Skip to content

Creativity And Age—Some Startling Truths

Creativity and AgeWhen I was younger, I delighted in the work of Grandma Moses. Imagine, I marveled, starting painting in your 70s!
Now, I just shrug, so what? She had a busy life. She was a live-in housekeeper, a wife, a mother of five, and a farmer. Although she painted throughout her life, she couldn’t take it seriously until she was in her mid-70s, and able to take time off from earning a living.
But compared to other older people, who suddenly emerge out of nowhere, to thrill and impress us with achievements at an advanced age, she was a youngster.

Here are a few older people who made it to notoriety:

  • Lorna Page wrote her first novel, A Dangerous Weakness, at age 93
  • Frank Lloyd Wright completed the design of the Guggenheim Museum in New York at and 92,
  • Millard Kaufman wrote his first novel, the hit book Bowl of Cherries, at age 90.
  • Harry Smith wrote his ground breaking book, Harry’s Last Stand, at 91
  • Giuseppe Verdi wrote Falstaff, perhaps his most acclaimed opera, at the age of 85.
  • Thomas Hardy published a book of lyric poetry at age 85
  • Jane Goodall, an environmental activist, travels 300 days a year at 82, bringing her message to the world.
  • My husband, Bob LeBlanc, writes and produces original Broadway Variety Shows, playing piano non-stop for 90 minutes, at the age of 81.

Fueled by the aging of the baby boomer generation, there has been an explosion of interest in older adults recently—their physical prowess, their well-being, their achievements, their creativity. Research of this demographic reveals that creativity is not the dominion of only the young and physically vigorous. Older adults have access to an increasing store of knowledge gained over a lifetime of learning and experience. This knowledge, researchers are discovering, provides fertile ground for creativity in the aging brain.

It’s not only about life experience

But the story does not end there. Recent studies of the creative process have revealed that some innovators produce their greatest work late in life for reasons that go beyond their accumulated life experience.

In 2010, David Galenson, an economist and researcher at the University of Chicago, made a decision to study a source of technological change that drives economic growth—creative people. He made some startling discoveries about these creative individuals, with dramatic implications for the field of ageism.
He says,

” Recent research has shown that all the arts have had important practitioners of two different types—conceptual innovators who make their greatest contributions early in their careers, and experimental innovators who produce their greatest work later in their lives. This contradicts a persistent but mistaken belief that artistic creativity has been dominated by the young. It may be damaging for economic growth to continue to assume that innovations in science are made only by the young.”

Shelley H. Carson, Lecturer at Harvard University, (Department of Psychology) has studied creativity and the aging brain. She concludes:

“These changes in the aging brain may make it ideally suited to accomplish work in a number of creative domains. So instead of promoting retirement at age 65, perhaps we as a society should be promoting transition at age 65: transition into a creative field where our growing resource of individuals with aging brains can preserve their wisdom in culturally-valued works of art, music, or writing.”

Combining bits of knowledge into novel and original ideas is what the creative process is all about. Elders have both: knowledge and the capacity for original thought. Who knows what can happen next? The sky is the limit, it appears.

“Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.”

Betty Friedan.

39 thoughts on “Creativity And Age—Some Startling Truths”

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Many people don’t plan on retiring. But I do hope that some leisure time will be available to you, should you ever want it.

  1. one of the most inspiring women I’ve ever read about is maia helles.
    she is 100 years old this year and still amazing.
    you would just have to watch to believe.
    she was a russian ballet dancer. but her mother met Isadora Duncan in person and it changed her life. so she began the study of ‘movement.’
    maia took up the study and has taught classes in nyc for the last 60 years.
    you can google maia helles and see videos of her. she’s wonderful!
    and my own mixture of her movements and yoga are what keep me going!
    that and lovely blogland. ain’t it grand! 🙂

  2. Wow! That is so interesting – to see the contributions people made in their 90s! I am in awe. Thanks for researching this and bringing it to readers’ attention. I won’t get as discouraged now, when I think of what is possible in old age.

  3. what is possible in old age is only limited by your ability to imagine it.
    there may be physical limitations, but all of life is an adjustment of some kind or another. Any creative endeavor expands and increases your connection to life and others. I joined a writing group at 77 and now, at 78 am performing with this group at local libraries and Centers to spread the word that old is not the end of life, just another stage and opportunity. Listen to music, read, draw or paint and most of all have a laugh.

  4. I’m not in my 70s + but now affirming that I’m an older artist, people keep asking me about my childhood – did I show signs then etc. They say did you draw well, paint.

    To all that “no”, I have hereditary hand tremors which makes it difficult even with a ruler, and frankly I’m not that sort of artist – as it turns out 🙂

    I still have so much more in my personal coffers that has never got onto “paper” as such, and I’m trying to work as fast as possible getting it all out there…having fun in the processes as well

    thanks for reminding me I have a lot more time 🙂

  5. Thank you. I needed to read this! I was laid off last year and have formerly entered into the world of retirement, but also started a freelance writing career which is keeping me busy almost full time, but I keep telling myself I going to have to cut back so I can start a novel. I still intend to, but your data has told me that at 69, I still have time. Thank you, again, Diane!

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      You have lots of time, Virginia, to pursue anything you want to do. I started this blog last year at the age of 76. I don’t have as much energy as I did several years ago, but I’m amazed how much I accomplish every day. I wake up to write every morning at 4:30 a.m. I love it! I’m quite sure I can keep this up for a few more years.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Congratulations, dkzody! You are now on a new path. I hope you don’t hesitate to explore many new things!

  6. My mother died at 97. She claimed to be a “recycled teenager”. I believe it now. I am 65 and I embarked on a quest to learn to sing properly. Playing in bands for 30+ years enabled me to sing harmony but not to do solo work. I met a lady who is also a retiree. For 4 years, she was classically trained to sing. She has taken me under her wings and has been teaching me the art of singing. It is quite a technique. I am learning about breathing, pronunciation, pitch, stage presence and so much more. I never would have guessed that it is so hard. I can now master some Broadway Musicals, Swing and Traditional Irish and Scottish songs. I am rather proud of myself. It is never too late to learn something new! Whatever your ambition, give it a try…and be greatly rewarded by the results. You may even surprised yourself..

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Peter, I’m impressed with what you have done. It really is never too late to learn something new—as you are finding out as you take this new route!

  7. A very interesting post. I follow several very talented people on Twitter, etc that have second or third adventure after retirement. Very successful ones, btw. In my case, life situations seem to be dictating my next step. I think that is one reason I cherish my talented friends so much.

    I gave up blogging, but do enjoy reading well written ones like this.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      No one knows better than you what your life challenges are, and whether or not you can find the time and energy to be creative. I hope you don’t shut the door entirely. Sometimes new situations arise, and what you might have thought impossible is really not. I wish you the best.

  8. One of the coolest things about the way the brain ages is that the two hemispheres begin to talk to each other more, since each is theoretically slower or less powerful. The corpus callosum, which is the neural bridge between the two, becomes more networked, and thus there is more interaction. As a result, the analytical side requests help from the artsy side, and vice versa, leading to new ways of looking at everyday things. One researcher even said that in older age, our thinking and problem-solving sometimes rises to the level of art.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      In many of us, one side seems to be stronger than the other—in many professional people, the rational part of the brain dominates. It’s good to know that the brain can “balance” itself, and benefit from both types of processes.

  9. A lovely article, thank you . I am searching for new directions at 61 and retired. I decided to go back to school currently I am attending Culinary College. No one is more surprised than I am . I hated school 🙂 my friends keep asking me what business I am starting, none I say , I am having fun.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Cookin Mum, surprising ourselves is what happens when we allow the creative process flow unencumbered by “rational, sensible” thought. I’ll be cheering for you!

  10. Inspiring post! Started writing in my mid-fifties – and nearing my mid-sixties I see more clearly every day the value of time and experience. Such wisdom flows from the pens of writers as they reach deep into their senior years, such beauty from the brushes of artists. It is indeed, the richest, most soulful time of life — a time when we have the most to give.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Your comment touched me. You are in the exact right place to be doing your creative work—it is obvious you are already contributing, and will continue to contribute as you refine your place in the artistic world!

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      And there is some evidence to suggest that our brains are more creative as we age, as well!

  11. To continue your theme–a bit from my unpublished manuscript: (feel free to edit)
    “When you’re through with sex, with ambition, what can an old man create? Art, of course, a piece of art that will go well beyond him into the lives of young people, the people who haven’t had time to create. The old man meets the young people and lives on.” Poet William Carlos Williams.
    Certainly the following give credence to Williams’s observation:
    • Pablo Picasso was still painting at 91.
    • Goya painted an old, bearded man, walking with the aid of two sticks, entitled Aun Aprendo (I am still learning) at age 80, and was the first to do lithographs that same year (1826).
    Art, of course, is something an old woman can create equally well.
    • You mentioned Grandma Moses who continued painting until her death at 101.
    • Louise Nevelson was having major exhibitions of her sculpture well into her 70s.
    • Georgia O’Keefe’s painting career spanned 70 of her 99 years.
    Writer Freya Stark expands on Williams’s theme: “On the whole, age comes more gently to those who have some doorway into an abstract world—art or philosophy or learning—regions where the years are scarcely noticed and the young and the old can meet in a pale, truthful light.”
    • Jazz great, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, whose band helped usher in rock ‘n ’roll, continued to tour the world with his own “immensely popular big band” until shortly before his death at age 94.
    • Arturo Toscanini gave his last performance at 87.
    • Maxine Greene, founder of the Center for Arts, Social Imagination and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, NY. in her 70s, and called “the most important philosopher of education of her generation,” continued, in her mid-80’s, to teach, write, and bring teachers, artists and writers together at salons that she hosted in her home .
    • The Delaney sisters, Sarah (Sadie), a teacher, and Elizabeth (Bessie), a dentist, continued to be active well into their 100’s with the publication of their book, Having Our Say, the Delaney Sisters’ First Hundred Years, and Sarah’s On My Own at 107, Reflections of Life Without Bessie.
    In addition some are fortunate to continue their work:
    • Justice William O. Douglas sat on the Supreme Court until age 77.
    • Congressman Claude Pepper actively campaigned for senior citizens at age 83.
    • Industrialist Armand Hammer kept up an exhausting schedule, continuing to travel the world at 86.
    • Nobel Prize winner Albert Szent-Gyorgi was doing cancer research at 91.
    • George Burns’s last movie role was in 1988 at age 92. His memoir, Gracie, A Love Story, about his deceased wife, was published that year, followed by All My Best Friends a year later.
    When structured work is no longer feasible, when significant health issues or life changes such as losing a spouse occur, the importance of interests, activities and hobbies cannot be underestimated. They provide the stimulation and diversion necessary for living well.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Susan, when I awoke this morning, and opened this blog (first thing I do each morning), I couldn’t believe what I saw! I am blown away by your account of well-known artists who have discovered what they can do, and who have continued to perform well into their old age. This is such an exciting aspect of growing older! I won’t edit what you wrote (it is perfect), but will, with your permission, make references to it as I develop this theme in future articles. Thank you so much for this! I’m going to see if you are on Facebook (for the chat), and wonder if you use Twitter.

  12. yeahanotherblogger

    You’ve written here about a very wide and interesting topic.
    I’ll mention some other creative whizzes who are going strong in their fields: Frank Gehry, the modernistic architect, is 87. Angela Lansbury, the actress, is 90.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Thanks! I’ll add them to my list of creative older persons! I know about Angela, but Gehry is news to me. I’ll look him up!

Comments are closed.

© 2024 Diane Dahli All Rights Reserved | WordPress site by Quadra Street Designs