Expensive tastes

 A second thought about taste, good, bad and indiscernible: I hadn’t thought of an obvious point — that discussions of taste often involve money, and thus of marketing and branding, in American culture.

Tom Lewis, an English professor at Skidmore College, made that point with a story about the dollar value of paintings by Thomas Cole:

 

In the 20th Century, in the twenties and thirties and forties, you could pick up a Cole painting for a few dollars, and then all of a sudden he was rediscovered and the Hudson River School paintings now go for millions. You can say that taste changed, but that’s hardly a description of the forces that affected these changes.

 

That’s not really the way it works when you’re interested in neglected poets, rather than neglected painters. But when I come across a poem or essay in a battered old book, I want to convey its value. I think I’ve found the poetic equivalent of a Picasso or a Cole. I feel like a million bucks and want to share the wealth.

• Source: “Good taste, bad taste, no taste, why taste?” Salmagundi, Fall-Winter, 2024-2025.

https://salmagundi.skidmore.edu/articles/780-good-taste-bad-taste-no-taste-why-taste