June 2, 2009
The myth of artistic genius, and sibling dynamics Comments Off
I think I’ve mentioned now and then my deep and abiding annoyance with the idea that art is only something “other” or “special” people do. Everyone is capable of artistic creativity (the medium and method may differ from one to another, but anything can be art if done well) and sidelining art into that other column forces all but that “special” few to view their own endeavors as something less.
What I don’t often give thought to is how such a dichotomy (unthinkable in my own family) could poison sibling and other family relations, and yet it often happens. One child is deemed to be special, and one (or more) is not. This, invariably, sucks.
In the second half of the nineteenth century we can watch other sets of siblings also become artists?W.B. Yeats and his brother Jack, the painter, for example; Heinrich and Thomas Mann; Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. In the case of all four families?the Yeatses, the Manns, the Stephens, the Jameses?there was a dynamic at work that involved a struggle for power, or something like power, between siblings, a sort of fierce ambition within families for recognition and escape. In the case of all four families the parents seemed to shine a light on some of their children and leave the others to their own devices.
In these families where geniuses were nurtured, there were also damaged ones begging for attention. Just as the artists lived in the light, their siblings lurked in the shadows?Lily and Lolly Yeats, for example, who ran the Cuala Press… (link)