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Aging, Creativity and Art: A Positive Perspective on Late-Life Development explores the strengths and opportunities of old age as these are manifested by the accomplishments of aging artists, late artistic works, and elderly arts audiences. The book draws on scholarship in the humanities, primarily in art history; examines mainly paintings and painters, both historical and contemporary; reviews empirical research on creativity and cognition, predominantly from psychology and gerontology; and presents the author's original studies, including surveys of art historians, questionnaires completed by aging artists and arts audiences, and experiments involving judgments of art by laypersons. The research presented in Aging, Creativity and Art: A Positive Perspective on Late-Life Development suggests that creativity continues into the later years; higher-order mental abilities related to creativity, like imagination and problem-solving, persist until late in life; and the elderly's physical, sensory, mental, and interpersonal competencies may be enhanced by engagement with the arts. This work interrelates the disciplines of science, the humanities, and the arts to form a synthesis that builds on the strengths of the methods of quantification of science; the emphasis on the individual in the humanities; and the expressive and intuitive modes of communication in the arts. Aging, Creativity and Art: A Positive Perspective on Late-Life Development critically examines the psychology of creativity, cognitive development, and gerontology, and will be of interest to a wide range of professionals and students in these fields.
List of contents
I: The Case is Made: Late-Life Creativity and Old Age Art.- 1. Late-Life Creativity.- 2. Old Age and Old Artists.- II: Competing Views of Late-Life Creativity.- 3. The Youthful Rise, Early Fall, and Short Span of Creativity: The Decline Model.- 4. Does Creativity Decline with Age?.- 5. Late-Life Creativity: The Continuity Position and Alternatives to Decline.- III: Late-Life Creativity: Historical and Contemporary Artists.- 6. A Reconsideration of Lehman's Findings.- 7. The Course of Creativity among Historical Artists of Renown: The Peak and Productive Years.- 8. Creative Productivity, Gender, and Individual Differences for Long-Lived Artists of Renown.- 9. Contemporary Old Artists on Their Late-Life Creativity: The Quality and Quantity of Late-Life Art.- 10. New Ideas and Approaches by Aging Artists: What Has Been Learned about Late-Life Creativity?.- IV: The Old-Age Style.- 11. The Old-Age Style Introduced: The Issues.- 12. Identifying Artists with an Old-Age Style: Contributions from Experts, Laypersons, and Artists.- 13. Describing Paintings in the Old-Age Style.- 14. Beyond the Old-Age Style, Old Art, and Aging Artists.- V: Art and the Elderly.- 15. Reactions to Paintings by Older and Younger Viewers.- 16. Age Differences and the Arts.- 17. Looking Ahead.- References.
Summary
Aging, Creativity and Art: A Positive Perspective on Late-Life Development explores the strengths and opportunities of old age as these are manifested by the accomplishments of aging artists, late artistic works, and elderly arts audiences. The book draws on scholarship in the humanities, primarily in art history; examines mainly paintings and painters, both historical and contemporary; reviews empirical research on creativity and cognition, predominantly from psychology and gerontology; and presents the author's original studies, including surveys of art historians, questionnaires completed by aging artists and arts audiences, and experiments involving judgments of art by laypersons. The research presented in Aging, Creativity and Art: A Positive Perspective on Late-Life Development suggests that creativity continues into the later years; higher-order mental abilities related to creativity, like imagination and problem-solving, persist until late in life; and the elderly's physical, sensory, mental, and interpersonal competencies may be enhanced by engagement with the arts. This work interrelates the disciplines of science, the humanities, and the arts to form a synthesis that builds on the strengths of the methods of quantification of science; the emphasis on the individual in the humanities; and the expressive and intuitive modes of communication in the arts. Aging, Creativity and Art: A Positive Perspective on Late-Life Development critically examines the psychology of creativity, cognitive development, and gerontology, and will be of interest to a wide range of professionals and students in these fields.
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From the reviews:
"In a brave attempt, Martin Lindauer explores the relationship between aging and creativity among artists … . Readers will be impressed by the varied and rich sources of information that Lindauer used in writing this book. … his book may be one example of a unique artistic output in terms of quality and style. … Martin Lindauer has made this book a beautiful work of art." (Sing Lau, American Journal of Psychology, Spring, 2007)
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From the reviews:
"In a brave attempt, Martin Lindauer explores the relationship between aging and creativity among artists ... . Readers will be impressed by the varied and rich sources of information that Lindauer used in writing this book. ... his book may be one example of a unique artistic output in terms of quality and style. ... Martin Lindauer has made this book a beautiful work of art." (Sing Lau, American Journal of Psychology, Spring, 2007)
