The Heritage of Mentoring

Engaging with a mentor as a way to learn and achieve one’s full potential is an ancient and respected practice. In the arts, passing through a long period of mentorship has, historically, been a widely accepted stage in an artist’s development. Only in relatively recent history has this practice been neglected. However, mentorship is again gaining popularity as an effective learning approach in diverse fields beyond the arts, including business and education.

Rolex has a vision for revitalising mentorship in the arts as a means to provide emerging artists the time to study, grow and learn. In our modern world, it is rare to have the gift of such time to be personally guided and supported through the development of artistic talent.

Across cultures and centuries, every mentoring relationship is unique, and no rules bind the process.

Famous Mentoring Pair

Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne

Some consider French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro as one of the greatest teachers of all time, the prototype mentor who devoted his life to nurturing young painters of the 19th century. Among his protégés were Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, and perhaps above all, Paul Cézanne who Pissarro considered to be “one of the most astounding and curious temperaments of our time…” In the medieval tradition, Cézanne began by copying a painting of Pissarro’s. But soon their lives became entwined and the two encouraged and learned from each other, discussing theories for hours at “Père Pissarro’s” home. “As for Pissarro, he was the father to me, a man to consult and some think like the good Lord,” said Cézanne. Like most good mentors, Pissarro advised his protégés to avoid sterile emulation of his work.

Mentoring Relationships

Artists in all disciplines acknowledge that an important phase in their development is to imitate, or emulate, the work of the masters of their discipline. This study is an internal dialogue with past creators that helps young artists to discover their personal artistic voice. In this way, artists carry the legacy of the generations before them.

The studious imitation of a respected artist is a solitary exercise. At certain moments, however, seminal inspiration arises from an encounter between two artists interrelating as mentor and protégé.

Famous Mentoring Pair

Christian Gottlob Neefe & Ludwig van Beethoven

German composer, organist and conductor Christian Gottlieb Neefe was an influential teacher and role model to the boy prodigy, Ludwig van Beethoven. The man whom Beethoven called his “moral mentor” helped pass on Bach’s legacy to the young musician while encouraging and teaching him philosophy as well as composition. Neefe ensured that Beethoven absorbed influences from numerous sources. Beethoven wrote to Neefe in 1793: “I thank you for the advice you have very often given me about making progress in my divine art. Should I ever become a great man, you too will have a share of my success.”

The History of Mentoring

Mentorship practice has undoubtedly been part of the human experience since time immemorial. The formalised process appears in writings of the great thinkers of the Golden Age of the Greeks. The apprenticeship system of the Middle Ages and Italian Renaissance fostered the method further and, today, the concept of mentorship is universally understood.

Mentoring Styles

The practice of mentoring has taken diverse forms throughout history. The nature of the relationship between mentor and protégé can vary from intense to casual, be enduring or fleeting, and can transpire in person or through correspondence. As no widespread rules govern the mentoring relationship, history has provided us with many inspiring examples of the nature of the guidance.