Art and the State looks at the fascinating effects of the nation-state - its policies and its established traditions - on art institutions, artists and art. Focusing on the visual arts, the book compares cultural policy in the US, in the UK, in Norway and Sweden, and in communist and postcommunist eastern Germany. Russian artists who emigrated to the United States as well as the transition in Germany give insight into how two contrasting political systems are experienced subjectively. The book points to the complexity of the art-state interaction, discussing the ability of states to control artists in free societies and the spaces of freedom carved out by artists in authoritarian ones. The market entails notable constraints of its own. But the discussion goes far beyond the issues of autonomy and freedom. Other issues include the development of audiences and the public role of art and artists.