The Cape and Beret Problem

“By the 1700s, moreover, ‘art’ and ‘artist’ had subtly acquired new meanings. The good or great artist was now understood to possess more than high technical competence, and he had gradually come to feel a special kind of self-regard. The graphic artists particularly demanded freedom of action; when commissioned they would no longer tolerate being told ‘don’t change or add anything.’ They had become ‘inventors’ and in a couple of centuries would be called ‘creators.’ Genius at first meant ingenuity; later it meant superhuman powers” (Jacques Barzun, The Culture We Deserve, p. 29).