--- title: ‘Old in Art School’ Nell Painter on Changing Course at 60 description: Painter discards all of them, along with her “20th century eyes,” as she writes in her new memoir, 'Old in Art School.' canonical: https://time.com/5318242/nell-painter-old-in-art-school/ author: Belinda Luscombe article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-21T10:43:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:38:32.795Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: This Woman Went to Art School in Her 60s, Proving It’s Never Too Late to Pivot og:description: Nell Painter on changing course in ‘Old in Art School’ og:url: https://time.com/5318242/nell-painter-old-in-art-school/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d4cd37e8192f27a/6989338497cdffb1556b58ce/old-in-art-school-painter-book.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Old in Art School Painter og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Woman Went to Art School in Her 60s, Proving It’s Never Too Late to Pivot twitter:description: Nell Painter on changing course in ‘Old in Art School’ twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d4cd37e8192f27a/6989338497cdffb1556b58ce/old-in-art-school-painter-book.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Woman Went to Art School in Her 60s, Proving It’s Never Too Late to Pivot  by [Belinda Luscombe](/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Jun 21, 2018 10:43 AM CUT  It’s all about process: Painter shows off her progress on the canvas It’s all about process: Painter shows off her progress on the canvasJohn Emerson  by [Belinda Luscombe](/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Jun 21, 2018 10:43 AM CUT Lots of famous people have turned to painting in their later years: Ringo Starr, Jim Carrey, George W. Bush. So it’s not unusual that Nell Painter, an accomplished historian and Princeton professor with six books and a string of honors to her name, took up art in her 60s. What’s surprising is that she went all the way back to art school. The disadvantages of age are legion. The advantages are also considerable: respect, self-knowledge, mastery of a skill. Painter discards all of them, along with her “20th century eyes,” as she writes in her new memoir, Old in Art School. In fact, her training in historical rigor and clarity prove to be handicaps in art, a discipline that requires, she finds, “letting go of coherence.” Painter, most famous for her book The History of White People, now addresses the equally ambitious question of what it takes to be an artist–and whether or not she has it. Many of the people she encounters (while dealing with ailing parents and finishing White People) don’t believe she does. Having faced down the dismissal of women and African Americans in academia, Painter has little trouble persisting despite those naysayers, or feeling O.K. among her 20-something fellow MFA students. What comes as more of a shock to her is her own self-doubt. As a historian might, Painter tries to pin down the essential qualities of an artist. Is it New York City gallery representation? Committed buyers? A certain look? A way of working? She doesn’t arrive at a clear answer, but she chronicles, again as a historian might, the way studying art slowly changes her, how she learns “to look at what she sees” by studying technique. If this book were a novel, the artist would have been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art by now, but Art School arrives at a messier, braver conclusion. Painter is a painter because she studied it, works hard at it and keeps doing it. Being able to paint is one kind of gift, this book suggests, but learning to paint is another, and just as precious. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5318242/nell-painter-old-in-art-school/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5318242/nell-painter-old-in-art-school/"},"headline":"This Woman Went to Art School in Her 60s, Proving It’s Never Too Late to Pivot","datePublished":"2018-06-21T10:43:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:38:32.795Z","description":"Painter discards all of them, along with her “20th century eyes,” as she writes in her new memoir, 'Old in Art School.'","url":"https://time.com/5318242/nell-painter-old-in-art-school/","keywords":["Books","Art"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d4cd37e8192f27a/6989338497cdffb1556b58ce/old-in-art-school-painter-book.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Belinda Luscombe","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d4cd37e8192f27a/6989338497cdffb1556b58ce/old-in-art-school-painter-book.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Old in Art School Painter","caption":"Old in Art School Painter","creditText":"John Emerson","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5318242/nell-painter-old-in-art-school/","name":"This Woman Went to Art School in Her 60s, Proving It’s Never Too Late to Pivot"}}]}] ```