I don't think there's any single simple answer to this question. Since this is a broad cultural issue the reasons for their actions are quite diverse, but I can point to a few strong influences that started and sustained the trend away from the production and appreciation of good art in the past 100 or so years.
One psychological origin of this kind of thing has to do with self image and how one's self-image can seem to be threatened by seeing great achievements.
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Art in the 21st century will draw its inspiration from traditions that were largely neglected during modernism’s 20th-century heyday, say artist, critics and collectors who advocate a return of classical ideals.
"I look at modern art as very much like what happened with communism - it was an idea that was a house of cards and couldn't work," says Allan Banks, president of the American Society of Classical Realism and vice chairman of the American Society of Portrait Artists.
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