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Quote by Ben Shahn

“The apprehension of... values is intuitive; but it is not a built-in intuition, not something with which one is born. Intuition in art is actually the result of... prolonged tuition.”

Quote by Ben Shahn

Author

Ben Shahn was an American artist known for his social realism style and woodcuts. His works often focused on the lives of the working class and ordinary people, reflecting the social and political conditions of the United States in the 20th century. more

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“The moving toward one's inner self is a long pilgrimage for a painter. It offers many temporary successes and high points, but impels him on toward the more adequate image.”

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“The values that reside in art are anarchic, they are every man's loves and hates and his momentary divine revelation.”

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“Personal style, be it that of Michelangelo, or that of Tintoretto... has always been that peculiar personal rapport which has developed between an artist and his medium.”

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“If one has set for himself the position that his painting shall not misconstrue his personal mode of thinking, then he must be rather alert to just what he does think.”

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“A work of art rests its merits in traditional qualities. It may constitute a remarkable feat in craftsmanship; it may be a searching study of psychological states; it may be a nostalgic glance backward; it may be any one of an infinite number of concepts, none of which may have any possible bearing upon its degree of newness.”

May Art States Numbers Quality Study Degrees Concepts Tradition Infinite Traditional Psychological Merit Remarkable Works Of Art Glances Nostalgic Feats Newness Craftsmanship

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“Paint what you are, paint what you believe, paint what you feel.”

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“Each artist comes to the painting or sculpture because there he can be told that he, the individual, transcends all classes and flouts all predictions. In the work of art, he finds his uniqueness confirmed.”

Art Artist Individual Class Painting Works Of Art Uniqueness Predictions Sculpture

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“The popular eye is not untrained; it is only wrongly trained - trained by inferior and insincere visual representations.”

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“I have studied the art of the masters and the art of the moderns, avoiding any preconceived system and without prejudice. I have no more wanted to imitate the former than to copy the latter; nor have I thought of achieving the idle aim of art for art's sake.”

Art Wanted Achieve Masters Prejudice Aim Sake Former Latter Copies Idle Avoiding Copying

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