Has art jumped the shark after WWI?

[thesummerqueen]

Same goes for literature, music and film. Lovecraft is a good example, but I would also say, Steven King added something to literature, whilst in my understanding (and most of you probably don't even know him) Peter Handke is only playing with words. Yet the latter somehow gets all the critics on his side, while the other two are considered pulp.

King is a great example of someone who became another linchpin - and he readily admits he was heavily influenced by Lovecraft. Pet Semetery creeped me out so much I never finished it.

Representational art was supplanted by photography.

You could no longer get a paying gig doing portraiture.

Er...I know personally a woman who was paying someone to do her painted portrait, and I see it a lot on DeviantArt.

Classical musicianship was destroyed by mechanical recording.

Are you saying people don't perform live anymore because you can listen to it over a speaker? You need to visit my city - people play on the streets for the hell of it. They play in halls for the performance. It's definitely not destroyed.

Pop music succeeds on its own because there are still people (sort of) willing to pay for it.

Again...wut? Pop is huge. I'd argue it's even bigger than ever, because people DO pay for it, in one way or another. We have more music now than we did EVER.

The ease of pirating music has squeezed this niche until there is room for only a very few members. It too may die off. I hope not because I do enjoy listening to something new and I have absolutely no musical talent so I can only be a consumer. With luck, there will always be some who can play and do so mostly for their own satisfaction, as bittorrent and distain for intellectual property rights has eliminated their paying job.

This sounds incredibly Chicken Little.