Posted on 01/22/2008 3:13:30 PM PST by forkinsocket
Is dying really a shrewd career move? Cynics, art dealers and humorists seem to think so. The French painter Jean-François Millet fakes his own death in Mark Twain's play "Is He Dead?" in order to push up his prices: "A painter has so much more talent when he's dead. Indeed the deader he is, the better he is." Dawn Powell used a similar plot device in her comic novel "The Wicked Pavilion," in which an unsuccessful artist touches up the half-finished canvases of a deceased colleague and passes them off as authentic.
Both of these examples are, of course, fictional (though Millet was a real-life painter on whom Twain hung his made-up plot). Nevertheless, it's not unusual for the reputations of comparatively little-known artists to take a sharp turn upward when they die, a phenomenon whose implications have been known to border on the tragic. In the last years of his life, Béla Bartók was so obscure that he and his family actually had trouble making ends meet. It wasn't until after he died of leukemia in 1945 that he finally came to be widely regarded as a great composer -- too late for the resulting royalties on his music to ease his earthly lot.
On the other hand, the reputations of many artists who were well known in their lifetimes have gone to the grave with them. Arthur Rubinstein was one of the most successful classical pianists of the 20th century, but his recordings, unlike those of his arch-rival, Vladimir Horowitz, stopped selling soon after his death in 1982. It was as if his charismatic onstage physical presence had been necessary in order to persuade listeners of the artistic quality of his exciting but sometimes slapdash playing.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Are you referring to Heath Ledger or to the dying chances of a real conservative leading the party?
Reagan’s been dead in his grave for four years and he’d still be a better candidate than any of the current contenders.
Since the article was posted on January 19th, I doubt Mr. Ledger was on his mind.
Frankly, I’m more puzzled by guys like Tony Bennett who were no great shakes for a very long time then wows them with his “comeback” as an over-the-hill crooner, like a period piece.
I just can’t picture Jay Z or Kid Rock digging the guy.
This would explain why nobody ever listened to John Lennon tunes until after get got shot.
Not by moi!
ML/NJ
It is largely a myth that you have to die to make it. If you haven’t already made it before you die, you’ll never make it.
Funny, I guess I’m a codger, but I’d never heard of that guy, Heath Ledger.
No Kidding!
I will have to correct you here. Reagan has been dead for 14 years.
Finally we got a candidate worth of Reagan. President Donald J. Trump!
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