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Anglo Saxon purse cover from East Anglia, England
Until 1066 (and all that) there were only "craefts" in England. The
"arts" came into the country, and into vogue, with
the
Anglo Norman aristocracy. The purveyors of taste have since made every
attempt to keep the crafts in their place, with many
craftsmen
preferring to call themselves artists, and academics dividing
the
arts into the "graphic and "fine" arts. There is in fact,
little
distinction, and the Anglo-Saxons managed to produce a fair bit of
artful craft while the folk that followed have come up with
their
share of crafty art. "Crafty" and "artsy fartsy"... that sums it up!
Marcel Duchamp has reminded us that the artist should not pay attention
to this infighting by onlookers since, "the artist himself doesn't
count," and it is critics and patrons who have the last word.
"Fifty years later there will be another generation and another
critical language, an entirely different approach (or at least a
recycled one). ..the thing is to try to make a painting that will be
alive (for you) in your lifetime..."
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