TO BE AN ARTIST, WITH AND AMONG OTHERS

This chapter will explore two different, though not unrelated, dimensions of the conditions of creativity, that of interpersonal relationships and that of the art community. As noted in Chapter 1, there has not been much attention devoted to these sorts of issues in the literature, at least not in the psychology of art and creativity. Despite an increasing recognition of the importance of both field-related and domain-related factors in the constitution of creativity, the more “informal” sphere of interpersonal relations has gone relatively uncharted. There are some obvious reasons for this. The sorts of issues we shall consider in relation to family, for instance, such as the difficulties of balancing the demands of work and home, are no doubt familiar to many already. Likewise, in regard to the issue of community, particularly as taken up by the likes of Bellah and company (1985), it has become clear enough that our own society has suffered as of late; it has become no easy task to forge ties that truly bind. My goals in the present chapter are therefore relatively modest ones. In trying to show how these issues have become operative in the lives and work of aspiring artists, I will try to add to the extant picture and thereby develop further our understanding of some of the central problems besetting both artists in particular and the modern self, living in the company of others, more generally.

To take but one example, it should be noted that many of the more sordid tales tied to the mythologization of art and artist were told by men.