UNITED
ART RATING STATUTE
APPROVE:
Founder and Editor-in-chief of United Art Rating,
Chairman of Artists Trade Union of
Prof. Dr. S.V. Zagraevsky
(edited since June 20, 2019)
1. United Art
Rating is published as a periodical reference book, which is a registered mass
media (registration certificate PI ¹ 1-00213 dated February 2, 2001) and is
published in accordance with the
2. The Editorial
board of the reference book “United Art rating” acts according to the law “On mass
media” and is formed of the members of the Rating Centre of Artists Trade Union
of Russia.
3. The Rating
Centre of Artists Trade Union of
4.
The aim of the Rating Centre is to work on United Art Rating in united
nomination “Artists”, including:
–
artists of 2 dimensions (painters, graphic and poster artists, photographers,
theatre decorators, batik painters, illustrators, animators, etc.);
–
artists of 3 dimensions (sculptors, jewelers, ceramists, authors of
installations etc.),
--
artists of 4-dimensional continuum (authors of performances, happenings,
videoinstallations etc.),
in
other nominations, and also on the pricing recommendations for fine art (see
Application 3).
5. United Art
Rating includes:
– Russian
Art Rating – united Rating of the artists of XVIII–XXI centuries, who work,
worked or were born in the
–
International Art Rating – all-world Rating of artists of XVIII–XXI centuries,
forming the world art heritage.
The principles of
rating definition are same in both sections.
6. The integration of
contemporary artists and masters of XVIII–XX centuries in United Art Rating
solves the following problems:
–
cultural-historical: creation of the broad informational base about artists and
fixing a position for each artist in the history of art;
– social:
protection of artists and customers from abusive transactions;
– macroeconomic:
stabilization of the market of contemporary art by its correlation with the
antique market and giving pricing recommendations;
– educational:
overcoming of “a psychological barrier” between contemporary art and “old
masters”;
– international:
comparing of arts of different nations and countries.
7. United
Art Rating has levels from 1 to 10, distinguished in descending rating order.
The highest levels
are divided into the categories “A” and “B”. The difference between them is
conventional and consists in relation to the art market:
– an artist
of “A” category (designation of the first letter of the word “Avant-garde”) is
virtually not oriented to the market’s demand.
– an artist
of “B” category (designation of the
first letter of the phrase “Be in demand”) is mainly oriented to the market
condition demand.
The artists, referred to “A” and “B” categories, at the correspondent levels
have the same rating.
Description of the rating categories is given in Application 2.
8. The section “Russian Art Rating” includes the artists of levels from
1 to 6, the section “International Art Rating” – the artists of levels from 1
to 3.
9. Defining rating categories is made on the basis of all available for
the Rating Centre open information about works of art, biographies,
expositions, collections and sales of works, catalogues and Internet and press
publications, art historians’ and art-managers’ opinions, public opinion polls,
any other open and available information.
Information of confidential character, making up a private, commercial
or state secret, can’t serve the basis for rate defining.
10. While rating the priority is given to the art level of works, their
humanistic significance. Other criterions are professionalism, exhibition
activity, availability of works in museums, their recognition by the public,
galleries and art critics, social and civil significance of works, merchantability
and price level of works of art.
11. The basic
principles of artists’ rating.
11.1. In the
process of referring an artist to one or another rating category both creative
and “market” criteria are used (see p. 10).
11.2. Style on its
own account doesn’t serve a criterion for rating. Artists of any style, trend
and school are neighbours in all the rating categories.
11.3. An artist’s
professionalism is considered to be the ability to use necessary means of
plastic arts for achievement of a creative aim.
11.4. Categories “
11.5. If there is
an art-manager, who “advances” one or another artist, it may serve a reason for
his increase in rating.
11.6. Pricing
policy of an artist, his heritors or managers is an essential, but not a key
factor in rating.
11.7. A stable high
price of works may serve a reason for increase in rating.
11.9. An artist’s or
his heritors’ dishonorable conduct towards the galleries and art-managers may
serve a reason for decrease in rating.
11.10. Following
the course of an established tradition, working in conformity with a state or
social order, an artist is referred to “B” category.
11.11. Innovators
of their time are referred to “A” category.
11.12. A successful
creative idea cannot serve a reason for referring to “A” category without being
time-tested. By continuous exploitation of such an idea for market purposes an
artist can be referred to “B” category.
11.13. Probably an
artist imitates someone unwittingly. In this case poor professionalism or
creative immaturity takes place, so the category decreases.
11.14. The presence of an artist’s works in museums may serve a reason
for increase in rating in case if it is known, that the initiative for works’
acquisition was from museums themselves, but was not “organized” by an artist,
his heritors or managers.
11.15. Exhibition
and creative passivity of an artist may serve a reason for decrease in his
rating in case if it has led to the loss of publicity. A serious illness,
depriving an artist from a possibility to work, does not lead to decrease in
rating.
12. With the aim of
rating categories regulations of living and working artists the age limits are
defined. Cannot be given:
– rating level 1 –
to living and working artists;
– rating levels 2-4
– to artists younger than 50 years old;
– rating level 5 –
to artists younger than 35 years old;
– rating levels 6-8
– to artists younger than 25 years old.
In the range of the
indicated age limits an artist’s age is considered in rating, but cannot be a
self-sufficient reason for increase or decrease in rating.
In exceptional cases the
13. All the artists, included in United Art Rating, are held in equal
respect. Any rating category, independent of its level, is a professional
vocation.
14. Including an artist to United Art Rating is made at the discretion
of the Editorial Board and the Rating Centre as the integration of art
historians and art-critics who possess the rights of independent judgments
about artists and works of art (pp. 1, 4 and 5 of Article 29 of the
Constitution of Russia).
As the information, on the basis of which rate defining of an artist is
made, is not confidential (its recourses are defined in p. 7), there is no need
of any personal application, agreement or notification of artists, their
inheritors or managers (Articles 1, 41, p. 1 of Article 47 of Russian Federation
law “On mass media”).
Claiming about an artist’s excluding from United Art Rating for the
reason of disagreement with a given rating category, as a rule, is not
regarded, as the Rating Centre has a right to include artists in United Art
Rating and give them rating categories exclusively at its own discretion (see
p. 14). The freedom of the Rating Centre actions is protected by the
16. By ethic reasons the Rating Centre work is confidential, information
about its progress and recourses of information of the Rating Centre members is
not recorded, is confidential and is not published.
The resualts of the Rating Centre’s work are published in the reference
book “United Art Rating”.
By ethic
reasons the Rating Centre members are indicated in the reference book “United
Art Rating” (Application 1) in alphabetical order, without indication of state,
social or scientific titles, degrees, positions or awards.
17. United Art
Rating is constantly changed, refined and supplemented.
Changes in rating
categories, specified names and dates are registered in the computer database
of Artists trade union and published in the next edition of the reference book
“United Art Rating”.
18. Artists Trade
Union gives out certificates about the rating of an artist.
19. For the reason
that United Art Rating is constantly changed, refined and supplemented, in case
of divergence of rating categories in different documents and publications the
following priority is made (in descending order):
1)
2) a certificate
about a given rating (before the indicated expiration date);
3) the last printed
edition of the reference book “United Art Rating”;
4) the last
electronic edition of the reference book “United Art Rating”;
5) the previous
editions of the reference book “United Art Rating”;
5) references to
United Art Rating in other publications and in the Internet.
20. First and last
names of artists are printed in the reference book after family (last) names.
All generic titles
of artists (Count, Prince, Baron etc.) are printed only if the artist became
known to public with his title.
All biographical
data are given in conformity with the Gregorian calendar in format
“DD.MM.YYYY”.
21. An artist,
having a rating level not lower than 5, has a right to enter the membership of
Artists Trade Union without consideration of his works by the Reception
committee.
22. All artists,
included in Russian Art Rating, are included in social project of Artists Trade
Union of Russia “The Register of professional artists of Russian Empire, the
All artists,
included in International Art Rating, are included in Internet-project “Greatest world artists of XVIII–XXI centuries”.
In these projects
the artists’ names are shown in alphabetic order without rating categories.
23. An artist
including into United Art Rating and all changes of his rating category are
free of any charge.
See also:
Description of Rating categories
© United Art Rating. All rights
reserved.