Too often in the past, we have thought of the artist as an idler and dilettante and of the lover of arts as somehow sissy and effete. We have done both an injustice. The life of the artist is, in relation to his work, stern and lonely. He has labored hard, often amid deprivation, to perfect his skill. He has turned aside from quick success in order to strip his vision of everything secondary or cheapening. His working life is marked by intense application and intense discipline. John F Kennedy, December 1962
The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of a nation, is very close to the center of a nation’s purpose ... and is a test of the quality of a nation’s civilization. ibid.
The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state. The great artist is thus a solitary figure. John F Kennedy, October 1963
I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. ibid.
If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him. We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth ... Artists are not engineers of the soul. It may be different elsewhere. But democratic society – in it, the highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist is to remain true to himself and to let the chips fall where they may. In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation. ibid.
There is no art without intention. Duke Ellington
All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music. Walter Pater
A work of art has an author and yet, when it is perfect, it has something which is essentially anonymous about it. Simone Weil
More matter with less art. William Shakespeare, Hamlet II ii 95, Queen to Polonius
Painting is welcome.
The painting is almost the natural man;
For since dishonour traffics with man’s nature,
He is but outside; these pencilled figures are
Even such as they give out. William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens I i @161
Art for art’s sake, with no purpose, for any purpose prevents art. But art achieves a purpose which is not its own. Benjamin Constant, 1767-1834
A painter paints the appearance of things not their objective correctness. In fact he creates new appearances of things. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
My creed for art in general is that it should enrich the soul; it should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise ... a part of yourself you never knew existed. Bill Evans
If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud. Emile Zola
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island
A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
You might as well ask an artist to explain his art, or ask a poet to explain his poem. It defeats the purpose. The meaning is only clear thorough the search. Rick Riordan
Well, art is art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now uh ... now you tell me what you know. Groucho Marx
An artist’s only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else’s. J D Salinger, Franny and Zooey
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost. Martha Graham
Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler
The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity. Walt Whitman
In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted. Only artistic excellence is incorruptible. Pleasure cannot be bargained down. And sometimes the meal is the only currency that is real. Elizabeth Gilbert, ‘Eat, Pray, Love’
The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them. Anton Chekhov
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. Aristotle
No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit. Ansel Adams
Art is making something out of nothing, and selling it. Frank Zappa
The artist’s job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence. Woody Allen
I really felt it was very derivative. Manhattan 1979 starring Woody Allen & Diane Keaton & Michael Murphy & Meryl Streep & Mariel Hemingway & Ann Byrne et al, director Woody Allen, Keaton
Woody Allen: The steel cube was brilliant? I thought it was very spiritual. ibid.
Never judge a work of art by its defects. Washington Allston
Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it ‘creative observation’. ‘Creative viewing’. William S Burroughs, Ports of Entry
All art is propaganda. It is universally and inescapably propaganda; sometimes unconsciously, but often deliberately, propaganda. Upton Sinclair
Forget art. Put your trust in ice cream. Charles Baxter, The Feast of Love
Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art. Harry S Truman
The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill. W Somerset Maugham
Isn’t it a somewhat depressing thought that the ability of religious faith to inspire great painting and music and architecture seems somewhat to have diminished. Christopher Hitchens v David Allen White, debate 2007
When an art-form is created the question is how do you come to it. Not how does it come to you. Beethoven’s music is not going to come to you. The art of Picasso won’t come to you. Shakespeare. You have to come to it. And when you go to it you get the benefits of it. Wynton Marsalis
I believe the right question to ask, respecting all ornament, is simply this: Was it done with enjoyment – was the carver happy while he was about it? John Ruskin, Seven Lamps of Architecture, 1849
Fine art is that in which the hand, the head and the heart of man go together. John Ruskin, The Two Paths: Lecture II
Not only is there but one way of doing things rightly, but there is only one way of seeing them, and that is, seeing the whole of them. ibid.
Whenever I look or travel in England or abroad, I see that men, wherever they can reach, destroy all beauty. John Ruskin, Modern Painters V