Alongside production and distribution, reception is the third major field of research in art history. Most of the time, the focus of this research is on individual reception. Das Kunstpublikum. Eine kurze Geschichte, on the other hand, examines for the first time the significance of a necessary but usually overlooked actor in the art world. Pictorial and written references from all periods document the behavior of the public and the different assessments by artists, collectors, and critics. Bätschmann shows that the experts in the art system always oscillate between two extremes: they are either skeptical of the public and disdain its taste, or they flatter the masses and want their applause.

OSKAR BÄTSCHMANN (*1943) is one of the most important art historians of our time. He has taught in Zurich, Freiburg i.Br., Giessen, and Bern, and has had extended research fellowships at the Getty Center, Santa Monica, the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Bätschmann’s books, including Einführung in die kunstgeschichtliche Hermeneutik and The Artist in the Modern World, are considered classics of the field.