Genius: A Son of His Time or a Rara Avis?

Abstract

European artistic geniuses (5 composers and 10 painters of the 15th to 19th centuries) and comparison groups of their less-gifted contemporaries were analyzed on the basis of the stylistic parameters of their works using archival and expert rating techniques. The parameters reflected the artists' orientation regarding the “analytic” versus “synthetic” poles of creativity and perception, which are usually associated with left- or right-hemispheric prevalence, respectively. Findings reveal that the artists within a comparison group were stylistically similar with respect to the nature of their creative processes, that is, they reflected an artistic zeitgeist for their historical era. The genius artists exhibited significant deviations from their lesser contemporaries on many of the stylistic parameters measured (which reflect the phenomenon of “rara avis” described in the article). The implications of this phenomenon for the progressive development of new art forms over time are briefly discussed.

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