Amir Cohen-Shalev

Old age style: Developmental changes in creative production from a life-span perspective

Abstract Evidence from life-span psychological research as well as art-historical scholarship suggests that artistic achievement is negatively correlated with chronological age. The explanations usually offered for observed declines in artistic productivity, such as biological deterioration, senility, fatigue, lack of motivation, drying up of original ideas, are largely based on a number of a priori assumptions. The predominance of the biological model, confusing expectations toward old age in general, and overemphasis on the early life determinants of creative activity are discussed in relation to the picture painted by current life-span creativity research. It is further maintained that qualitative differences between works of art produced at different points throughout the life span have been thoroughly neglected. Several recent art historians have introduced the term “Old Age Style” to characterize certain thematic and formal commonalities appearing with significant regularity in works of elderly painters, past and present. This developmental pattern is presented in the last part of the article, and the psychogerontological implications briefly discussed

Golden Years and Silver Screens: Cinematic Representations of Old Age

Several memorable portrayals notwithstanding, most depictions of old age and aging in motion pictures are narrowly stereotypical, doing little justice to the complex and variable phenomena of old age. The following overview discusses the various reasons (cultural, political, economic, etc.) for the glaring paucity of believable, committed, and altogether worthwhile cinematic realizations of old age. The discussion distinguishes between representations of old age in the movies as a communication and social issue and the portrayal of the experience of old age via the cinematic medium and provides support for the latter as a means of enriching both humanistic gerontology and the study of cinema.

Artistic creativity across the adult life span: An alternative approach

ConclusionThe foregoing discussion attempts to present a preliminary exploration of the relationship between selected aspects of creative activity and life span developmental processes. It proposes some degree of synchronism between the maturational needs of the creative individual and both the forms of expression available to the artist through his/her selected artistic idiom and the predominant art ideology (or ideologies) of his/her cultural milieu. I believe this synchronism is necessary for the maintenance of creative effectiveness during certain definable life transitions, such as the approach to midlife, to which I refer in some detail in the discussion of Wordsworths “Immortality Ode” and, more briefly, in the case of other distinguished Romantic and Victorian authors.As this has been an initial exploration, the developmental linkages proposed are, by nature, quite broadly conceived. It will take substantial effort to elaborate these claims, but the effort should be weighed against the opportunity of eventually being able to formulate a coherent, albeit tentative, theoretical model of artistic creativity in the life cycle. For this to be made plausible, other life stages and transitions should be approached in the same comparative manner, investigating the developmental significance of certain established thematic and structural recurrences in the works of, for example, elderly artists. While practically every art historian or biographer mentions the artists later works in relation to earlier ones, a direct, systematic exploration of the subject has rarely been attempted. The tendency for art critics to overemphasize the formal analysis of isolated works of art and the reluctance of experimental psychologists to develop qualitative methods of creativity assessment have combined so far to arrest the evolution of appropriate paradigms for life span creativity research. It is my hope that this paper will make a modest contribution to changing this situation.

Mondrian and the Boogie Woogies': interruption of inner developmental logic or completion in old age?

Taking the work of the painter Piet Mondrian as a point of departure, artistic continuity and change are examined from a lifespan developmental perspective. It is argued that decontextualized continuity tends to occur within a given lifestage, whereas contextualized change is apt to emerge during a transition from one lifestage to another. Thus, Mondrians gradual development of a unique style, predicated on logical, stage-like unfolding, is related to a midlife emphasis on formal structure. From a similar perspective, his dramatic shift away from this inner logic of development in his last work, the Boogie Woogies, is attributed to an ultimate effort in old age to synthesize art and reality, to reconcile a conflict between the laws of art and direct expression of sense experience.

Self and style: The development of artistic expression from youth through midlife to old age in the works of Henrik Ibsen

Abstract Life-span creativity research has concentrated on the relationship between age and quality performance and has given little attention to qualitative change in matter and manner of artistic expression over time. This article examines the interplay between artistic development and stages in the artists life span, based on the lifetime creative output of Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906). It is argued that scholars should examine the ways in which cultural and historical influences are filtered through the psychological underpinnings of particular life stages. It is suggested that the prevalence of the lyrical modality in Ibsen s young adulthood is intrinsically related to youth, and that the rigorous structure of his realistic plays draws from the psychological realities of midlife, and that the fragmented abstractions of his late plays constitute an artistic expression of the condition of old age.

The Development of Artistic Style: Transformations of a Creator’s Core Dilemma

This article addresses the life-span development of artistic creativity, anchored in the notion of a core dilemma. Such a dilemma, which incorporates and defines a range of conflicts, undergoes a seri

“The Play's the Thing”: Samuel Beckett's Midlife Transition and the Theatre of the Absurd

This article considers the question of shifts in artistic and literary style from a lifespan developmental perspective, focussing on changes during midlife. Using Samuel Beckett as an example, we demonstrate the relation between his abrupt shift to playwriting (and specifically to the Theatre of the Absurd) and his entrance into midlife. Abandoning the “counting the wrinkles” approach to mid-adulthood, we consider midlife change in terms of growth. We base our contention on theories of lifespan personality development that suggest parallels between the technical demands of dramatic art and the psychological needs of midlife.

The aging psyche and the question of artistic change: An examination of one career

A long-time lover of music, I confess to having a bizarre penchant for trying to test my informally trained musical intelligence in situations which require quick recognition, be it a piece, a composer, a performer, or some such feature. In fact, this article originated with my failure to recognize a theretofore unfamiliar work and with the surprise I experienced upon learning it was Verdis last opera,Falstaff, composed when he was nearly 80. For a listener familiar withLa Traviata orAida, it appeared quite strange and surprising. Moreover, as I found out later, the sense of puzzlement was not merely a matter of subjective impression but rather exemplified an overall stylistic departure in Verdis late life work, its salient features being compression and urgency rather than spaciousness, flowing line, a pervasive use of biting irony compared to the straightforward lyricism of the earlier work, a retreat from psychological realism in favour of sketchy, abstract portrayals, an overall impatience with established operatic convention, and a symphonic rather than linear or melodic conception. Some of these characteristics have also been found in the late works of painters and sculptors (e.g., Arnheim, 1986; Clark, 1972; Munsterberg, 1983). Taken together these observations raised for me the issue of artistic change, an issue of considerable significance to the understanding of creative endeavour in general.