Art Is Short
by Gary Beck
Before portrait painting, people didn’t really know what they looked like. The water was still clean, so sometimes they’d get a peek, though they didn’t want to get caught looking. Of course, a friend, lover or relative might tell them what they looked like, but they couldn’t be sure if what others said was true.
They believed when told the color of their eyes, and they could feel the shape of their nose, but the rest was mystery.
Then the portrait painters — actually artisans — began painting faces on commission. And if they made folk look a little better than they were, that assured payment and possible future referrals, which might lead to a life of comfort.
The best of these hirelings made their subjects look handsome.
Then artisans became artists reflecting 19th-century changes, political, social, economic, thus creating a new caste. Many of them believed they were superior to the bourgeoisie, the new customers that allowed a better life for Mom and the kids, though they didn’t understand fine art nonsense and the weird bohemians with unstable lifestyles.
But many creative spirits found out the hard way: they had to get paid to live. And most of them lacked transactional skills and had a hard time finding customers willing to pay for less than realistic faces, until the artists became famous.
Then avaricious collectors bought previously despised paintings from once scorned and mocked artists. These illustrious possessions were hung on indifferent walls, where expensive paintings soon went unnoticed, another artwork deleted from a confused world.
Copyright © 2023 by Gary Beck
