Art is a social institution. So it can't be insulated from social influences. Artists are sellers in market. They earn their bread by selling their products, artworks.
Art is a language shared by social actors. Artworks can't be read without shared code to interpret the meaning of the text. They call it as convention. Convention is established through the power relationship in the market among producer (artists), intermediary (critics) and consumer (audience).
In this regard, art is just another medium like mass media. The author questions when the mass media dominates the culture, what is the status of pure art? In this vein, following questions, which have haunted the field of artistic production since the 19th century, gains renewed significance. Could art secure its autonomy as modernists dreamt of? What is the social role of art?
To answer those questions, the author probes into the language and market of visual art from pop art to postmodernism. Various avant-garde movements since pop art has borrowed and exploited material, subject and strategy of mass media. In turn, mass culture has utilized the art as high culture. But the position of pure art is still restricted to institutionalized sanctuary like museum, university. It's no more than high culture protected from below. It's utilized to distinguish from others by high society. It's not clear whether artwork is different from luxury goods in its utility. Adorno's word still reverberates in the circle of artists: "Today, it goes without saying that nothing concerning art goes without saying, not much without thinking. Everything about art has become problematic: its inner life, its relation to society, even its right to exist".

This book considers the impact that the fine arts and mass culture of the United States had in Britain afer World War Two. Those influenced included British artists, art students and critics (including the author of the book when he was an art student). It's a fascinating social and cultural history. It is also an account of America's Cold War cultural offensive and the role played by American artists living in Britain (such as Kitaj). It documents the variegated responses of British artists to postwar America and its art, criticism and mass media. Their reactions ranged from Americanism - enthusiasm and compliance - to Anti-Americanism - criticism and resistance. Covering significant art movements such as Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, the author digests information from hundreds of published sources and interviews to paint a vivid picture of a crucial period in British culture. Many of the critics, painters and sculptors featured - Lawrence Alloway, Peter Blake, Reyner Banham, Anthony Caro, Clement Greenberg, David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, R.B. Kitaj, John Latham, Claes Oldenburg, Eduardo Paolozzi, Herbert Read, Bridget Riley, Larry Rivers - are now internationally famous. The study is brought up to date with an overview of the decline in American influence during in the 1980s and 1990s and the rise of Brit Art. Walker is a scholar, an academic but he writes in a lively, accessible way. This book is well illustrated (but no colour unfortunately) and should be of interest on both sides of the Atlantic.