A compilation of over 2400 quotes spanning 2000 years of art history. From Michelangelo to Matisse, Whistler to Wyeth, the most influential artists reveal their secrets and insights into the creative process. The Handbook of Artist Quotations is an enlightening collection that is sure to provoke thought.
Topics include the value of art, beauty, the artist's environment, becoming an artist, the business of art, elements of design, fame, wealth, poverty, suffering, museums, censorship, criticism, spirituality, nature and more.
Over 400 quoted artists include Picasso, Manet, Matisse, Van Gogh, Monet, Caravaggio, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Ansel Adams, Cezanne, Degas, Kandinsky, Rembrandt, Brancusi, Braque, Cassatt, Duchamp, Durer, Hepworth, Gauguin, Ingres, Klee, Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, Mondrian, O’Keefe, Pollock, Raphael, Gropius, Sargent, Hopper, Christo, Renoir, Dali, Rodin, Kruger, Baldessari, Whistler, Stieglitz, De Kooning, Wyeth, Escher, Frankenthaler, Magritte, Giotto, Munch, Indiana, Johns, Moore, Nevelson, Viola and Toulouse-Lautrec.
Selected Quotes
[1] Art among a religious race produces relics; among a military one, trophies; among a commercial one, articles of trade.
Henry Fuseli, painter (1741-1825)
[ 8 ] Art should be independent of all clap-trap, should stand alone, and appeal to the artistic sense of eye or ear, without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it, as devotion, pity, love, patriotism, and the like.
James McNeill Whistler, painter (1834-1903)
[ 98 ] Every masterpiece has come into the world with a dose of ugliness in it. This ugliness is a sign of the creator’s struggle to say something new.
Pablo Picasso, painter (1881-1973)
[ 139 ] The more numerous we are, the less originality we have.
Georges Seurat, painter (1859-1891)
[ 493 ] Small rooms or dwellings set the mind in the right path, large ones cause it to go astray.
Leonardo da Vinci, artist (1459-1519)
[ 359 ] ...let yourself follow your inspiration; seek, make mistakes; but above all, acquire the habit of sincerity.
Thomas Couture, painter (1815-1879)
[ 595 ] A line has to breathe. If it doesn’t, it’s dead, and if you can see a corpse, you can smell it.
Joan Miró, painter (1893-1983)
[ 734 ] What a beautiful task lies in prospect before art, to prepare the future.
Piet Mondrian, painter (1872-1944)
[ 1266 ] Even the artists you don’t like influence you.
David Smith, sculptor (1906-1965)
[ 1274 ] Perhaps it’s true that I’m very hard on myself, but that’s better than exhibiting mediocre work.
Claude Monet, painter (1840-1926)
[ 1286 ] Painters, do not fear perfection. You will never achieve it!
Salvador Dali, painter (1904-1989)
[ 2482 ] A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or a tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they say something.
Georgia O’Keefe, painter (1887-1986)
Topics include the value of art, beauty, the artist's environment, becoming an artist, the business of art, elements of design, fame, wealth, poverty, suffering, museums, censorship, criticism, spirituality, nature and more.
Over 400 quoted artists include Picasso, Manet, Matisse, Van Gogh, Monet, Caravaggio, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Ansel Adams, Cezanne, Degas, Kandinsky, Rembrandt, Brancusi, Braque, Cassatt, Duchamp, Durer, Hepworth, Gauguin, Ingres, Klee, Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, Mondrian, O’Keefe, Pollock, Raphael, Gropius, Sargent, Hopper, Christo, Renoir, Dali, Rodin, Kruger, Baldessari, Whistler, Stieglitz, De Kooning, Wyeth, Escher, Frankenthaler, Magritte, Giotto, Munch, Indiana, Johns, Moore, Nevelson, Viola and Toulouse-Lautrec.
Selected Quotes
[1] Art among a religious race produces relics; among a military one, trophies; among a commercial one, articles of trade.
Henry Fuseli, painter (1741-1825)
[ 8 ] Art should be independent of all clap-trap, should stand alone, and appeal to the artistic sense of eye or ear, without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it, as devotion, pity, love, patriotism, and the like.
James McNeill Whistler, painter (1834-1903)
[ 98 ] Every masterpiece has come into the world with a dose of ugliness in it. This ugliness is a sign of the creator’s struggle to say something new.
Pablo Picasso, painter (1881-1973)
[ 139 ] The more numerous we are, the less originality we have.
Georges Seurat, painter (1859-1891)
[ 493 ] Small rooms or dwellings set the mind in the right path, large ones cause it to go astray.
Leonardo da Vinci, artist (1459-1519)
[ 359 ] ...let yourself follow your inspiration; seek, make mistakes; but above all, acquire the habit of sincerity.
Thomas Couture, painter (1815-1879)
[ 595 ] A line has to breathe. If it doesn’t, it’s dead, and if you can see a corpse, you can smell it.
Joan Miró, painter (1893-1983)
[ 734 ] What a beautiful task lies in prospect before art, to prepare the future.
Piet Mondrian, painter (1872-1944)
[ 1266 ] Even the artists you don’t like influence you.
David Smith, sculptor (1906-1965)
[ 1274 ] Perhaps it’s true that I’m very hard on myself, but that’s better than exhibiting mediocre work.
Claude Monet, painter (1840-1926)
[ 1286 ] Painters, do not fear perfection. You will never achieve it!
Salvador Dali, painter (1904-1989)
[ 2482 ] A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or a tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they say something.
Georgia O’Keefe, painter (1887-1986)
