Inherited Gifts

[poliphilo]

Judy and I like to argue about whether artistic talent can be inherited. She says it can and I say it can't.

Yesterday I stumbled upon a family tree that supports her position.

John Doyle- Irish cartoonist- begat Richard and Charles Doyle- both of them distinuguished graphic artists- and Charles Doyle begat Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.

What I'd say to her, if she ever found out about the Doyles, is that instances of artistic gifts manifesting in three generations of the same family are vanishingly rare. Can you think of another? I can't.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

It's difficult to say whether it's nature or nurture though. If a child grows up in a creative environment, they take creative activities for granted and are more likely to have a go themselves than if they were born into a non-creative family.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. My ability to draw came from absolutely nowhere as far as my family's concerned--no one else in our family can draw. My daughter, though, has become a more-than-passable draftswoman because she sits with me at the table and draws with me, and I idly tell her how I do things, or she copies me. I don't think she has the passion that drives artists to become artists, but it's clear to me that environment and opportunity do influence whether people persist in overcoming their initial clumsiness at artistic pursuits.

In short, I don't think you can breed for artistic ability. But you can train it, and encourage it, and reward it, and that can be profoundly affecting. :)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's true. Craft can be learned. There are families in which artwork of some kind is the family business. The Brueghels for example: one loses count of how many of them were painters. Still I think my point holds because- skilful as they all were- only one of them was a genius.