[jcelerier]

> The camera didn't kill painting

But it did. Painter used to be a trade where you could sell your painting skills as, well, a skill applicable for other than purely aesthetic reasons, simply because there were no other ways to document the world around you. It just isn't anymore because of cameras. Professional oil portrait painter isn't a career in 2025.

[prennert]

The Royal Society of Portrait Painters might disagree: https://therp.co.uk/artists/

[awanderingmind]

Well, it is still a career, but it's very niche, and more attuned to 'art' than 'documenting the world'.

[sgt101]

and instead we have photographers who can document the world at a great volume. My Grandparents had no visual record of their wedding. My wife is a wedding photographer...

[Suppafly]

>Painter used to be a trade where you could sell your painting skills as, well, a skill applicable for other than purely aesthetic reasons, simply because there were no other ways to document the world around you.

Source? If anything I suspect there are more people making a living as painters now than at any point in history.

[ninalanyon]

As a proportion of the population?