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In Art of Love, published around 1 B.C., the poet Ovid gives us a wonderful Latin maxim: “Ars est celare artum,” which means, “It is art to conceal art.”

Nearly 1500 years later, in Book of the Courtier, a seminal text of Renaissance court life published in the 16th century, Baldassare Castiglione originated the term “sprezzatura,” which is defined as “a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it” (source).

There is a danger, however, in developing sprezzatura, especially as it applies to stand-up comedy: I think there are some art forms, including stand-up, that people don’t appreciate enough because they misinterpret expert artists’ sprezzatura for a general easiness of the art form itself.  In other words, because these artists make their art look easy, the audience assumes that the art actually is easy.

This is not to suggest that we need to reduce sprezzatura among artists in these particular art forms; in fact, if anything, I would argue that we need to increase it, especially as artists in the 21st century seem more prone to inward, self-referential commenting that actually highlights the difficulties of the art.  Rather, I suggest that there is a lack in knowledge among the general public about certain art forms, particularly relatively young art forms like stand-up comedy.  Most people know how hard it is to master the violin, so when they see a violinist play expertly, they admire the violinist and his music instead of assume that violin-playing is easy.  However, I don’t think the general public necessarily knows how hard it is to do comedy (among other arts), especially since they themselves have told jokes in social situations and gotten laughs (not realizing how different it is to do comedy on-demand to strangers, which is more or less what stand-up comedy is).  We don’t paint or play the violin in our day-to-day life, but we sing and act and crack jokes.  That’s why there are a lot of amateur singers and actors and comedians who think they’re ready for the big time, even when they’re not: the experts they’ve watched are so good, they almost make it seem like anybody (including these beginners) can do it.  But that’s not the proper takeaway message from these performances.  When an artist is that good - when he or she has developed his or her sprezzatura to a profound degree - an audience forgets about the art itself, with its difficulties and limitations and technique and practice, and sees straight to the truth the artist is trying to reveal.  That’s where the beauty of art lies: in truth.  And so, I will end this post the same way it began - with a quote from a poet, this time the poet John Keats: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

* A caveat: This is not at all to discourage beginning or amateur artists from pursuing their passion, especially since there are few things as important to the creation of new and better art in a particular art form than the continual influx of new artists.  However, I think that the experience of another artist’s sprezzatura, rather than be inspirational (“Hey, anyone can do it, including me!”), would be more productive if it was instead aspirational (“Hey, I want to reach that level of expertness and naturalness, too!”).