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Quote by Herbert Read

“It will be a gay world. There will be lights everywhere except in the minds of men, and the fall of the last civilization will not be heard above the din.”

Quote by Herbert Read

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Herbert Read
Herbert Read

Herbert Read was a British poet, critic, and philosopher, known for his contributions to aesthetics and advocacy for the arts. His work often delved into themes of social justice and the role of the artist in society. more

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“An entertainment is something which distracts us or diverts us from the routine of daily life. It makes us for the time being forget our cares and worries; it interrupts our conscious thoughts and habits, rests our nerves and minds, though it may incidentally exhaust our bodies. Art, on the other hand, though it may divert us from the normal routine of our existence, causes us in some way or other to become conscious of that existence.”

WayMindMayArtBodyHandsCareCultureCausesForgetExistenceWorryHabitNormalConsciousEntertainmentDaily LifeNervesRoutinePopular CultureBody Art
Book:The Politics of the Unpolitical
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“Fantasy is a product of thought, Imagination of sensibility. If the thinking, discursive mind turns to speculation, the result isFantasy; if, however, the sensitive, intuitive mind turns to speculation, the result is Imagination. Fantasy may be visionary, but it is cold and logical. Imagination is sensuous and instinctive. Both have form, but the form of Fantasy is analogous to Exposition, that of Imagination to Narrative.”

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Author:Herbert Read
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“This is the essential distinction--even opposition--between the painting and the film: the painting is composed subjectively, thefilm objectively. However highly we rate the function of the scenario writer--in actual practice it is rated very low--we must recognize that the film is not transposed directly and freely from the mind by means of a docile medium like paint, but must be cut piece-meal out of the lumbering material of the actual visible world.”

WorldMindMeanFilmPracticePiecesCuttingPaintingMaterialsEssentialsLowsFunctionPaintRateMediumsCinemaMealsVisibleDistinctionOppositionScenariosDocile
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“An enormous amount of art and literature is erotic in the sense that it stimulates vague sexual emotions, but it has no pornographic intention or effect because "it leaves everything to the imagination." The consumer has to invent his own images, and it is felt, I do not know with what justification, that there is no harm in this.”

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Book:To Hell With Culture
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“In a sense, every tool is a machine--the hammer, the ax, and the chisel. And every machine is a tool. The real distinction is between one man using a tool with his hands and producing an object that shows at every stage the direction of his will and the impression of his personality; and a machine which is producing, without the intervention of a particular man, objects of a uniformity and precision that show no individual variation and have no personal charm. The problem is to decide whether the objects of machine production can possess the essential qualities of art.”

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Author:Herbert Read
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