Old in Art School

By: Nell Painter

Narrated by: Nell Painter

Following her retirement from Princeton University, celebrated historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school - in her 60s - to earn a BFA and MFA in painting. In Old in Art School, she travels from her beloved Newark to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; finds meaning in the artists she loves, even as she comes to understand how they may be undervalued; and struggles with the unstable balance between the pursuit of art and the inevitable, sometimes painful, demands of a life fully lived.

How are women and artists seen and judged by their age, looks, and race? What does it mean when someone says, "You will never be an artist?" Who defines what "an artist" is and all that goes with such an identity, and how are these ideas tied to our shared conceptions of beauty, value, and difference?

Old in Art School is Nell Painter's ongoing exploration of those crucial questions. Bringing to bear incisive insights from two careers, Painter weaves a frank, funny, and often surprising tale of her move from academia to art.

A Library Journal Editor's Pick for Spring.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 Nell Painter (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Excellent if you are an artist

I thoroughly enjoyed and related to Nell as she meandered through the art world, artists and art itself. It is uplifting to hear someone else going through the same Via Crucis as I have. This book was well worth the listen while I worked at my own art.

Good book for artists

While I don't agree with everything she said, it was interesting to hear the experience from her perspective.

My Favorite Book on the Artist's Journey

This is the best book I have ever read on the topic of "becoming am artist," because the author delves into questions so many others ignore. The author asks, "What is art?" and "Who or what is an artist?" with authenticity, vulnerability, self-reflection, and some measure of objectivity about "the Art World."

The book is read by the author who does a a five star job.

I really liked her voice, honesty and how her personality came throufh

I had no dislikes. If I had to choose something it ended too soon. Yes

Many relevant experiences conveyed

I am stunned by how much intelligence and skill reside in this one person. The book gets into too much detail on media and artistic process for me. I appreciated the experiences around ageism, caring for parents, changing focus after having extensive success in another area and perceptions of race from a different vantage than my own.

Very interesting

The only thing that improved the listen is to put it on a 1.3x speed. Then I enjoyed the narration and content very much.

a memoir not a travelogue

When I started this book I didn't recognise the name and thought I was going to learn about art school from an adult perspective. There's something of that, but it's so much more. Part of it is about aging and dealing with family and death. Part of it is about privilege and it's lack. About the abusiveness and insecurities of professors. Cleverly, she never drums that into you, it's just there for you to see. The best part of it me for was Painter's insights into art - whether it was her own painting, the history of art, or the contemporary art world. I could listen to her talk about those things all day.

Fascinating

Thank you for this book. Anyone interested in the arts will likely enjoy this book. Her journey through the rigors of art school was fascinating. Also, for anyone over a certain age that is considering a radical shift here is a fine role model. And for youth who are interested in expanding their view of their chronologically older peers, this will open your minds. There’s so much this book has to offer that I haven’t touched on here. Read it! ❤️

I, Hypocrite

This book could have been so good if Nell Painter wasn’t such a narcissist. She railed against racism while herself being a big racist. She was so certain that in every situation people were against her for being black, (not to mention female and older), even when someone asks her a simple question at her university, are you taking a class here? It’s a personal insult to her. She’s convinced it was because she was black. After all these years she still holds a grudge about it. It is this way of thinking that keeps racism alive in America.

She is an intelligent but self absorbed woman. I am not particularly fond of her art but I do like some of it. It’s the idea she has to always push back on what she believes is the stereotype of white people art, constantly, that makes her art ho hum, but she doesn’t seem to realize that.

Her idea that the Renaissance was just white Europeans taking food out of the mouths of poor people tells me that she has no real understanding of what the Renaissance was all about and why ‘church art’ was created.

Nell’s greatest fan is Nell herself, and although I do admire her pursuit, I wish she was just more a little more likeable.

Needed This

A beautiful and intelligent quest on the question “what is an artist?” In a place outside of modernism, capitalism, racism, patriarchy, and ageism.