Reading through Fromm's work from over 70 years ago caused me to remember some of the discussions back in my college days over 40 years ago concerning both the question of Art and the inherent creativity of humanity. I think Fromm may have misused the notion of "photographic fashion" in trying to label Realism, but that hardly detracts from his point.
"Generally, the word 'productiveness' is associated with creativeness, particularly artistic creativeness. The real artist, indeed, is the most convincing representative of productiveness. But not all artists are productive; a conventional painting, e.g., may exhibit nothing more than the technical skill to reproduce the likeness of a person in photographic fashion on a canvas. But a person can experience, see, feel, and think productively without having the gift to create something visible or communicable. Productiveness is an attitude which every human being is capable of, unless he is mentally and emotionally crippled."
---Erich Fromm, "Human Nature and Character," Man for Himself (1947), p. 85.
