Art Over Commerce Defined

by • Peschel's Indie Author Compendium

Art Over Commerce defined is from the draft of “Peschel’s Indie Author Compendium: Best Practices, Words, Concepts, and Warnings to Help You Write and Market Compelling, Useful, and Entertaining Prose”

(c) 2024 by Bill Peschel

Art over commerce: The cause of endless (and fruitless) debate ever since one cave artist saw another cave artist rewarded for his mastodon mural when any fool could see it was derivative of his own much-better work. The question boils down to: Should a creator follow solely her judgment during the creation of a work, or should she consider the audience’s opinion as well?

Louis B Mayer art over commerce defined
Louis B. Mayer (source)
It is this question that inspired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to adopt the Latin motto Ars gratia artis (“Art for art’s sake”). This caused George Bernard Shaw, during negotiations over the film rights to his play, to tell MGM’s Louis B. Mayer that “I’m afraid, Mr. Goldwyn, that we shall not ever be able to do business together. You see you’re an artist and care only about art, while I’m only a tradesman and care only about money.”