false 2602270 1 <p>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?</p><p>By examining the careers not only of great painters but also of important sculptors, poets, novelists, and movie directors, <i>Old Masters and Young Geniuses</i> 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.</p><p>Experimental innovators work by trial and error, and arrive at their major contributions gradually, late in life. In contrast, conceptual innovators make sudden breakthroughs by formulating new ideas, usually at an early age. Galenson shows why such artists as Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Cézanne, Jackson Pollock, Virginia Woolf, Robert Frost, and Alfred Hitchcock were experimental old masters, and why Vermeer, van Gogh, Picasso, Herman Melville, James Joyce, Sylvia Plath, and Orson Welles were conceptual young geniuses. He also explains how this changes our understanding of art and its past.</p><p>Experimental innovators seek, and conceptual innovators find. By illuminating the differences between them, this pioneering book provides vivid new insights into the mysterious processes of human creativity.</p> 2626910 12 11 2007 Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity total:7|5:1|4:5|3:1|2:0|1:0| 7 28 23 3 4 0 false false Fri Apr 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 09:39:40 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 09:42:12 -0700 2009 One of the more intriguing theories on creativity I've encountered. If the hypothesis hold, and I think it might, it could have very exciting implicat...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri May 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 11 13:27:13 -0700 2008 Fri May 15 16:15:57 -0700 2009
i heard galenson on npr back in october and was immediately interested in reading this and only now got around to doing so.

it's a dense read, and in proving his point ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Aug 07 06:14:28 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 18 10:08:20 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Nov 07 09:29:20 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 09:29:20 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Oct 08 07:45:45 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 07:47:07 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jul 31 16:53:34 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 16:53:34 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jun 30 01:31:24 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 01:31:30 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed May 13 01:48:55 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 01:48:55 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Apr 09 20:16:21 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 09 20:16:21 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Mar 16 16:20:56 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 16:20:56 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Feb 17 19:57:17 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 19:57:30 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Feb 13 06:32:03 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 06:32:03 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sun May 31 12:36:45 -0700 2009 Wed Feb 11 04:45:40 -0800 2009 Sun May 31 12:36:45 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Feb 03 13:32:29 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 13:32:29 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jan 28 00:14:30 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 21:09:08 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Dec 14 21:40:53 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 12 09:34:05 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 20 09:55:36 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 20 09:55:36 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Tue Oct 28 13:01:31 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 28 13:01:36 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Wed Oct 08 13:07:38 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 27 12:22:49 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 08 13:07:38 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sat Aug 16 08:54:12 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 16 08:56:15 -0700 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2602270