Are European generally more "artistically" talented?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I find many art-related things (music, visual, etc etc) from Europe are in general better than from any other places on the planet.



European arts do have their own spirit .



In contrast to those from North America, they are very commercial and full of immitation.... Same to Asia



The music I listen now are mostly from Europe. The art inspiration I am getting are also from Europe....



I just wish I can have a trip to there before I die...



[ 04-06-2002: Message edited by: Leonis ]</p>

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    [quote]Originally posted by Leonis:

    <strong>I find many art-related things (music, visual, etc etc) from Europe are in general better than from any other places on the planet.



    European arts do have their own spirit .



    In contrast to those from North America, they are very commercial and full of immitation.... Same to Asia



    The music I listen now are mostly from Europe. The art inspiration I am getting are also from Europe....



    I just wish I can have a trip to there before I die...



    [ 04-06-2002: Message edited by: Leonis ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    In the old time, yes definitively : is there any US man who have the skill of Leonard de Vinci at his time .

    Excuse my ignorance but it think the great period of culture of north america begin in the 20 th century : Gershwin, jazz, roch, blues for music, Roy lichenstein for painting (and i must forgot a lot of name), do not need to speak of the moovie where the place of Us is nothing less than huge.

    Perhaps there is a much larger background in Europe, but many american have europeans roots also. It's possible also that the europeans artist are more original in certains cases even it they may be less popular.



    Just few guess, nothing more i am not a specialist.
  • Reply 2 of 14
    groveratgroverat Posts: 10,872member
    Europe has had quite a head start on the United States, kind of like lamenting a teenager's lack of accomplishments in comparison with his/her grandfather.



    Even so, the US has plenty of its own art, and more importantly, is the technological king of the world and has been for decades.
  • Reply 3 of 14
    Best literature in the world is written in Latin America.
  • Reply 4 of 14
    crusadercrusader Posts: 1,129member
    Well England seems to have all the best humor writers, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett (well maybe not all the best, but few can match DA and Terry P.).
  • Reply 5 of 14
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    [quote]Best literature in the world is written in Latin America.<hr></blockquote>



    Sorry, but Hubert Selby Jr. is from the good 'ol US of A.







    [ 04-07-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
  • Reply 6 of 14
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    I'd argue that a large portion of the great art these days is coming from the US. In the world of architecture, the buzz has been all about Gehry, who is American/Canadian. (not European). As far as commerical art goes, the big 3d graphics and animation sites are in America. Music-wise, there are trendy European and American movements, and one is mostly Techno and the other mostly pseudo-poetic prose type folk/rock. And Poetry wise, most new stuff is American/Canadian.



    I'm not saying that there's less artistic involvement in Europe than elsewhere. I just don't think you can write off North America, since an overwhelming majority of the art that means anything to me is North American.
  • Reply 7 of 14
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Not to mention South American and Central American art.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    zozo Posts: 3,117member
    I find that some european artists do art that has 'deeper' meanings or thought while artists in US are slightly more superficial.



    Is this bad? No... its just different. There are incredible american artists as there are in europe and elsewhere. I just have a feeling that many artists in the US do what they do because in the end they also think of $. Of course this is also elsewhere, I just feel its more in consumer oriented USA



    But then again, Im no expert, just a very superficial thought.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    Zo,



    you'll need to be a bit more specific fer us. while yer at it, you might want to identify which artform... pick a european and an american artist working in similar mediums and compare and contrast them for us. yer in fer a pretty subjective argument tho'.



    thanks,



    cuss



    p.s. i'm not too hip on 'art' per se, but i do know the photographic end... americans do well, comparitively speaking, in the photographic arts... if you can give a value to such things.



    p.p.s. as for music leonis, well, try looking a little harder. we've got the euro's beat(as if it's some sort of race...hehee!) in most forms of pop music... they spend most of their time emulating us.



    p.p.p.s. nope now, look harder... charted and popular music sucks the world over....wilco releases Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at the end of this month... try it.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    [quote]Originally posted by Leonis:

    <strong>I just wish I can have a trip to there before I die...

    ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Are you dying? Are you old? Cause if not, that's a strange statement to make...you are young so you never know what's going to happen in your life.



    (pssst..in other words, quit yer whining and save up for a trip if you really want to go)
  • Reply 11 of 14
    "Europeans" are not more artistically inclined that anyone else. They may however tend to be more interested in it and study it more thoroughly.



    It also may be that pseudo-intellectual artists get money much too easily in the United States (or Canada) and therefore you see a LOT of junk. I know I do.
  • Reply 12 of 14
    euro-junk not withstanding....



    cuss
  • Reply 13 of 14
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    As a rule I consider artistic talent to be something that a person is born with and must develop in order to realize said talent. Thus I don't think there's anything about any particular group of people that makes them "more artistic" than another group of people. I think the reason so many outstanding works of art have come from Europe through the centuries is that art is often born of either hardship or of being raised in a very open-minded way (for lack of a better description).



    I think Europeans have a greater exposure to both of these things. In general, there have been more wars fought on their soils, more hard economic times, etc. The feelings and stories that come from those events never die; they're passed down from generation to generation so that the perspective of those events live on. Also Europeans seem to be raised with a more open-minded outlook than are people in say America or Canada. Things aren't as conservative in Europe...kids there are exposed to a wider range of ideas, ideologies, and experiences at a relatively young age compared to us.



    Also, you can't overestimate the effect of living 300-500 miles away from a completely different culture(s) all your life. The short geographic distances involved permit a much greater propagation of cultrual ideas and traditions, whereas in the US, things tend to be more homogenous no matter where you go. Sure we have places like New Orleans and every big city has its "Chinatown" or "Little Italy"...but fundamentally the culture is still the same everywhere you go.



    Thus I think many more talented artists are "born" from [the Europen] condition of living, than are "born" from our condition of living (notice I didn't use the word "quality"). It's more an environmental than anything else.



    All that said, art is always in the eye of the beholder, so it's hard to argue "the best" art comes from one place or another, only that certain places produce the majority of art society at large considers to be "great."



    [ 04-11-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ]</p>
  • Reply 14 of 14
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    [quote]Originally posted by ZO:

    <strong>I find that some european artists do art that has 'deeper' meanings or thought while artists in US are slightly more superficial.



    Is this bad? No... its just different. There are incredible american artists as there are in europe and elsewhere. I just have a feeling that many artists in the US do what they do because in the end they also think of $. Of course this is also elsewhere, I just feel its more in consumer oriented USA



    But then again, Im no expert, just a very superficial thought.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I think most of the posts on this thread indicate that art is being confused with culture. Europeans often accuse America for having "no culture" which is partially true, and in my books it's a compliment. America, while it is a melting pot and thus has a smattering of ethnic cultures, does have a baseline moral fixture loosely based on the original Puritan ideals. Europe's greatly different baseline culture, I would argue, is more conducive to art in general. I don't think it has anything to do with capitalism.



    However (the BIG however), America's free market atmosphere and spirit of individuality, which are linked, does seem to me to inspire what I consider to be the greatest works of modern art. Most of the truly original works of art I see these days are American. The European art I see is more concerned with refinement. American art is more concerned with vision. Most visions, of course, suck. Only a few can be truly great.



    I would also argue that a microprocessor can be a work of art, as can be any other sort of design. Architecture is considered art. Why isn't comp arch? In this case America is the world's supremely dominant art regime.



    This is of course my opinion, since art is highly subjective, but consider it.
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