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Artist Quotes

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Artist Quotes

“All the old bogeys of 'dignified subject-matter,' of 'balanced compositions,' of 'correct drawing' were laid to rest. The artist was responsible to no one but his own sensibilities for what he painted and how he painted it.”

Matter Artist Responsibility Subjects Responsible Drawing Balanced Composition Sensibility Subject Matter

Author:Ernst Gombrich

“Is there in painting an effect which arises from the being together of repose and energy in the artist's mind? - can both repose and energy be seen in a painting's line and color, plane and volume, surface and depth, detail and composition? - and is the true effect of a good painting on the spectator one that makes at once for repose and energy, calmness and intensity, serenity and stir?”

Mind Together Artist Energy Lines Effects Color Painting Depth Details Surface Arise Planes Intensity Serenity Volume Composition Spectators Calmness Repose Being Together

Author:Eli Siegel

“The adventure of composition is a mystery. The muse has her ways, she hides from you, comes for you in the middle of the night, at midday, at dawn. You must believe wholeheartedly in this divine power. Its an elusive gift that can appear at any time, anywhere. Artists are in awe of it.”

Way Believe Artist Night Mystery Middle Divine Adventure Dawn Awe Composition Muse Elusive Middle Of The Night Divine Power Wholeheartedly

Author:Mickey Hart

“The artist reserves the right to remove a blot on the landscape, to change positions of things, to suit his composition, providing only that he does not transgress the laws of probability.”

Doe Law Artist Position Suits Landscape Remove Providing Reserves Composition Probability

Author:Walter J. Phillips

“There must be a judicious arrangement of all the parts. Considered conversely, the artist's task is to fill his panel with a design that conforms to its shape and is beautiful in itself.”

Beautiful Artist Design Shapes Tasks Composition Arrangements Conform

Author:Walter J. Phillips

“Photography is unlike any other art form. In the other arts there is always a continuous interplay between the artist and his art. He has the painting or sculpture before him. What we have tried to do is to provide a medium for "artistic expression" to anyone with only a reasonable amount of time. By giving him a camera system with which he need only control his selection of focus, composition and lighting, we free him to select the moment and to criticize immediately what he has done. We enable him to see what else he wants to do on the basis of what he has just learned.”

“Every artist knows that there is no such thing as "freedom" in art. The first thing an artist does when he begins a new work is to lay down the barriers and limitations; he decides upon a certain composition, a certain key, a certain relation of creatures or objects to each other. He is never free, and the more splendid his imagination, the more intense his feeling, the farther he goes from general truth and general emotion.”

Source: Willa Cather on Writing: Critical Studies on Writing as an Art

“Writers and musicians know well the importance of extensive reading for successful writing or extensive listening for musical composition. Likewise, visual artists... understand that successful artistic creativity depends upon extensive visual exposure.”

“Those Dutchmen had hardly any imagination or fantasy, but their good taste and their scientific knowledge of composition were enormous.”

Artist Imagination Fantasy Taste Enormous Composition Good Taste Scientific Knowledge

Author:Vincent Van Gogh

“As a fine artist I was drawn to composition and technique. I would count the cuts.”

Artist Cutting Fine Technique Composition Fine Arts Fine Artists

Author:Alfonso Gomez-Rejon