by country of birth, covering a very broad historical sweep.