In which a group of graying eternal amateurs discuss their passions, interests and obsessions, among them: movies, art, politics, evolutionary biology, taxes, writing, computers, these kids these days, and lousy educations.

E-Mail Donald
Demographer, recovering sociologist, and arts buff

E-Mail Fenster
College administrator and arts buff

E-Mail Francis
Architectural historian and arts buff

E-Mail Friedrich
Entrepreneur and arts buff
E-Mail Michael
Media flunky and arts buff


We assume it's OK to quote emailers by name.







Try Advanced Search


  1. Holiday Hiatus
  2. Artistic Temperaments


CultureBlogs
Sasha Castel
AC Douglas
Out of Lascaux
The Ambler
PhilosoBlog
Modern Art Notes
Cranky Professor
Mike Snider on Poetry
Silliman on Poetry
Felix Salmon
Gregdotorg
BookSlut
Polly Frost
Polly and Ray's Forum
Cronaca
Plep
Stumbling Tongue
Brian's Culture Blog
Banana Oil
Scourge of Modernism
Visible Darkness
Seablogger
Thomas Hobbs
Blog Lodge
Leibman Theory
Goliard Dream
Third Level Digression
Here Inside
My Stupid Dog
W.J. Duquette


Politics, Education, and Economics Blogs
Andrew Sullivan
The Corner at National Review
Steve Sailer
Samizdata
Junius
Joanne Jacobs
CalPundit
Natalie Solent
A Libertarian Parent in the Countryside
Rational Parenting
Public Interest.co.uk
Colby Cosh
View from the Right
Pejman Pundit
Spleenville
God of the Machine
One Good Turn
CinderellaBloggerfella
Liberty Log
Daily Pundit
InstaPundit
MindFloss
Catallaxy Files
Greatest Jeneration
Glenn Frazier
Jane Galt
Jim Miller
Limbic Nutrition
Innocents Abroad
Chicago Boyz
James Lileks
Cybrarian at Large
Hello Bloggy!
Setting the World to Rights
Travelling Shoes


Miscellaneous
Redwood Dragon
IMAO
The Invisible Hand
ScrappleFace
Daze Reader
Lynn Sislo
The Fat Guy
Jon Walz

Links


Our Last 50 Referrers







Monday, December 23, 2002


Holiday Hiatus
2Blowhards is taking a break. We'll be back and ranting on January 2nd. Best wishes and happy holidays to all of you. Friedrich and Michael... posted by Michael at December 23, 2002 | perma-link | (0) comments




Artistic Temperaments
Michael— Sorry about being missing in action for the last little bit. I’m afraid real life—in the form of my daughter’s birthday, my wedding anniversary and shopping for a new car—intervened. (Having a real life is a terrible obstacle to ‘blog production.) Anyway, I’m back to continue my noodlings about Myers-Briggs personality types and artists. To simplify, the 16 Myers Briggs categories are often combined into 4 main temperaments. (The descriptions that follow are from the “Temperament: Different Drums, Different Drummers” website which you can see here.) Just to start thinking about how these personality categories might function in terms of the arts I had a go at putting a few prominent artists into each of the four main groupings: RATIONAL NTs [are] ABSTRACT in communicating and UTILITARIAN in implementing goals…Thus their most practiced and developed intelligent operations tend to be marshalling and planning (NTJ organizing), or inventing and configuring (NTP engineering)…They are proud of themselves in the degree they are competent in action, respect themselves in the degree they are autonomous, and feel confident of themselves in the degree they are strong willed...[T]his is the "Knowledge Seeking Personality" -- trusting in reason and hungering for achievement. They are usually pragmatic about the present, skeptical about the future, solipsistic about the past, and their preferred time and place are the interval and the intersection. Rationals: Picasso, Degas, Da Vinci, Delacroix IDEALIST NFs [are] ABSTRACT in communicating and COOPERATIVE in implementing goals…Thus their most practiced and developed intelligent operations are usually teaching and counseling…or conferring and tutoring…The Idealist temperament have an instinct for interpersonal integration, learn ethics with ever increasing zeal, sometimes become diplomatic leaders, and often speak interpretively and metaphorically of the abstract world of their imagination. They are proud of themselves in the degree they are empathic in action, respect themselves in the degree they are benevolent, and feel confident of themselves in the degree they are authentic. Idealist types search for their unique identity, hunger for deep and meaningful relationships, wish for a little romance each day, trust their intuitive feelings implicitly, aspire for profundity. This is the "Identity Seeking Personality" -- credulous about the future, mystical about the past, and their preferred time and place are the future and the pathway. Idealists: Kandinsky, Mondrian, Friedrich, David ARTISAN SPs [are] CONCRETE in communicating and UTILITARIAN in implementing goals…Thus their most practiced and developed intelligent operations are usually promoting and operating…or displaying and composing…Artisans are proud of themselves in the degree they are graceful in action, respect themselves in the degree they are daring, and feel confident of themselves in the degree they are adaptable. This is the "Sensation Seeking Personality" -- trusting in spontaniety and hungering for impact on others. They are usually hedonic about the present, optimistic about the future, cynical about the past, and their preferred time and place is the here and now… Artisans: Pollock, Rubens, Raphael, Renoir GUARDIAN SJs [are] CONCRETE in communicating and COOPERATIVE in implementing goals…Thus their most practiced and developed intelligent... posted by Friedrich at December 23, 2002 | perma-link | (3) comments