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Quote by Camille Paglia

Work

Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson

This comprehensive study delves into the depiction of sexuality in art and literature, analyzing the works of artists and writers from ancient Egypt to the 19th century. The book examines the complex interplay between art, culture, and human sexuality, offering insights into the evolution of artistic expression and its relationship with societal norms. more

Author

Camille Paglia
Camille Paglia

Camille Paglia is an American academic, cultural critic, and author known for her controversial views on a variety of cultural and social issues. Born on April 2, 1947, she has taught at several universities and has written numerous books and articles on topics such as art, literature, and gender studies. more

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“Film is more than the twentieth-century art. It's another part of the twentieth-century mind. It's the world seen from inside. We've come to a certain point in the history of film. If a thing can be filmed, the film is implied in the thing itself. This is where we are. The twentieth century is on film. You have to ask yourself if there's anything about us more important than the fact that we're constantly on film, constantly watching ourselves.”

“A strange thing has happened - while all the other arts were born naked, this, the youngest, has been born fully-clothed. It can say everything before it has anything to say. It is as if the savage tribe, instead of finding two bars of iron to play with, had found scattering the seashore fiddles, flutes, saxophones, trumpets, grand pianos by Erhard and Bechstein, and had begun with incredible energy, but without knowing a note of music, to hammer and thump upon them all at the same time.”

“The motion picture is like a picture of a lady in a half-piece bathing suit. If she wore a few more clothes, you might be intrigued. If she wore no clothes at all, you might be shocked. But the way it is, you are occupied with noticing that her knees are too bony and that her toenails are too large. The modern film tries too hard to be real. Its techniques of illusion are so perfect that it requires no contribution from the audience but a mouthful of popcorn.”

“The making of a picture ought surely to be a rather fascinating adventure. It is not; it is an endless contention of tawdry egos, some of them powerful, almost all of them vociferous, and almost none of them capable of anything much more creative than credit-stealing and self-promotion.”