Ambiwalencja kategorii „sukcesu” na przykładzie opowieści polskich artystów emigrantów
The ambivalence of the category of ‘success’ with regard to the example of biographical stories of Polish émigré artists

Summary/Abstract: In this article I would like to present a research perspective based on the idea of a biographically oriented sociology of art. I will refer to the biographical research that I carried out in 2008 - 2012 among the polish artists who settled in London, Berlin, New York and Paris. In the fi rst part of the article I will try to describe the various reasons for leaving the home country and the diff erent strategies undertaken by the artists in order to life abroad. Artistic mythologies dispose us to believe in the uniqueness of each of the authors, not only their works but also their lives. It seems to be interesting to reconsider the question, what is common and typical in their life and what is unique. I will try to point to some of those typical and repetitive elements within the biographies of the émigré artists. Also I want to show how settling outside the country of origin aff ects the artists work and how this impacts on what can be called success. This aspect became the main subject of the article. What factors determine artistic success? In the article both literature sources and empirical data are presented. Success in almost every narrative story is defi ned diff erently. Sometimes the artists in their narratives mention its objective dimensions, such as publications in prestigious journals, important exhibitions, sales of their work or placing the work in prestigious collections and positive reception from audience and critics. In other cases, success is defi ned by achieving a state of independence, a strong position in the art world, achieving social and fi nancial security. What is important is that the objective evidence of success does not necessarily represent the subjective feeling or treating of it as important. By presenting biographical stories of the artists I am showing an ambivalence towards the category of ‘success’. This concept is so variously interpreted, each time requiring a precise defi nition in relation to the biography and the circumstances in which every particular artist lives. The main idea of this approach is based on a attempt to break the dominance of institutional categories and ways of defi ning artistic success and associated with this, the hierarchy of artists constructed by participants and decision-makers in the art world.

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