tnp651

"The wish to capture evanescent reflections is not only impossible, as has been shown by thorough German investigation, but the mere desire alone, the will to do so, is blasphemy. God created man in His own image, and no man-made machine may fix the image of God. Is it possible that God should have abandoned His eternal principles and allowed a Frenchman in Paris to give the world an invention of the Devil?"
[1839 German journal, referring to the invention of the daguerreotype]

I once read a 1920s textbook on masterpieces of world art. About half of it was ancient Greek and Roman art. Renoir and the Impressionists got about 3 pages. Van Gogh was not mentioned at all. Asian art was ancient Chinese ceramics. Africa was nonexistent.

What did I learn from this? That Great Art is a social construct, and that it changes over time. The art that is revered today may not be tomorrow. The ignored, the scorned art and artists (even you yourself) may some day be "discovered" and raised to the heights of admiration.

The best thing is not to worry whether you are making great art or not. Follow your own vision, make something satisfying. Today's arbiters of taste have as much validity as that textbook. The future will make its own judgment.

"God made the sunset. Nikon made the camera. And Kodak made the film. But that doesn't make you a photographer."

Merle Morris (1923-1999)

"The wish to capture evanescent reflections is not only impossible, as has been shown by thorough German investigation, but the mere desire alone, the will to do so, is blasphemy. God created man in His own image, and no man-made machine may fix the image of God. Is it possible that God should have abandoned His eternal principles and allowed a Frenchman in Paris to give the world an invention of the Devil?"

[1839 German journal, referring to the invention of the daguerreotype]