Is There Such a Thing as a Classic?

Interesting take -> Is there such a thing as a classic?

Much as in art, the “classics” of music and literature have not always been set in stone either. Today Johann Sebastian Bach is often regarded as the master of classical music. But after his death in 1750 Bach’s contrapuntal compositions fell out of fashion until Felix Mendelssohn, a German composer, rediscovered them in the 1820s. John Keats, probably the greatest of the Romantic poets, had such bad reviews that many believed critics caused his early death, at 25, in 1821. Herman Melville and his maritime masterpiece “Moby Dick” were largely forgotten until critics such as Raymond Weaver, a professor at Columbia University, rescued him from the depths of obscurity around the centenary of his birth in 1919.Ms Gurstein’s narrative shows that the “status of a classic” depends on critics, and is testimony to the power of passionate writers to change the way people look at art. Taste evolves, and it should. But culture lives on only as long as people continue to argue over what counts as a classic today. The true enemy of the classic is not relativism or wokeness. It is silence.

Art and artists that faded and then came back into vogue are fascinating to me. It’s impossible to predict and it’s so odd to think about what will last that is being made today. Either way, I think it’s empowering. I love what Hannah Hooper of Grouplove says at every show – “make something. Make art. Even if you think you’re an ‘artist’ – be creative, make something. Only you can make whatever you make.”

It’s so true.