Successful Aging Through Art
What do Claude Monet, Anna Moses, Eliot Carter, and Frank Lloyd Wright have in common? You likely have heard of these names if you are above a certain age group (we will not specify how old). As we will see, there is one constant factor that runs through their lives. Their greatest successes did not arrive until their later years.
L – R: Claude Monet, Anna Moses, Eliot Carter, Lloyd Wright
Sometimes it takes life experience to become successful in the fields of art, writing, and music or with any other unique talent. President Calvin Coolidge penned a brilliant and practical quote, “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than successful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” Silent Cal as he was nicknamed, Coolidge’s no-nonsense approach and serious nature stood in stark contrast to his predecessor, Warren Harding’s congenial personality and casual leadership style. His idea of determination is evident in the examples here.
Claude Monet’s most famous paintings were completed in his seventies and beyond. In his later years, because of cataracts, he painted with more intense colors. In his eighties, the cataracts were removed causing him to destroy some of his canvases since he realized the colors were not to his liking.
Although, Monet struggled with depression in his last years he continued to paint. He wrote to a friend “Age and chagrin have worn me out. My life has been nothing but a failure, and all that’s left for me to do is to destroy my paintings before I disappear.” Despite his feelings of despair, he continued working on his paintings until his final days. Imagine if Monet had had an art therapist to help him through the challenges of his senior years.
Anna Moses ( known as Grandma Moses) began her artistic career when she was in her seventies. Her paintings feature scenes from her life in rural America. Together with her husband, Thomas, she ran a farm and raised five children together. (The other five children died in infancy.) Grandma Moses’ fame grew until she was considered one of the most famous folk artists of the twentieth century. In 1905 the couple moved to New York State and opened up a farm in Eagle Bridge. Anna’s sister was the one who suggested to Anna to start painting when Anna’s arthritis made fine stitching difficult for her to keep up with her embroidery. The year was 1918 when she began her first work of art. It wasn’t until much later when her husband passed away that she devoted herself to her art exclusively to keep occupied during her grief. This is Grandma Moses first painting, circa 1918.
Painting up to her last birthday, she died in 1961 at the age of 101. Grandma Moses was an icon in the 1960’s for the young as well as the old. Her glasses became a fashion statement for all ages. Her images were recaptured on greeting cards as well. You can read more about this amazing senior in her 1952 memoir entitled, My Life’s History.
Elliott Carter, the famous composer, wrote his first opera at the age of eighty-nine and composed until his death at the age of 103. His most famous compositions were composed as he approached and passed the century mark, the composer experienced a creative spurt artists of any age would envy. One of his most praised compositions, ”Three Explorations” premiered in 2011 and his enchanting, Symphonia: Sum fluxae pretium spei, one of his most lauded compositions, was composed when he was eighty-nine. At his 103rd birthday party in 2011, he spoke, “I write and write and write,” Carter said. “I’m just like a fanatic, composing all the time. I’m not writing for the future. I’m writing for right now. When I wake up in the morning, I think about what I’m going to compose that day. If I didn’t have that I don’t think I’d be so happy. I’m writing because it interests me. It keeps me going. (NPR)
Frank Lloyd Wright’s career as a famous architect kept changing throughout his long career. His most renowned structure was also one of his last creations. Six months after Wright’s death, the Guggenheim Museum opened in New York. This was the project that Wright devoted sixteen years of his life. His unique style was criticized as not proper to house the precious paintings that would go on to be on exhibit there. The artists themselves could not imagine their paintings fitting into this slanting circular building. Today this building stands as a tribute to Wright’s unique style and understanding of architecture. Unfortunately, Wright did not live to see its completion and grand opening. He died at the age of 92, six months before the Guggenheim Museum opened in New York. (Smithsonian.com)
The artists we wrote about here, aged successfully. (Monet, despite his troubles still created memorable paintings.) Art and art therapy are wonderful tools for successful aging. Drs. Robert L.Kahn and John W. Rowe, list three criteria for successful aging. Seniors who are actively engaging in life, keeping their minds and bodies involved and low risk of disease are the three factors that these doctors believe are crucial to successful aging.
Art benefits both the artist and the observer. Just as a play must have an audience as well as actors so a painting must have enthusiastic viewers. Expressive art exercises are the way to promote self-expression and improve interaction with other people.
A man afflicted with Parkinson’s disease created an original collage from scraps of colored paper at his daycare center. He named his work of art, “A Scattered, Shattered Life”. ( Maybe if his hand would allow him he could be a prolific writer as well.)
Another patient, an Alzheimer sufferer named Anne, age ninety-one, worked with an art therapist. The therapist came to her home weekly to paint and listen to music together with Anne. Even with her weakened cognitive ability,
Anne was able to complete three lively acrylic paintings before she died and these became a beloved legacy for her daughter. In fact, one of them was so good that her daughter created a card with this painting which she sent out to relatives and friends to remember her mother.
Another Alzheimer patient, John, was an accomplished amateur artist before he became ill. Depression set in with his illness and he did not touch a paintbrush for a long time. When his wife hired an art therapist to come to their home, John began painting again. Reluctant at first, the art therapist did the majority of the painting. However, at the sixth session, John began holding his brush differently and began to paint with different strokes creating both depth and texture. His hand remembered how to paint again. John even began asking when the art therapist was coming again and he looked forward to getting up in the morning for the first time in months. Art had restored his lust for life. (Art Therapy for Alzheimer Patients)
The Story of the Carter Burden Chelsea Art Gallery
“Looking for re-emerging older artists – under sixty need not apply” – this is Marlena Vaccaro’s battle cry as she tries to counter the art world problem of older, lesser-known artists who were being passed over because of their age.
Ms. Vaccaro, a painter, in her own right, owned an art gallery in TriBeCa, New York, previously. Artists, who have previously sold their paintings for up to twenty-five and thirty-thousand dollars, or had fast starts in the1970’s, now as seniors, have not had that record of sales for decades. Ms. Vaccaro is helping these talents make comebacks. She claims to have turned down younger artists from twenty to forty. Ms. Vaccaro, who is seventy-six, is happy for her experienced senior artists who are so excited to have their work displayed in a gallery again. She is also introducing new senior artists for the first time. (Art gallery – over sixty)
Since its inception nine years ago, Chelsea Gallery, has about 200 artists over sixty, who have exhibited their work. This gallery is a nonprofit organization sponsored by corporations and philanthropists. The artwork ranges in price from two-hundred dollars to nine-thousand dollars.
Here is an example of the work of a sixty-seven-year-old, artist, Nieves Saah. Nieves, who was born in Bilbao, Spain, has been a painter all her life showing her work in SoHo all the way back to 1985. Sales have slowed down since then when her art was displayed in as many as fifteen gallery shows. Similarly, so many other talented artists who were hot at the beginning of their careers, are now finding it difficult to find galleries that are interested in their work. These artists, just as the ones we have written about previously are growing and creating but they cannot even find a wall to exhibit their new paintings. Vaccaro’s gallery is not solely interested in selling and since they have sponsors, they can show work that they have chosen because they like it and not only because it will sell.
What a wonderful idea for senior artists who are super talented and sometimes even Vaccaro is surprised when a painting sells for a nice sum. The gallery is such a fun and lively place for all who enter. So all you talented water-colorists, expressionists and newbies – start painting. Even if you never get famous or your talent does not hang on a gallery wall, think of the how you are engaging your minds and bodies to become a successful ager.
