In the 1950s, a great science fiction writer was tired of critics complaining about science fiction writing and came up with what is now known as Sturgeon's Law "ninety percent of everything is crap" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law
Basically, the great art, literature, and music by dead people is what survived over time as people wanted to keep that, not the dreck churned out at the same time. Charles Dickens wrote his books originally in serial form originally published in segments in magazines. Most of the other stuff published in those magazines has not seen the light of day since.
It takes a lot of artists doing their craft to produce some good art that will be appreciated a century later. Time sifts out 90%+ of the art and we are now looking at, reading, and hearing what survived.
A while back, I saw an interesting statistical analysis of concert pieces played before and after Beethoven's death (can't quickly find reference). Prior to that, the concerts were usually playing recent compositions by live composers, like Top 40 radio. After Beethoven died, there was a steady rise in the percentage of concert pieces played where the composer was dead, Most orchestras today play music by dead composers and a new piece is often trumpeted with fanfare instead of being the norm like 300 years ago. Kind of like the "Great American Songbook" compositions instead of current Top 40 radio. Each duke etc. had their pet composer in residence who would produce pieces for the various parties they threw. Some of those composers were very good and their compositions survived. Then Beethoven's monumental opuses broke the mold and set a new standard for the next 200 years.
I kind of disagree with your take, Allison. A lot of art traditionally has served power. Look at how many art museums feature portraits of inbred royalty. Nothing edgy there. The most celebrated artists in the western canon had wealthy patrons to whom they had to kiss ass. Da Vinci probably painted Mona Lisa for a rich lady but then decided not to give it to her and instead make world history.
This boring modern art serves monied people who require the starving artist to tilt their palette in a tasteful direction.
That's fair, though I would say that there's a whole portion of the 20th century MoMA legacy that involves the Vanderbilts/Whitneys, and the CIA. Makes for interesting reading. https://daily.jstor.org/was-modern-art-really-a-cia-psy-op/
Interesting to see elite production factories produce the wrong kind of elites, but I would expect them to write the ship. Just seems like there are limits to the utility of governance and international relations theory academics.
So nice to read your article MAGA - Make Art Great Again. For 20 years I lived on East 74th Street and enjoyed attending the Whitney Biennial before the Metropolitan Museum took over the Marcel Breuer designed museum on 75th and Madison Avenue. The Biennial is to me a landmark event for understanding art and the new museum is always fantastic to visit regardless of the art occupancy.
I cannot comment on this years Biennial in your article but I appreciate very much your critical analysis about the art world in general immediately apparent in your title MAGA - Make Art Great Again. Your sympathies crystalize in my feelings in 2024 as our nation struggled through a polarizing election year. MAGA - Making Art Great Again occurred to me a good idea as I founded the Constitution Arts Society, CIAsociety.org and need a hook to help co-brand this funny idea to paint our government live at the Library of Congress so we trademarked MAGA - Make Art Great Again before the Miami Art Basel (Comedian Banana Olympics by 2001 east village pal Mauricio Catalan). We sold MAGA hats inside Art Basel for $50 each approaching a mark of $500 inside the Art Basel show. We can send you the social media that received many art reviews.
March 4th, 2025 was a historic day as the Constitution Arts Society made its first Artist March from Bitcoin Oracle Brock Pierce's home the Pierce School 13 blocks from Capitol Hill to the Library of Congress where we proceed to meet the 300 members of US Congress and 40 Senators we personally met and handed invitations to be painted live with our army of artists which the subsequent artworks would be made into digital inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain with Rune and Ordinal technology so that the leaders of our nation at this historic time in our Constitution history can be immortally inscribed into the possible future of American and world currency.
Thank you for visiting CIAsociety.org or writing us if our work Making Art Great Again is of continued interest to you.
Beautiful insciteful writing by the way. We look forward to reading more from you!
In the 1950s, a great science fiction writer was tired of critics complaining about science fiction writing and came up with what is now known as Sturgeon's Law "ninety percent of everything is crap" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law
Basically, the great art, literature, and music by dead people is what survived over time as people wanted to keep that, not the dreck churned out at the same time. Charles Dickens wrote his books originally in serial form originally published in segments in magazines. Most of the other stuff published in those magazines has not seen the light of day since.
It takes a lot of artists doing their craft to produce some good art that will be appreciated a century later. Time sifts out 90%+ of the art and we are now looking at, reading, and hearing what survived.
A while back, I saw an interesting statistical analysis of concert pieces played before and after Beethoven's death (can't quickly find reference). Prior to that, the concerts were usually playing recent compositions by live composers, like Top 40 radio. After Beethoven died, there was a steady rise in the percentage of concert pieces played where the composer was dead, Most orchestras today play music by dead composers and a new piece is often trumpeted with fanfare instead of being the norm like 300 years ago. Kind of like the "Great American Songbook" compositions instead of current Top 40 radio. Each duke etc. had their pet composer in residence who would produce pieces for the various parties they threw. Some of those composers were very good and their compositions survived. Then Beethoven's monumental opuses broke the mold and set a new standard for the next 200 years.
I kind of disagree with your take, Allison. A lot of art traditionally has served power. Look at how many art museums feature portraits of inbred royalty. Nothing edgy there. The most celebrated artists in the western canon had wealthy patrons to whom they had to kiss ass. Da Vinci probably painted Mona Lisa for a rich lady but then decided not to give it to her and instead make world history.
This boring modern art serves monied people who require the starving artist to tilt their palette in a tasteful direction.
true, though art in the 20th century was great, I think because we moved away from the Patron model.
That's fair, though I would say that there's a whole portion of the 20th century MoMA legacy that involves the Vanderbilts/Whitneys, and the CIA. Makes for interesting reading. https://daily.jstor.org/was-modern-art-really-a-cia-psy-op/
Interesting to see elite production factories produce the wrong kind of elites, but I would expect them to write the ship. Just seems like there are limits to the utility of governance and international relations theory academics.
So nice to read your article MAGA - Make Art Great Again. For 20 years I lived on East 74th Street and enjoyed attending the Whitney Biennial before the Metropolitan Museum took over the Marcel Breuer designed museum on 75th and Madison Avenue. The Biennial is to me a landmark event for understanding art and the new museum is always fantastic to visit regardless of the art occupancy.
I cannot comment on this years Biennial in your article but I appreciate very much your critical analysis about the art world in general immediately apparent in your title MAGA - Make Art Great Again. Your sympathies crystalize in my feelings in 2024 as our nation struggled through a polarizing election year. MAGA - Making Art Great Again occurred to me a good idea as I founded the Constitution Arts Society, CIAsociety.org and need a hook to help co-brand this funny idea to paint our government live at the Library of Congress so we trademarked MAGA - Make Art Great Again before the Miami Art Basel (Comedian Banana Olympics by 2001 east village pal Mauricio Catalan). We sold MAGA hats inside Art Basel for $50 each approaching a mark of $500 inside the Art Basel show. We can send you the social media that received many art reviews.
March 4th, 2025 was a historic day as the Constitution Arts Society made its first Artist March from Bitcoin Oracle Brock Pierce's home the Pierce School 13 blocks from Capitol Hill to the Library of Congress where we proceed to meet the 300 members of US Congress and 40 Senators we personally met and handed invitations to be painted live with our army of artists which the subsequent artworks would be made into digital inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain with Rune and Ordinal technology so that the leaders of our nation at this historic time in our Constitution history can be immortally inscribed into the possible future of American and world currency.
Thank you for visiting CIAsociety.org or writing us if our work Making Art Great Again is of continued interest to you.
Beautiful insciteful writing by the way. We look forward to reading more from you!
Respectfully,
March W Chadwick, Architect
thank you!!! so kind of you. thank you for such a thoughtful comment. I'd love to see those reviews!