Chapter 12 Summary and Analysis

Creative Poverty: The Ascetic Aesthetic

Voluntary Poverty and the Artist

Artists and the creative community are perhaps the sole group of people who understand the meaning of life and enjoy existences that are truly rich. David Riesman in 1964 comments that the artists regard their work as play and their play as work. To Honore de Balzac (1799-1850), the artist has always kept the true balance between poverty and riches. John Burroughs has been too busy enjoying the world to seek wealth.

Artists make up a group that, to a person, is generally unconcerned about wealth. Robert Henri writes that the art life is a privilege one is willing to pay for. Robert Graves in 1965, points out that while there is no money in poetry, there is no poetry in money.

The artist is in touch with the true meaning of life...