Art from Start to Finish ― Jazz, Painting, Writing, And Other Improvisations

When is an artistic work finished? When the copyeditor makes the final correction to a manuscript, when the composer writes the last note of a symphony, or when the painter puts the last brushstroke on the canvas? Perhaps it's even later, when someone reads the work, when an ensemble performs, or when the painting is hung on a gallery wall for viewing?

Art from Start to Finish gathers a unique group of contributors from the worlds of sociology, musicology, literature, and communications—many of them practicing artists in their own right—to discuss how artists from jazz musicians to painters work: how they coordinate their efforts, how they think, how they start, and, of course, how they finish their productions.

Specialists in the arts have much to say about the works themselves, which are often neglected by scholarsi n other fields. Art from Start to Finish takes a different tack by exploring the creative process itself and its social component. Any reader who makes art or has an interest in it will value this book.

Howard S. Becker is the author of several books, including, most recently, Tricks of the Trade, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Robert R. Faulkner is professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is the author of Music on Demand and Hollywood Studio Musicians. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is professor of performance studies at New York University. She is the author of Destination Culture.