Liberal Arts, Birth and Decline of the Salon, The Salon series

Painting and sculpture were noble arts whose status was jeopardised by modernity.

To fully understand the scandal surrounding modern artists such as Manet, Courbet, and the Impressionists, it is important to recognise how their approach - reminiscent of the practices of old craft guilds - challenged established institutional conventions. All critical literature from this period was based on aesthetic criteria associated with the liberal status of painting and sculpture, a status that since the establishment of the Salon kept them separate from commercial concerns.