In Western cultures since the mid-19th century. In the 15th century, the gallery was a long, narrow, covered passage along a wall, first used as a place for art in the 1590s. The long gallery in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses served many purposes, including the display of art.
Art was displayed not only for aesthetic pleasure, but also as evidence of status and wealth, as well as for religious art as objects of ritual or depictions of narratives. The first galleries were in the palaces of the aristocracy or in churches. As art collections grew, the buildings became dedicated to art and then became the first art museums.
Art exhibitions, operating similarly to today’s marketing art galleries, first appeared during the Early Modern period, from about 1500 to 1800 A.D. In the earlier Middle Ages, artists and sculptors were members of guilds, seeking commissions to create works of art for aristocratic patrons or churches. The creation of art academies in the sixteenth century represented attempts by artists and sculptors to raise their status from mere artisans who worked with their hands to the classical arts, such as poetry and music, which are purely intellectual. The public exhibition of works of art, however, had to overcome the prejudice against commercial activity, which in many European societies was considered beneath the dignity of artists.
Art galleries were well developed in the Victorian era, made possible by the increasing number of people seeking to own objects of cultural and aesthetic value. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw the first signs of modern values regarding art; art as an investment rather than a pure aesthetic, and an increased focus on living artists as an opportunity for such investment.
Galleries and the Art World
The art world includes everyone involved in the production and distribution of visual art. The fine art market depends on maintaining its status as high culture, although in recent decades the line between high culture and mass culture has been blurred by postmodernism.
In the case of historical works, or old masters, this distinction is supported by works of provenance ; proof of its origin and history.
For more recent works, status is based on the reputation of the artist. Reputation includes both aesthetic factors; attendance at art schools, membership in a stylistic or historical movement, opinions of art historians and critics; and economic factors; participation in group and solo exhibitions and past successes in the art market. Art dealers, through their galleries, have taken a central role in the art world by combining many of these factors; such as “discovering” new artists, promoting their associations in group shows, and managing market valuation.