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> I think one of the problems of modern art is the same — there's too much focus on “originality", and not so much on skill and effort. Originality can be interesting, but beauty is not always original, and beauty counts more in the end.

It's the newly imposed binary of genius v craftsman. Used to be a hierarchy: master - journeyman - novice. As a journeyman you perfected your craft. The novice had no to little experience in craft. The master had a workshop of journeyman helpers. There was no concept of wunderkind. No one respected a "don't need no stinkin' badges" attitude.

The modern art aesthetic does exalt interesting performance over the skillful one. Unquestionably. But then, so many interesting geniuses - who cares, really? The currency has been cheapened. The emperor's new clothes exposed.

But I've come to prize a combination of the two. My favorite Jewish artist, Marc Chagall would be an example. He takes cubist experiment beyond still life formalism into dimensions of narrative folklore. The results of masterworks like I and the Village are both interesting and arresting. Interesting gets you to pause and consider. Arresting is what stops you in your tracks - a stunning beauty, a knockout!

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Like you I saw an article about the demise of cursive and was recently spurred to resume handwriting. Never had great penmanship either, but much better than what I produce now. I feel the flow principle should not have been entirely abandoned in favor of hunt and peck expression. Don't think I'm ready for the rigors of a fountain pen, but a nice ballpoint (w/ Wite Out) will suffice. I hear one miraculously helped out Anne Frank's diary entries. Can one do better than imitate the lives of saints?

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