Frank, I'm just trying to get to the bottom of what you mean. Are you talking about technical quality or artistic quality?
If you're saying anyone can learn to make an exquisite print (at least in terms of conforming to some established set of academic standards) then that's one thing, and I think it's an easy one to agree with. The implication is that being able to make a finely crafted thing does not make a person a great artist ... and that's something that a lot of people could be reminded of every so often.
But if you're saying anyone can become the level of artist of Ansel with a couple of years of study, then I'd say that this is either a dig against Ansel (which is a totally different conversation) or a suggestion that the average person can become at least a high level artist (implying a deep, clear, and developed vision) with a couple of years of study and practice. If this is the case, then where are all these good artists? The schools should be pumping them out by the hundreds every year (easily ... because students in MFA or even BFA programs didn't start out as beginners--they had to have impressive enough portfolios to beat out dozens of other applicants just to get in).
Anyway, I sure don't see it. The best MFA programs (like Yale) seem to produce someone really remarkable every year or two. But it's a far cry from showing that an average beginner (these programs don't accept average beginners, not by a long shot) can reliably be turned into an exceptional artist in a couple of years.
These programs (even good undergrad programs) can certainly teach people to be competent. They can teach a repertoire of revelent techniques, they can teach a lot of history and theory, they can teach people to have a potent critical vocabulary for judging their own and other people's work, they can teach people to pursue and refine their vision through a body of work, they can teach people to edit and sequence and present work in a professional manner, etc.. Maybe this is what Callahan and Siskind were talking about?? These are all serious skills, but by themselves they don't add up to being a great or even a good artist ... just a competent one.
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