You mean like the Renaissance artists? They didn't exactly work for free, and they didn't always get to choose the theme; "I would like a fresco of the last supper" When you do work, or a service, for a fee, and you market that service to the general public, and you are in competition with other people in the same trade...you suddenly have...capitalism! I'm not sure how capitalism has any effect on art good or bad. The good ones will always shine through. And they will still be producing art when the pay goes away, hence the 'starving artist' term. If you are talking about mass produced garbage, you don't need capitalism for that. The Soviet Union certainly pushed their agenda through art that was mass produced, and do you think that the artist were given much flexibility with the 'design' so to speak? Not sure if these are legit: http://funnytogo.com/pictures/ussr/propaganda-posters.htm