Raiders of the lost art.

Hey! I'm slowly emerging from my bad birthday-related mood, and finding other things to get in a bad mood about. Haha! No seriously, this story in the NY Times about artist Leopold Seyffert is kind of sad - it's about an artist who was once acclaimed and much sought-after for portraiture, who has ended up being somewhat neglected and forgotten after his death (and probably even toward the latter part of his life). Yikes. It kind of reminds me, in a way, of the fate of the likes of Bouguereau - an artist whose ranking as a valued artist fluctuated according to popular taste. Ah, it's all so relative and subjective and ultimately fickle, this whole art thing... it's both disheartening and comforting to know that even extemely skilled and gifted artists are subject to the peculiar sort of groupthink of sorts which determines what constitutes Fine Art. Sigh.

Dutch fisherman, painting by Leopold Seyffert.