A lovely NY Times article entitled The Art of Drawing, When Amateurs Roamed the Earth describes an exhibition of selections from “the more than 145,000 drawing manuals” that circulated from 1820 to 1860, and from “that golden era, from the time of the founding fathers…when educated Americans drew as a matter of course.” The article continues:
We’re addicted to convenience today. Cellphone cameras are handy, but they’re also the equivalent of fast-food meals. Their ubiquity has multiplied our distance from drawing as a measure of self-worth and a practical tool. Before box cameras became universal a century or so ago, people drew for pleasure but also because it was the best way to preserve a cherished sight, a memory, just as people played an instrument or sang if they wanted to hear music at home because there were no record players or radios. Amateurism was a virtue, and the time and effort entailed in learning to draw, as with playing the piano, enhanced its desirability.
That is by contrast with today’s culture, in which:
With the arts, American adults have acquiesced to playing the passive role of receivers….So it is with classical music, painting and drawing, professional renditions of which are now so widely available that most people probably can’t or don’t imagine there’s any point in bothering to do these things themselves. Communities of amateurs still thrive, but they are self-selecting groups. A vast majority of society seems to presume that culture is something specialists produce.
Now, obviously Make: magazine shows just how vibrant the DIY movement still is, even if drawing, playing piano, and similar activities are no longer front and center. And while classical music is a specialist thing, popular music remains something that is widely practiced (albeit not as widely as in its heyday.) But the article is still a good reminder is how much we lose when we simply consume, and forget how to produce.