New publication: Making the Modern Artist by Martin Myrone

The new Paul Mellon Centre publication, Making the Modern Artist: Culture, Class and Art-Educational Opportunity in Romantic Britain by Martin Myrone, is now published and available to purchase from Yale University Press.

The artist has been a privileged figure in the modern age, embodying ideals of personal and political freedom and self-fulfilment. Does it matter who gets to be an artist? And do our deeply held beliefs stand up to scrutiny?

Making the Modern Artist gets to the root of these questions by exploring the historical genesis of the figure of the artist. Based on an unprecedented biographical survey of almost 1,800 students at the Royal Academy of Arts in London between 1769 and 1830, the book reveals hidden stories about family origins, personal networks, patterns of opportunity and social mobility.

Find out more here.