I have lived my whole life west of the Mississippi. In my experience, realism rules in the commercial field of art. Colleges teach the BS stuff but few buy into it outside the campus. They have their realm of 4 or 5 years where they can preach to their captive audience, but after leaving campus all art majors run into real world assessments and preferences. Universities and museums (run by graduates from same said) must stick together against prevailing tastes. Their existence is fragile and they are united in their insecurity.
I would find the lives of these museum curators and university teachers rather sad if they did not lead astray and confuse so many young talented artists. Too many of the students have followed in their teachers' footsteps simply because they have not the skills to become working professional artists. It is inability passed from generation to generation functioning only under the pursuit of a diploma.
Andrew Wyeth's father said it years ago: "No living American artist of note owes his success to the university system."
