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Message: <blockquote data-quote="solitaryVSong" data-source="post: 1728980" data-attributes="member: 77930">I've been thinking about Mosca's saying that he doesn't know why one type of art feels the need to put down another type as in the quote from the Eckelberry Endowment.This seems perfectly reasonable. But I still find myself very taken with the EE statement. They seem to be trying to bring back an appreciation for direct work from nature,  I think because they feel at the moment that is an underappreciated viewpoint.Colleen's quote regarding Liljefors reminds me of something similar. The Met curators didn't seem to see contradiction between showing old Dutch genre paintings and having an ironclad rule against showing contemporary genre paintings.My take on this all is that, at least in the world of museums, galleries, publications, etc. there often is a very small set of acceptable work. No one will publicly say that a certain type of art is junk but only certain styles are considered advanced or progressive at any given time. Only those styles seem to be taken seriously.The lack of wildlife art in any contemporary museum I think is partial proof of this.So my own feeling is that when the EE or someone else argues for a certain viewpoint, often at the expense of another it's because they feel that the other viewpoint holds too much sway at the current time and that their viewpoint is unappreciated. It's not so much to be nasty or to attack someone else but because they feel that things are out of balance.That is a generous view of it. I'm sure you could say that it's purely selfish. That's always possible and no one can say for sure. But personally I'm not bothered if one type of art is criticized in trying to promote another one if I feel that the one type of art really is unappreciated at the time.On the other hand I think a lot of artists would just as soon just draw or paint or sculpt and totally ignore such arguments. And from what I've seen that may be the smartest tack to take. Sometimes these philosophical discussions are just distractions! Unfortunately I find myself drawn to them probably more than I should be. Time to get back to art.</blockquote>

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