The Artist as Creative.

[PDF] The artist is creative, this of course goes without saying. Not just productive - though of course creation includes production - but creative in the sense of producing new values, values which did not exist or which were not experienced or perceived before. And it is interesting to note that the greatest, the very greatest artist, in most cases is often immensely productive, not just one or two masterpieces but ten, fifteen, twenty, even a hundred masterpieces. In the field of poetry, we think of Shakespeare, Goethe, Lope de Vega, of all the ancient Greek dramatists who produced at least one hundred dramas each, of which only a few unfortunately survive. In the world of music, we think of Bach, Handel, Haydin, Mozart, in the field of painting we think of Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, and these are all amongst the very greatest names. We find that all are immensely productive, immensely creative. When we read the lives of these great artists of all kinds, we are struck, sometimes with wonder, at the spectacle of this uninterrupted flow of creativity. You wonder how on earth they managed to do it all, how for instance Bach managed to create that great mass of music. He must have been working at it morning, noon and night, uninterruptedly; and finding time, at the same time, to bring up nearly 20 children, I believe. Nowadays, you would find it difficult with just 2 or 3. And there was Bach, pouring out this great mass of music in what would seem to be rather unfavourable domestic conditions. And all this immense creativity and productivity of these artists implies a great deal of hard work. No dilettantism for them; they were up early in the morning, at their desks or easels, and they carried on all day until late at night, and this was their life, in some cases every day of their lives, for years on end, right into old age.

The artist as True Individual.

The artist is an individual, the true artist never hesitates to go his own way, doesn't hesitate to be himself. In fact we may say that nowadays and for many a long day past, the artist is notorious for this, for going his own way, for being, or endeavouring to be, himself. And very often we find the artist flouts convention and refuses to conform, refuses to be just part of the mass. And in so doing, he is not just being eccentric. He is not just being perverse or difficult. He is simply trying to lead his own life and to be himself.

The artist as isolated and alone.

The artist is alone, you won't find many companions in that sort of life. Like all New Men, the artist, too, is isolated from the masses on account of his greater awareness, his greater individuality, and even on account of his greater creativity. The ordinary man only too often cannot understand why the artist should take endless pains with words, with sounds, with colours. The ordinary man might think that one will do as well as another - why bother, does it really matter - a bit more or a little less shade, or this comma going in or that full-stop being taken out, what difference does it really make? But to the artist, to the creator, all these things are of the first importance. And we may say that the artist often feels his aloneness more even than the religious genius or the mystic, and as we shall see shortly, he occupies a sort of intermediate position, sort of half-way up the Higher Evolution of Man.

The artist as unpopular.

And lastly, the artist is unpopular, or rather not popular. Only too often, the really great artist is in advance of his time, in advance even of other comparatively ordinary artists. And sometimes it takes the rest of humanity even centuries to catch up. In many cases, they are still trying to catch up, or maybe they are not even trying. Only too often we find that the artist, the great creator, is condemned in his own generation only to be praised in others. It is as though the voice of the ordinary people said that the only good artist is a dead artist. This is all so well known that it is not necessary to insist upon it. But I hope I have said enough to show that the artist does share, in great measure, the characteristics of the New Man, and that the true artist, the really great artist, is in fact the New Man and participates as such in the higher evolution of humanity.

Art and the spiritual life:

1. Art and the Spirtual Life.
2. The Artist as more Aware or Self-Conscious.
3. The Artist as Creative.
4. * What is Art?
5. The Artist as wicked, immoral and selfish?
6. Nabokov and the word Genius.
7. Values that can transform our lives.
8. When an Artist creates he objectifies.

By Urgyen Sangharakshita.

[in French] [Introduction] [Buddha] [Buddhism] [Meditation] [Sangharakshita] [FWBO] [the Centre]

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Dernière mise à jour:
20 juillet, 2008.