The Age of Creativity

Cara/Andrea here, musing on creativity . . . and, well, the A-word. Ah-ha! (No, it’s not Ah) now that I have your Attention, I shall explain. But first, a bit of backstory. I am excited about an upcoming lecture I’m going to attend in a week on the painter J. M. W. Turner. Mike Leigh, the director of the movie, Mr. Turner, will be discussing the making of the film and the artist, who is credited not only with being one of the great luminaries of the Romantic era, but also with being one of the pioneers of modern art.

Turner has always been a favorite of mine. I love his sense of color and light, and his flair for dramatic composition. But most of all, I love his sense of exploration, his inquisitiveness, his willingness to constantly challenge himself to see things in a new light. And this brings me to the A-word—which is Age. Contrary to the common perception that most people grow more conservative as they grow older, Turner became more radical, more willing to experiment and try new things.

Now that got me to thinking . . . about creativity and aging.  In his early work, Turner showed was a consummate draftsman he was—his watercolors resonate with beautifully wrought realism and nuanced attention to detail. He could have been satisfied with the accolades, and had a stellar career showcasing those gifts. Yet as he matured, his work became looser and more focused on capturing emotion rather than merely depicting a scene.

Again, he could have rested on his laurels, for the powerful new paintings made him famous. But as he got older, instead of doing what was familiar and ‘comfortable” he kept pushing himself to keep looking at the world around him with fresh eyes. The quixotic effects of color and light became fascinating to him, and the work he did at the end of his life was focused on capturing their ethereal qualities. His paintings became abstract—and many credit him with inspiring the Impressionists.

So I find his career—and life—inspiring on so many levels. (Yes, I know, it seems he wasn’t a pleasant person, but I’m putting that aside just to look at his art and his creative spirit.) And when I started to think of other artists and writers whose work I admire, I realized that many of them kept growing and experimenting until the very end. Going further afield, I think in music you have the same thing. So while the elderly are typically viewed as people who retreat into a tiny cocoon of familiar habits, conservative in their thinking and afraid to try new things, those “old geezers” who are in the creative arts seem to turn that stereotype on its head— for which, given all the wonderful things I get to enjoy, I am profoundly grateful!

I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that age often brings with it a growing realization that time is finite. When one is young, it seems as if there is infinite time in which to do all the things one wants. Age sharpens the awareness that life isn’t infinite—which perhaps for creative people is an impetus to work even harder to achieve all that one wants to achieve.

I know that I feel a little like the Nowhere Man in the movie Yellow Submarine—Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo! So little time, so much to know! I’d like to get back to painting in watercolors . . . I’d love to learn Latin . . . I’d like to take a wine course . . .

What do you think creativity and age? Do you find yourself more willing to experiment or push your comfort zone as you get older? Or are you happy within the world you’ve created, and take pleasure in what’s familiar? If you could choose one new skill to learn, what would it be?

Comments

[Madge Aalto]

Great architects and symphony or opera conductors come to mind. Their creativity would seem to stop growing only when they cease existing!

[Maggie Robinson]

Wonderful paintings. I've been meaning to watch the movie with Timothy Spall.

Speaking personally, I didn't get published until I was almost at "retirement age," whatever that is or will be after the politicians get through with it. It was as if someone threw a switch inside me and the words (some of them good, some bad) came tumbling out. I had no time before--I was raising four kids, caring for our elderly parents and working. I don't think age should ever stop you from doing what you love.

[Andrea Penrose]

So true, Madge. I think whne one is creative in any field, it keeps one thinking, exploring and challenging oneself. Which IMO is all good!

[Andrea Penrose]

The movie has just come out on DVD, and though it may lose something on the small screen, it still will be wonderful.

Sometimes, what with one's responsibilities, Life's path may take a little longer to get to where one can "throw the switch" on creative endeavors. So I totally agree—age makes no difference. One should just go for doing what one is passionate about (and BTW, your books are wonderful, so thank goodness you never let go of your dreams!)

[Artemisia]

I will give you two quotes. The first is from John Glenn after his shuttle flight: "You should run your life not by the calendar, but by how you feel. Old folks have ambition and dreams, too, like everybody else. Why don't they work for them?" The second is from Germaine Greer from her book The Change: "If a woman never lets herself go, how will she ever know how far she might have got?"

[Andrea Penrose]

Thanks for sharing these, Artemisia! So VERY true!

[Patricia]

Dr. Stuart Greyson, previous minister at my church, said the following, which I always like to remember when thinking about age: "I am maturing into my youth." This is such a positive way to look at it.

[Andrea Penrose]

Oh, I love this, too, Patricia. It's a wonderful way of viewing things—and so true.

[Jobev]

I definitely agree that as we get older we can explore in different ways, often for the better. For one thing, if we don't cling to the idea of trying to preserve youthfulness it's very liberating!

However, there is an argument that Turner's changing style was due to changing eyesight. There's an article here.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/nov/18/arts.artsnews

Having had cataract operations before the cataracts got bad, I can imagine the effect serious ones could have on what a person saw. I often go the weirdest light effects anyway, and I can imagine wanting to capture them.

[Andrea Penrose]

Jo, I think it's very true that in some ways as we get older we feel freeer to explore.Maybe we are wiser and have learned to feel less constrained by convention!

That's a VERY interesting point about eyesight. I hadn't heard anything about Turner suffering from visual problems . . .Perhaps. Buy the sheer abstractness to me seems very deliberate, and an evolution of his style of playing with light. I'd prefer to believe it was artistic choice, not medical necessity!

[Sue W. McCormick]

I don't know about Turner's eyesight, but Vincent van Gogh was very near-sighted, which explains the halos around the stars in "Starry Night".

I don't know how creative I am, but I do explore new activities all the time. I think I'm a perpetual student; I enjoy learning. I started doing Genealogy in my 80s, I keep taking courses and going to lectures about it.

I try new books (and read more non-fiction). And I have moved politically to a more progressive stand than I held at age 21. So I think it isn't age, but attitude.

[Mary M.]

I am so busy in retirement that I can't figure out how I ever had the time to work. Always something new to try, in books or in person.

BTW, there's a fun little Apple app (don't know about Android) called "Starry Night Interactive Animation" (free) that lets you create your own version of Van Gogh's masterpiece with just a fingertip—no brush needed!

[Maggie Robinson]

Thank you! That means so much coming from you!

[Andrea Penrose]

You're an inspiration, Sue! I think curiosity and a love learning is a Fountain of Youth . . . or, more elementally, the secret to a full, engaged life.

Yes, I know about van Gogh, so maybe eye problems are influential in art.

[Andrea Penrose]

I feel far busier than I was in my twenties, and not just because of the internet, etc. I just keep finding more and more things I want to do!

How cool about the app! Thanks for the heads-up!

[Andrea Penrose]

No, no--thank YOU! I'm an avid reader, and get such pleasure out of good books!

[Karin]

I'm still wanting to learn new things. Several years ago I took an Arabic class which was a real brain workout. If I had to choose a skill I'd love to become fluent in another language. And right now I just helped to form a non-profit and am serving on the Board of Trustees, something I never had time for during my working years. I agree with Mary M, I don't know how I ever found time to work.
Speaking of artists, Matisse went in a new direction in his old age with his cutouts, but the reason was he couldn't see well enough to draw. They are so lovely and light hearted, it's hard to believe he did them while France was under German occupation, and his own daughter was in the Resistance and in constant danger.

[Bona]

Creativity and age. I think it can go both ways, some people do great things when they were young and then just kept on repeating themselves (Picasso is a good example of that) and some people start doing great things when they're on their forties or fifties.
As of writers, I tend to think that the older you are the better writer, b/c you know more about life and human nature. You tend to have fewer but clearer ideas. I love Andrea Camilleri's mysteries and he was born in 1925!
OK, I'll give you another example with one of you, Word Wenches. I think that the Spymasters series would have been different if they were written by someone in her twenties or thirties. One of the things that I love about them is precisely the adult way in which the characters speak or keep quiet or behave.
The older I get the less patience I've got with characters that sound like High School Musical kids.
I've been in my comfort zone for many many years. Raising children and having a demanding job does not allow you to experiment so yes, I take pleasure in what’s familiar.
A new skill to learn...
I don't know. Rock climbing with ropes and those things?
If I were to learn a new language it would be German, more likely. It wouldn't be Latin. I had to study it for three years in high school, and I didn't see the point then and I still don't see it now. I love Roman classics, but I prefer a good translation.

[Kantu]

When I was young, my mother used to tell us girls- Live like you will die tomorrow; learn like you will live forever. It used to go in one ear and out the other. Now that I am over 65 I seem to have retained that thought. I never thought I had a creative bone in my brain or body. And every time I joined a class, at the first introduction, I always said I hoped to develop that "other" side of my under developed brain. The other day, I read an article (not the best, but eye-opener for me). It was titled Symptoms of A Creative Mind. Wow! I. Shall. Never. Ever. Say. Again. That. I. Am. Not. Creative. In fact. I. Have. An. Extremely. Creative. Mind.

This is very encouraging. I knit and crotchet. But recently, I have taken up frame loom tapestry weaving. It is fun and challenging. Plenty of opportunities for creativity.