Piet Mondrian (1872 – 1944) Quotes

January 10, 2000

Excerpts from Mondrian’s essay Plastic Art & Pure Plastic Art, which first appeared in 1937 in the British journal Circle. (source: Herbert)
“Although Art is fundamentally everywhere and always the same, nevertheless two main human inclinations, diametrically opposed to each other, appear in its many and varied expressions. One aims at the direct creation of universal [...]

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Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954) Quotes

January 10, 2000

Excerpts from Henri Matisse’s Writings (source)
[editor's note: I highly recommend that anyone interested in Matisse read Jack Flamm's Matisse on Art, which contains writings and interviews from throughout the artist's life, and which is quite illuminating.]
From Notes of a Painter, published in La Grande Revue, 1908
“It is not possible for me to copy nature in [...]

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Kaethe Kollwitz (1867 – 1945) Quotes

January 10, 2000

Précis
Kaethe Kollwitz was born in Koenigsberg, East Prussia and studied art in Berlin and Munich. She lived in Berlin for much of her life. Her work was highly expressive, with a strong graphic quality, and much of it was affected by the sorrow surrounding World War I, during which her son Peter died.
Excerpts from her [...]

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Paul Klee (1879 – 1940) Quotes

January 10, 2000

Précis
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and grew up in Bern. His father was a German music teacher and his mother, Swiss, had trained as a singer. He was extremely talented in music, and by age eleven was already playing violin in the local orchestra. Rebelling against his parents’ wishes that he pursue a [...]

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Robert Henri (1865 – 1929) Quotes

January 10, 2000

[editor's note: one can learn a great deal about Henri from his letters to John Sloan and his 1923 book The Art Spirit, which captured his teachings on art. Unless otherwise noted, the below excerpts come from The Art Spirit.]
Excerpts from Robert Henri’s Writings

Henri to Sloan 14 September 1919
“But anywhere — even in a studio [...]

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Keith Haring (1958 – 1990) Quotes

January 10, 2000

Excerpts from Haring’s Journals (source)
October 14, 1978, NYC
“No artists are part of a movement. Unless they are followers. And then they are unnecessary and doing unnecessary art. If they are exploring in an ‘individual way’ with ‘different ideas’ the idea of another individual, they are making a worthy contribution, but as soon as they call [...]

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Lucien Freud (1922 – ) Quotes

January 10, 2000

Interviewed by Michael Kimmelman in Portraits, 1998 (source)
“Art is by its nature wrought, however convincing it is. It has to do with artifice, which means an artist’s ability to convey feelings that aren’t necessarily ones the artist has himself; otherwise the most remarkable artists would also be the most virtuous and extraordinary people. I mean [...]

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Eugene Delacroix (1798 – 1863) Quotes

January 10, 2000

Précis
Eugene Delacroix was born in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, near Paris, son of an influential lawyer, although many believed even in his lifetime that his real father was Tallyrand. His mother came from a family of craftsmen. He was trained at the Imperial Lycée and later at the École des Beaux-Arts. He was considered one of the leaders [...]

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Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) Quotes

January 10, 2000

[Editor's note: much of da Vinci's notebook is filled with highly detailed observations regarding perspective, light, shadow, color, landscape painting, and the human figure. I have tried to select excerpts interesting to the modern artist. Da Vinci's environment was completely different, but it is still quite interesting, and at times quite amusing, to read his [...]

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Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796 – 1875) Quotes

January 10, 2000

Excerpts from Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s Notebooks (source: Goldwater)
ca. 1828
“…whatever is finished at one sitting is fresher, better drawn, and profits from many lucky accidents, while when one re-touches this initial harmonious glow is lost.”
ca. 1850
“I am never in a hurry to reach details. First and above all I am interested in the large masses and the [...]

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