ROMANTICISM
What is romanticism?
Romanticism is an aesthetic modality that prioritizes cultural creators' rights to develop their own individual modalities of presentation, and the culture consumers' rights to cultivate individual taste in whatever direction they prefer. The "artist's" vision or purpose should be the guide, and this should not be compromised to fit into an external mould or to conform to a widespread predilection. It sounds very "noble" - and it can be. It can also just be an excuse for an artist to abuse the good nature of an audience. Nor is it impossible that the second might eventually turn into the first!
Patrons have always had trouble with their commissions - both Michelangelo and Goya were infamous for arguing with the Roman Catholic Church about which colours really fulfilled the religious symbolism of the paintings they were paid for (in each case, they insisted on their own choices rather than accepting the dictates of clerics). More recently, Woody Guthrie Sr. wouldn't even paint a store sign unless he could choose the colours rather than providing what he was asked for.
Aristotle however, contended that the value of a play was determined by the audience, not the author, nor the players, nor the producer. But romanticism doesn't really dispute this - what it argues is that artists should freely express themselves, and THEN audiences can decide if they value the product or not. Even so, romanticism does NOT treat the reception of artistic works in the way that marketing would recommend. Modern marketing advocates surveying the market and responding to the needs and wants discovered. When it comes to consumer products for instance, the former practice of designing and producing a commodity and then creating a demand through advertising (much as a romantic artist might do!), is now frowned upon and discouraged. Instead, producers (of whatever) should ask the public first, and then give them what they want. Either way, the only real problem is when stylistics is raised to a moral issue.
How is romanticism manifest?
The motion picture business (the biggest aesthetic industry AND employer of artists in the world), tries to reflect its audiences' demands, but the public sensibilities are fickle enough that many of the guesses are wrong (i.e., the pictures barely cover production costs, often not even that). Book production and automobile production are often not much better at anticipating what will sell and providing it. And enough of the time when artists with a vision are given an opportunity to express themselves, they do find a market and recoup the investment. The success rate for aesthetic innovators is probably about the same as for consumer product innovators, not more than one in ten -but the prospect of the big breakthrough keeps them at it. As long as the cultural consumers have the same right to choose as the producers, freedom of choice will work.
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