It's not easy to wrap one's mind around your question, Mando. You may be asking whether or not someone with "one talent" -- e.g. a painter, poet, dancer -- is more likely to produce a higher quality work than a Jacque of All Arts is. There have been a few celebrated multi-talented creators -- e.g. John Van Brugh, (Jan. 24, 1664, London, Eng. died March 26, 1726, London) the British architect who brought the Baroque style to its culmination in Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, was also one of the leading dramatists of the Restoration comedy of manners. But chances are very few listers can name a single play of his.
Jean Cocteau (5 July 1889 b 11 October 1963) had an extraordinary range -- poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager, playwright, screenwriter, film director. It may not be unfair to feel his reputation is fading because he spread himself so thin he was bound to be shallow. His British counterpart, Sir NoC+l Coward (16 December 1899 b 26 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, poet and singer who seems to be more durable in the public consciousness, but that may be because he was exactly ten years closer to us, and because Paris is a language removed from London. Coward said of himself, "The most I've had is just a talent to amuse." That gift explains his long popularity, and, perhaps its also growing thinner with time. Or, Mando, you may think of sculpting as one skill, and painting as one skill, etc. But I'd claim such activities are always a multiplex of skills. Deftness with a brush or pencil or chisel is a gift quite separate from that of, say, conceiving the best composition for the picture, -- just as a gift for a mighty or poetic line has no great correlation with a talent for story-imagination and structure. I know -- that's a rambling answer, but I couldn't get a good grip on your question, Mando. In a message dated 3/9/10 3:08:20 PM, [email protected] writes: > I don't know if this is relevant to what you are asking , but don'tB > think, > that an expert in one's general skill and aesthetic tastes makes aB > better > product than an expert in many general skills and aesthetic tastes.? > > Specially if the product is very demanding and variable with the times. > mando
