The figure of the artist is distorted in the popular imagination by stereotypes around individualism, heroism, genius, mastery, suffering, and poverty. This lecture course will examine these gendered, colonial mythologies and offer a more complex picture of the artist as a craftsperson, professional, entrepreneur, researcher, public intellectual and dissident. We will consider diverse artistic models such as artist collectives and anonymous practitioners that challenge the idea of the individual male genius and examine artists’ complex relationship with elitism, the art market, arts institutions, and gentrification. This course will be supplemented by visiting artist lectures that will offer students insight into the day-to-day reality of the practicing artist.