The Life Cycles of Modern Artists

Abstract

In earlier research, the author has contrasted the methods and life cycles of conceptual innovators, who express specific ideas and produce their major discoveries early in their careers, with those of experimental artists, who present visual perceptions and arrive at their major contributions late in life. This article extends the analysis: it shows that the binary division between the two types of artists is a qualitative approximation to an underlying continuous spectrum of approaches, and it considers whether artists can change their approach, and therefore their position on that spectrum, over time. The article also illustrates the value of the analysis, by showing why some of the greatest modern artists have not made important individual works and by considering why their experimental approach led the Impressionists to challenge the official Salon in the late nineteenth century.