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George Edward Woodberry

George Edward Woodberry Quotes

Literary critic

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Famous George Edward Woodberry Quotes

“Art does not, like science, set forth a permanent order of nature, the enduring skeleton of law. Two factors primarily determine its works: one is the idea in the mind of the artist, the other is his power of expression; and both these factors are extremely variable.”

MindDoeArtTwoIdeasLawArtistOrderExpressionEndureDetermineFactorsPermanentVariablesSkeletons
Book:Two Phases of Criticism, Historical and Aesthetic: Lectures Delivered on the Larwill Foundation of Kenyon College, May Seventh and Eighth, 1913
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“Art is expression; what is expressed is often the vision of a subtle and powerful soul, and also his experience with his vision; and however vivid and skilful he may be in the means of expression, yet it is frequently found that the master-spell in his work is something felt to be indefinable and inexpressible.”

MayMeanArtSoulFoundFeltPowerfulVisionExpressionMastersArt IsSubtleSpellsVividIndefinable
Book:Two Phases of Criticism, Historical and Aesthetic: Lectures Delivered on the Larwill Foundation of Kenyon College, May Seventh and Eighth, 1913
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“The critic is genius at one remove; he is not unlike an actor on the stage, and incarnates in his mind, as the actor embodies in his person, another's work; only thus does he understand art, realize it, know it; and having arrived at this, his task is done.”

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Book:Two Phases of Criticism, Historical and Aesthetic: Lectures Delivered on the Larwill Foundation of Kenyon College, May Seventh and Eighth, 1913
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“The growth of art seems to be in cycles, and often its vigorous lifetime is restricted to a century or two. The periods of distinctive drama, Greek, English, Spanish, fall within such a limit; the schools of painting and sculpture likewise; and, in poetry, the Victorian age or the school of Pope will serve as examples.”

ArtTwoSeemsAgeSchoolFallGrowthCenturyExamplePaintingPeriodsDramaLimitsLifetimeGreekCyclesPopeSculptureVigorousDistinctiveVictorianVictorian Age
Book:Two Phases of Criticism, Historical and Aesthetic: Lectures Delivered on the Larwill Foundation of Kenyon College, May Seventh and Eighth, 1913
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“To realize life in the abstract as noble or beautiful or humane, to set it forth so with radiance upon it, that is civilization in the arts. Shakespeare is the chief modern example of this supreme faculty of mankind.”

ArtBeautifulRealizingModernMankindExampleCivilizationNobleSupremeChiefsAbstractFacultyHumaneRadianceRealize Life
Book:Collected Essays: The torch and other lectures and addresses
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“One can re-create what was in the mind of a mathematician a thousand years ago, recapture the truth of the intellect wherever it may have once come to light; but the image of art, that infinite variable of perception and expression in the individual, - that is not easily re-created, at least, not with certainty and in its original fulness.”

YearsMindMayArtLightIndividualExpressionThousandPerceptionYears AgoInfiniteOriginalsIntellectCertaintyMathematicianThousand YearsVariables
Author:George Edward Woodberry
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