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View Full Version : Slippery Slope: Definition of "Masterpiece"


ebacon
02-21-2016, 05:23 PM
This is something that has been rolling around in my head since I read the book "A Little History of the World" by E. H. Gombrich.

What comes to mind when you hear "masterpiece"?

When I heard "masterpiece" I thought that it meant someone's best work. In the USA we know the word from "Masterpiece Theater" on TV. In that context a masterpiece is out of our reach. Most of us will never be that famous.

That cheap definition of "masterpiece" can root into the minds of people with gifts to give and discourage them while they are growing.

But where did the word "masterpiece" come from? Certainly it existed before TV.

In the old days a masterpiece was simply a tangible result to a job interview. A job candidate produced a masterpiece to show that he was worthy of serving a community's needs. In other words, every person that worked with their hands had to produce a masterpiece to get hired.

I got my first job in software by producing my masterpiece of code with pencil and paper. The interviewer told me that I was the first to do that. I got hired. In fact I can't imagine any other way of being hired. Was my employer expected to pay me while I learned? In hopes of profiting from a Rembrandt or Elvis out of me? Of course not. I am not Rembrandt or Elvis. None of us are.

But we all expect masterpieces from each other at the end of our relationships. We know the question -- where do you see yourself in ten years -- after we break up?

We might do better if the ranked best of us admit that it is the simple things that we wish more of us are masters at doing. Things like sweeping our own streets.



____________

:/ Ya'll are better writers than I am. Just had to do a mind dump and hope that something good comes of it.

sheltiedave
03-19-2016, 03:01 PM
In Holland it was a master's piece. Seeing as how there were so few masters in the day of the guild, a master's piece, or masterpiece, was outstanding and a tremendous example of his craft.

JJIII
03-19-2016, 03:56 PM
Like this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKikHxKeodA

Boreas
03-19-2016, 04:28 PM
I've heard masterpiece used to describe an example of a particular craft that was sort of like admission to the bar. The masterpiece (and a sum of money) were what determined whether a craftsman who had achieved the status of master became a member of the guild for his trade.