Organizational account of symbolic boundaries in urban cultures: social network analysis of New York art world from 1940 to 1969

•Galleries in New York had always played important roles in NY art world.•The boundaries between NY museums and other organizations gradually collapsed.•Boundaries had been formed between the university and other organizations.•NY galleries and museums in other American cities had strong connections in the 1940s.•The connection between NY galleries and NY museums became more apparent in the 1960s. This paper examines the composition and transition of symbolic boundaries in the New York art world of painting and sculpture from 1940 to 1969 through social network analysis of inter-organizational ties between art venues. As culture-led redevelopments become more controversial in the age of neoliberal urban management, recent studies make it clear that symbolic boundaries and boundary works of urban cultures become more important topics for urban studies. So far, existing research on symbolic boundaries in urban culture has focused on social class and urban organizations, such as amenities and business establishments, and have pointed to the loss of the symbolic boundary between the museum and the gallery, this paper will show that more diverse changes were occurring in addition to such changes while following the critical methods of the previous studies. Utilizing the exhibition histories of 43 prominent American avant-garde artists based in New York, I obtain affiliation network data of artists-by-art venues. Based on the affiliation data, this paper examines the social networks among art venues, such as museums, galleries and universities, using block modeling and other methods of social network analysis.