Collaboration and Concept of Leadership

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Critical Summary

In his article “Collaboration and Concept of Leadership”, Thomas Inge expounds on several issues regarding solitary work and collaborations between artists. He notes how some authors suffered in the societies that do not understand their works. This problem might not be as prevalent today as it was back then, at least in modern contemporary societies. Many people seem to have learnt from mistakes noted by past readers, who missed the opportunity to read some of the greatest works in history because they did not find them relevant in their settings (Inge 623). In fact, a majority of the populace have adopted a more open mind and are willing to look at all sides of an issue; they are not as adamant as noted in past instances. This has given more people the chance to explore artisanship, as reflected by the books available today. There are more authors and books today then there has ever been in history. People are not afraid to voice out their opinions concerning any issues, and individual readers are no longer intimidated by the attitudes and directives of the society.

I agree with Inge’s standpoint that although artists exploit their creativity as they develop their work, they hardly create the same without the assistance of others. This has influenced many people into disregarding the idea of a solitary genius (Inge 624). The author notes how individuals considered as solitary geniuses choose not to develop their work due to various experiences. For instance, their works or that of someone they know might have been rejected in the past thus compelling them into holding on to their ideas. Artists get their inspirations from many sources and they actually gather their ideas as they interact with other people and the environment. Perhaps the genius is brought out in the way they choose to express these ideas. Artists cannot create their work from nothing; they are usually inspired by what is already in existence. The artistic eye is important in this case, meaning that artists see what the others fail to see. When they re-create such ideas, people may view it as a new thing, straight out of the artists’ imagination, but this is hardly the case.

Artists cannot exist alone and neither can they create their work as solitary entities. They involve many people as they develop their work. The author notes how distinguished and honored artists used their friends, families and critics to help them in the expansion of their works. Artists who were not good at writing were assisted by others, who corrected their grammar and punctuation mistakes as well as offered new ideas on how to develop such skills (Inge 625). Artists need to develop their work, regardless of how they think the society will receive it. Refusing to do so will only lead to a stagnation of ideas and hence lack of growth in art, and thus the society will also not develop. Note that, art is a decisive factor in the growth and development of culture.

Some of the images portrayed by artists are that they act as predictors of the future. They tend to see what others in the society at their time fail to see before proceeding to create the images through various works of art such as paintings and different kinds of writing. Some perceive this as the refusal of the artist to accept things as they are in the society (Inge 628). Another perception that people have on artists is that they are able to see clearly, different happenings in their generation. This is in terms of objectivity although most perspectives also bear a subjective factor. The belief and culture of people at a particular moment determines how people receive an artist’s work. If the artist presents something that is considered a taboo or too controversial to the society, their work will be received with criticism. The society then chooses to reject and ignore the affected works. In most cases, some rejected works are accepted later when the society’s view concerning given topics become more acceptable and relevant.

References

Inge, T. (2001). Collaboration and the concepts of authorship. PMLA, 116(3), 623-630.