Has America produced any great artists? My son read in a book at school that some critics have stated that America has yet to produce a truly great artist. "But not to worry," it said, "America is still a young country." The book was written in the '70's.So, do you agree? Michaelangelo, Bach, Beethoven, Shakespeare, and Di Vinci are all European. Has America produced a Shelly or Keats? A Picasso?
First, we must agree that the artist must be appreciated by his or her vertical audience -- by people after his or her death. We might be ga ga about some artist who is hot right now, but how will we feel about him 50 or 100 years from now?
How about Washington Irving? Or Steinbeck or Hemingway or Emily Dickinson? How about Mark Twain? Haven't their works stood the test of time? Then there's the artwork of the Wyeth's. I love their work, but I've seen critics call them too realistic. I think Andrew Wyeth was a great artist -- and not just a great American artist.
To be considered great, an artist would need to influence his peers, and change the culture. That being the case, the early rock and roll artists should be considered.
Still in the area of music, I submit the great hymn-writer Fanny Crosby. I also wonder about Ray Charles and Johnny Cash. I would like to submit Mark Heard as a truly great artist. He died a few years back. My favorite artists are Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan, but they are still living. I was a sophomore in high school when my brother brought home "Aja". I was reading "The Great Gatsby" at the time (another great American writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald). I would lie on my bed, reading the book (I had to read it for an English Literature class), and listen to the album over and over. It was an amazing harmony of song and literature. They call that prosody - when lyrics match the music. In this case, the words on the page matched the music in my ears which matched the lyrical tone.
My son read this blog and pointed out that we have movie-making artists these days, too. Should any of them, be they actors, directors, or producers, be considered as great artists?
What do you think about this? Do you think America has produced any truly great artists?
1 comment:
It sounds as if the writers of that book limit the term "great artist" to those who have been dead several hundred years. Certainly America has been a pioneer in the film industry and in the music industry. AFter all, just about every country I've been to has a music scene that emulates American music. It may be in their own language, but it will sound like American rock or hip-hop. When I think of great American artists, I think of Bruce Springsteen, even though I'm not a huge fan.
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