Questions and Potential Answers About Ways Ownership and Art Matter for One Another

Abstract

Almost all art is owned, and this affects how people interact with art and think about it. At the same time, people’s beliefs about artwork and artistic creation may affect their thinking about ownership. This article raises several questions about ways that ownership and art may matter for one another and reviews recent findings from experiments on adults and young children that suggest preliminary answers to these questions. Issues addressed include whether people’s conceptions of ownership contribute to their disapproval of plagiarism and forgery, whether people feel that making art can deprive owners of property, whether people are viewed as having less freedom for artwork they have over their other possessions, and whether artists are viewed as having enduring rights and claims over their creations.