Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity

Format: Paperback Language: English ISBN: 0691133808 ISBN13: 9780691133805 Release Date: December 2007 Publisher: Princeton University Press Length: 256 Pages Weight: 0.85 lbs. Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.3" x 9.2" When in their lives do great artists produce their greatest art? Do they strive for creative perfection throughout decades of painstaking and frustrating experimentation, or do they achieve it confidently and decisively, through meticulous planning that yields masterpieces early in their lives? By examining the careers not only of great painters but also of important sculptors, poets, novelists, and movie directors, Old Masters and Young Geniuses offers a profound new understanding of artistic creativity. Using a wide range of evidence, David Galenson demonstrates that there are two fundamentally different approaches to innovation, and that each is associated with a distinct pattern of discovery over a lifetime. Experimental innovators work by trial and erro