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Tracy Emin, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995

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Tracy Emin, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995

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Tracy Emin, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995 

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Tracy Emin, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995 

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Niki de SaintPhalle, vrouw in het publiek

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Niki de SaintPhalle, vrouw in het publiek

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Machteld Huber en collega's (Institute for Positive Health, 2011)

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Machteld Huber en collega's (Institute for Positive Health, 2011)

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Gezondheid als 'general concept' is voorgesteld:

‘Health as the ability to adapt and to self manage,

in the face of social, physical and emotional challenges’

of

‘Gezondheid als het vermogen om je aan te passen en

je eigen regie te voeren, in het licht van de sociale, fysieke en emotionele uitdagingen van het leven’

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illustratie Josh Lafayette qoute Louise Bourgeois

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illustratie Josh Lafayette qoute Louise Bourgeois

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Are artists really more tortured than the rest of us? Let's consider this myth and the studies that assess whether there might be a link between creativity and mental illness. If you need help with mental and/or substance use disorders, contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) - Free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service: https://www.samhsa.gov/.

Thanks to our Grandmasters of the Arts Vincent Apa and Indianapolis Homes Realty, and all of our patrons, especially Bronze Bond, Patrick Hanna, M12 Studio, Jane Quale, and Constance Urist. To support our channel, visit: http://www.patreon.com/artassignment.

Studies:
Karolinska Institutet, 2013: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...
Karolinska Institutet, 2011: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...
Buffalo State, 2017: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Johns Hopkins University, 1990: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...
Centers for Disease Control, 2016: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/w...

Articles:
Kay Redfield Jamison’s “Manic- Depressive Illness and Creativity”: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a0e3...
“The Real Link Between Creativity and Mental Illness”: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...
Critique of Redfield Jamison findings: https://scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-cont...
“The relationship between measures of creativity and schizotypy”: https://www.psychologytoday.com/files...

The latest research on creativity and the arts, June 2014: http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/06/ar...

Subscribe for new episodes of The Art Assignment every other Thursday!

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We addressed the myth, and now it's time for the truth of the tortured artist. Some art is born of pain and suffering, and reflects the darkest side of human experience. We like that about it. If you need help with mental and/or substance use disorders, contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or go to https://www.samhsa.gov/.

Did you know we give out art assignments? It's true!: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

To support our channel, visit: http://www.patreon.com/artassignment.

Thanks to our Grandmaster of the Arts Vincent Apa, and all of our patrons, especially Patrick Hanna, Nichole Hicks, David Moore, Jan Quale, and Constance Urist.

Corrections:
2:22 is not Roberto Matta but Nicolas Carone in his Rome studio, 1950
3:41 this list originated with Sister Corita Kent!: https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/08...

Subscribe for new episodes of The Art Assignment every other Thursday!

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'Kunst helpt je te leven en te sterven' Filosoof Alain de Botton

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'Kunst helpt je te leven en te sterven' Filosoof Alain de Botton

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'Een hele eer', zegt Alain de Botton met een Britse toon waardoor je nooit zeker bent of het bescheidenheid of voorkomendheid is, 'om plaats te nemen in een serie gesprekken met denkers die een nieuwe wereld verbeelden.' Maar eerst even wat kritiek, als hij zo vrij mag zijn. Ah, daar gaan we.

Want die serie van de Volkskrant, die is natuurlijk wel gebaseerd op een huidig, uit de 19de eeuw stammend beeld van de romantische eenling met idealen. Het is fantastisch dat er denkers en wetenschappers zijn die ambitieus zijn en idealistisch, maar ze zijn in de minderheid. Ons hele kennissysteem is er niet op ingericht.

Neem de universiteiten. Die functioneren als kloosters waar de wetenschappers vluchten van de wereld, zegt De Botton: 'Zij zien het niet als hun taak het laboratorium te zijn voor de wereld.' Hij beschouwt het als een fundamenteel probleem dat universiteiten nauwelijks de ambitie hebben om belangrijk denken over economische en sociale zaken naar de samenleving te brengen. Dat wetenschappers geen stelling durven nemen. Dat ze hooguit de temperatuur nemen en terugkijken. En dat intellectuelen die meer willen, die wel de massa bereiken, op universiteiten meer worden getolereerd dan omhelsd: 'Neem filosoof Martha Nussbaum; belangrijk voor de wereld, maar als je het academici vraagt, vinden ze haar allemaal een idioot. Ambitieuze intellectuelen zijn eenlingen.'

Het is tot op topniveau slecht, zegt hij: 'Oxford en Cambridge heten de leidende universiteiten van de wereld te zijn. Maar ze praten in het geheel niet met de overheid. Er zitten daar professors of politics, wat dóén die mensen? Politici zouden universiteiten moeten gebruiken om ze te helpen denken. En de hoogst betaalde professor moet degene zijn die de samenleving het meest tot dienst is.'

Alain de Botton (1969) is op stoom. Zoals in vrijwel elk van zijn bestsellers, gaat hij met een razende vaart, elke zin een citeerbare oneliner, van start met een positief en overtuigend verhaal over mogelijkheden om met ideeën de wereld beter te maken. Heilige huisjes worden opgewekt omver geschopt, en niet zelden moet en passant een hele beroepsgroep het ontgelden. Met de ironische blik die een onderonsje suggereert, voegt hij luchtig toe: 'I think I might make some academics mad, now.' En glimlach. On to the next one.

In Hoe Proust je leven kan veranderen (1997) waren het de literatuurwetenschappers die het moesten ontgelden, in Religie voor atheïsten (2012) de hele gemeenschap van wereldreligies. In zijn volgende boek is de kunstwereld aan de beurt, in het bijzonder de kunsthistorici. In oktober presenteert De Botton zijn inzichten in kunst, vooral in hoe kunst ons leven kan verbeteren. Kunst als kompas; hij gaf in zijn laatste boek al een aanzet. In het achtste hoofdstuk van Religie voor atheïsten deelt hij Tate Modern, het grootste museum voor moderne kunst in Groot-Brittannië, opnieuw in. Niet naar schilderscholen of periodes, maar naar de 'noden van de ziel': een afdeling 'lijden', een afdeling 'angst', een voor 'zelfkennis', 'compassie' en 'angst'.

Heeft Tate-directeur Nicholas Serota al gebeld?

'Nee.'

Misschien omdat u musea 'doodse opslagplaatsen voor scheppingen uit het verleden' noemde?

'De meeste kunsthistorici zijn erg aardig en ik denk dat ze eerder medelijden met me hebben dan boos zijn. Maar het zit in het systeem. Neem een stap terug en denk, wat kun je doen als je van kunst houdt en geen kunstenaar wilt zijn? Dan word je kunsthistoricus. Dan leer je terugkijken. Dat is verdrietig, dat is wat de samenleving doet met mensen die van kunst houden.'

Het Rijksmuseum belde wel.

'Ja. Dat zijn erg goede mensen.'

U maakt daar volgend jaar een tentoonstelling; gaat u de theorie toepassen? Krijgen we een zaal over 'lijden', een over 'angst' en een over 'liefde'?

'Nee, alles blijft op z'n plek. Maar ik verander de omlijsting; ik ga door het hele museum graffiti's neerzetten, tekstbordjes veranderen. Neem Het straatje van Vermeer. Als je naar het bordje erbij kijkt, staat er waar het is gemaakt, ruwweg wat je ziet en misschien met welke verf het is geschilderd. That's it. Dus je komt naar het Rijks, dat is een big deal want het museum is net voor een half miljard gerenoveerd en je komt bij Het straatje en je vraagt je af, waarom is dit belangrijk? En het museum helpt je niet. Het zegt je niet wat je in hemelsnaam met dat schilderij kunt doen.'

Wat kun je met Het straatje van Vermeer doen?

'Wat dat schilderij werkelijk doet, is je helpen je aan te passen aan het alledaagse leven. Het is een instrument om je te verzoenen met het gewone leven. En op een bepaalde manier is het een founding document van Nederland.'

Het is een schilderij. Van een straatje.

'Ja, en het laat in een gekristalliseerde vorm een ideaal zien van het Hollandse leven, te weten: goed, gewoon leven. Het is de Nederlandse bijdrage aan het begrip van menselijk geluk: dat een gewoon mens een waardig leven kan hebben waarin rijkdom ondersteunend is, maar geen vlucht van een innerlijke kwaliteit en eerlijkheid, kracht, waardigheid, en dat dat door zo veel mogelijk mensen moet kunnen worden genoten. Daar staat Nederland voor en daar gaat het straatje over. Het is een uitnodiging gelukkig te zijn binnen die definitie van geluk.'

En dat is belangrijk.

'Dat is heel belangrijk. Het Rijksmuseum zou bezems moeten verkopen en stofzuigers in de winkel, en mensen moeten aanmoedigen daarmee terug naar hun leven te gaan, niet met de Vermeer-chocolaatjes die daar nu verkocht worden. Die zijn belachelijk.'

Waarom hebben we kunst nodig?

'Kunst is een geconcentreerde dosis van goede dingen in de wereld. Het herinnert ons aan wat liefde is, wat creativiteit is, goedheid, vrijheid. Kunstwerken kunnen ons leven beter maken, deels omdat we emoties herkennen, en deels omdat we opnieuw in aanraking komen met emoties die we verloren waren. We moeten zo vaak sterk zijn dat we steeds slechter worden in zacht en aardig zijn. Kunst nodigt ons uit weer aardig te zijn.'

Het kunstwerk als kompas.

'Ja, ik heb een heel instrumentele visie op kunst. In religieuze tijden was het volkomen duidelijk dat kunst instrumenteel was. Het werd gemaakt om de boodschap van het geloof aantrekkelijk en overtuigend te maken. Kunst herinnerde je aan het lijden van Jezus of het belang van barmhartigheid, of welk idee ook dat anders alleen een theorie was geweest. Kunst geeft kleur, textuur en zintuigelijke overtuigingskracht aan ideeën.

'Ik denk dat de functie van kunst is om je te helpen leven en sterven. Van Gogh wilde de wereld veranderen met zijn kunst, de mensheid redden. Dat was zijn intentie, en niemand vertelt je dat. Het gaat nu om die gekke man en de zonnebloemen die mooi op een keukenschort staan.'

We nemen kunst niet serieus.

'Niet zoals het bedoeld is. Net zoals Nietzsche op de universiteiten als een historische curiositeit wordt bestudeerd. Wat je niet leert, is hoe te leven als je Nietzsche serieus zou willen nemen. We respecteren kunstenaars, maar vragen niet wat ze belangrijk vinden. De academische instituten hebben een houding alsof niemand echt weet wat de bedoeling van kunst is, maar het is juist volkomen duidelijk.'

U praat over 'de ware betekenis' en 'de echte boodschap' van kunst. Dat doet denken aan priesters. Het is een waarheidsclaim.

'Nee, u verdraait mijn woorden. Ik suggereer wat de betekenis zou kunnen zijn. En ik denk niet dat er een oneindige mogelijkheid van betekenissen is. Als ik met mijn kind voor de Seagram Murals van Mark Rothko sta in Tate Modern, wil ik een antwoord hebben als hij vraagt wat hij ziet. Anders raakt hij verveeld en vindt het onzin.'

U kunt vragen wat hij er zelf in ziet?

'Dat is een romantisch beeld, dat kinderen toegang tot een diepere werkelijkheid zouden hebben. Ik ken genoeg kinderen om te weten dat hij gewoon 'geen idee!' zou roepen en zou doorlopen.'

Dus wat zegt u dan, voor die Rothko?

'Mark Rothko werd eens gepusht door een goede, irritante journalist om antwoord te geven op de vraag wat zijn kunst betekent. Na lang aandringen zei de kunstenaar: 'Iets van de treurigheid in mij ontmoet iets van de treurigheid in jou, zodat we niet alleen zijn.' Dus als ik met mijn zoon voor dat schilderij sta, zou ik zeggen: weet je nog dat we naar Legoland zouden gaan en we niet gingen en dat je zo moest huilen? Er is duisternis en verdriet in ons allemaal. En deze man schilderde zo dat het niet iets is, geen bloem of huis, en geen vrolijke kleuren en scherpe vlakken omdat dat is hoe mensen zich uiten tegen elkaar. Maar soms zien onze privégevoelens er zo uit, als bloed en als eigeel en als tranen, en onduidelijk. En het is vrij mooi dat hij in de buitenwereld schilderde wat er in onze binnenwereld kan omgaan.'

Een criticus in Nederland, Carel Peeters, schreef dat u kunst reduceert tot illustraties bij emoties.

'Ik ben dol op die kritiek! Daar worstel ik mee. Ik denk dat kunst erg simpel kan zijn op het niveau van de boodschap en erg gecompliceerd in de technische uitvoering. En als die boodschap simpel is, ondermijnt het de kracht van de technische uitvoering niet. Maar ik zou zeggen, tenzij we echt focussen op de boodschap, is al dat technische gedoe vervelend.'

De museumbezoeker verwordt bij Alain de Botton tot een patiënt die gesust en geholpen moet worden, schreef filosoof Maxim Februari.

'De meeste mensen zijn in crisis, van welke aard die ook is. En hebben verlangens. En als je interactie met kunst zoekt, wil je er iets uithalen. Kunst hoeft je niet altijd te sussen of te kalmeren, er is van alles wat we nodig hebben. Dat kan ook het verlangen zijn om even niet aan jezelf te denken.

'Immanuel Kant probeerde een onderscheid te maken tussen het mooie en het aantrekkelijke in kunst. En er lijkt iets soortgelijks gaande bij critici. Dat als je er iets uit wilt halen, je het kunstwerk berooft van een doel dat het buiten jou heeft en dat je dan heel egoïstisch bent. Het gaat niet over ons, maar het is ons wel tot hulp, zoals kijken naar de sterren behulpzaam kan zijn. We zien de sterren en we hebben oprechte interesse, en tegelijk is een deel van ons opgelucht dat we even niet aan onszelf denken daardoor.

'Het is niet óf je bent geïnteresseerd in jezelf, óf je bent totaal begaan met het onderwerp. Echte betrokkenheid met onderwerpen is altijd een mix van die twee, en je brengt jezelf naar de kunst, en naar de sterren. En nee, een kunstwerk zal je vandaag niet helpen met de problemen met je vriendin. Maar het geeft je wel balans.'

ZES VASTE VRAGEN

1. Over welke ontwikkeling maakt u zich het meest zorgen?

Een zeer zorgelijke ontwikkeling is de massawerkloosheid. Mensen hebben werk nodig, voor zelfrespect en prestaties. Je kunt denken: er is te veel van alles, we maken te veel. Maar dat verklaart de werkloosheid niet. Totdat alles mooi is en elk verlangen vervuld, is werkloosheid nooit gelegitimeerd. Het is het resultaat van falend kapitaal, van falen in verbeelding, organisatie, wetgeving. Het is een gebrek aan goed denken en goed communiceren.

2. Komt er ooit nog oorlog in Europa? Waarom wel/niet?

Het is afhankelijk van hoe wij al dan niet de economie draaiende houden. Als dingen catastrofaal misgaan, is verwildering nooit ver weg. In Europa zal een oorlog niet door een religieus of cultureel conflict ontstaan, maar door strijdende nationale belangen.

3. Blijven we altijd vooruitgaan? Of hebben onze kinderen en kleinkinderen het minder goed dan wij?

We kunnen achteruitgaan, treurig genoeg. Niets is in beton gegoten wat betreft progressie. We leven in een gecompliceerde wereld die erg kwetsbaar is, en in het systeem zit weinig veerkracht.

4. Wie zou de wereld moeten leiden?

Slimme en wijze mensen. Hoe komt het dat zij de naties níet leiden? Ik denk dat ze worden ontmoedigd zich in de politiek te begeven. Financiële horden, vernedering vanwege blootstelling van het privéleven en ontmoediging omdat je compromissen moet sluiten. We moeten alle hindernissen, disincentives, verwijderen. Dat kan, het gaat allemaal om de macht van ideeën.

5. Welke ontwikkeling stemt u vrolijk?

Wat ik spannend vind, is de snelheid waarmee ideeën zich kunnen verspreiden over de wereld. We weten zo veel meer dan vroeger. Het gevaar is natuurlijk dat er zo veel ideeën zijn, dat het erg moeilijk is voor één idee om te winnen.

6. Als u morgen de baas van de wereld zou zijn, welke maatregel zou u dan afkondigen?

Ik zou worstelen met de media en manieren zoeken om de beste ideeën bij de meeste mensen te krijgen. Via de staatsmedia. O, ik ben geen dictator? Dan zou ik zeggen, wij zijn gekozen, onder meer om de staatsmedia in te zetten voor de best mogelijke doelen.

CV ALAIN DE BOTTON

Geboren

20 december 1969 te Zürich, als zoon van een Zwitserse moeder en een Egyptische vader, die vanwege zijn sefardisch-joodse achtergrond zijn land ontvluchtte.

Studie

Na de eerste jaren in Zwitserland ging De Botton in Oxford naar een internaat, om later geschiedenis in Cambridge en filosofie aan King's College in Londen te studeren.

Professie

filosoof, auteur, ondernemer en televisiemaker.

Boeken

Sinds zijn eerste boek Proeven van liefde (1993) specialiseert De Botton zich in het schrijven van toepasbare filosofie - bestsellers als Hoe Proust je leven kan veranderen (1997), Statusangst (2004), De architectuur van geluk (2006) en Religie voor Atheïsten (2012) richten zich op de mogelijkheden het leven kwalitatief te verbeteren en geluk te vergroten. In oktober verschijnt zijn eerste boek over kunst.

The School of Life In 2008 breidde De Botton zijn 'filosofie van het alledaagse leven' uit met uitgeverij annex opleidingsinstituut The School of Life in Londen.

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'Een hele eer', zegt Alain de Botton met een Britse toon waardoor je nooit zeker bent of het bescheidenheid of voorkomendheid is, 'om plaats te nemen in een serie gesprekken met denkers die een nieuwe wereld verbeelden.' Maar eerst even wat kritiek, als hij zo vrij mag zijn. Ah, daar gaan we.

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Bite-size guides to brilliant artists by WePresent and Tate.

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Yes, but why?How Kusama paved the way for art today

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Yes, but why?How Kusama paved the way for art today

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Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is a phenomenon. Through her talent, determination and vision she's spent eight decades taking on the white, male art establishment - and winning. In recent years her work has found a huge new audience in her international exhibitions and on social media, from her celestial Infinity Mirrored Room installations to her expansive dot paintings.

But there's much more to her than that. And though she's reinvented herself and her art on several occasions, as curator Katy Wan explains, one of her main goals has always been to inspire joy and happiness.
We teamed up with WePresent to tell the stories of Kusama and four other game-changing artists. Here we chose three quotes from the article to give you some insight into her world.
1. She revolutionised New York's male-dominated art scene

New York in the late 1950s was not a welcoming place for a young, female Japanese artist but Kusama was unstoppable. In the late 1960s she established Kusama Enterprises, her own line of dresses and textiles. This was an exercise in self-branding, based around the dots for which she was already well-known. Kusama saw that through fashion, she could reach far more people.

2. She knows how much we love to look at ourselves

3. She paved the way for some of art's best-known names

In New York Kusama was part of an important network of artists who were redefining what art could be. She was a close friend of Joseph Cornell and Donald Judd (whose studio was just above hers, and who was one of her first US collectors), and a contemporary of Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg.
This is based on an interview between Maisie Skidmore and Tate curator, Katy Wan for story-telling site WePresent.

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but why?: how kusama paved the way for art today

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Yes, but why?: How Kusama paved the way for art today - List | Tate

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Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is a phenomenon. Through her talent, determination and vision she's spent eight decades taking on the white, male art establishment - and winning. In recent years her work has found a huge new audience in her international exhibitions and on social media, from her celestial Infinity Mirrored Room installations to her expansive dot paintings.

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Beauty Is the Mystery of Life

by Agnes Martin 1989

When I think of art, I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of

life. It is not in the eye, it is in my mind. In our minds there

is awareness of perfection.

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Agnes Martin: "Beauty Is the Mystery of Life"

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Below is Agnes Martin's 1989 essay, "Beauty is the Mystery of Life," reproduced from our essential monograph, published to accompany the critically-acclaimed touring retrospective. Reviewing our book for the New York Times Book Review alongside Nancy Princenthal's aptly-timed new biography, Patricia Albers made special note of this particular text, asserting that it is "not to be missed."

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Praedinius Gymnasium Groningen 1989 Kunstgeschiedenis R.U.G 1989 - 1990 Grafisch Ontwerpen Minerva 1990 - 1993 Dublin National College Art & Design ABK interdisciplinair Minerva 1993 - 1996 Verkort Docentenopleiding Academie Minerva 2012 - 2014 Stages 2013-2014 Maartens College Haren Werkman College Groningen Praedinius Gymnasium Projecten 2013-2014 Haydn Jeugd Strijkorkest Hermitage voorbereiding Grafieklessen aan DVKV Fotografielessen aan DBKV PG+ lessen Cyanotypie Beeldbewerking Workshop Grafiek klas 1 Fotopolymeer onderzoek met Paul Meek Middeleeuwen Project Jeroen Bosch PG Exposities Startstipendium Fonds voor Beeldende Kunst Art Premier Dortrecht.

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2/2 Tracey Emin on Louise Bourgeois: Women Without Secrets - Secret Knowledge

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2/2 Tracey Emin on Louise Bourgeois: Women Without Secrets - Secret Knowledge

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2/2 Tracey Emin on Louise Bourgeois: Women Without Secrets - Secret Knowledge

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1/2 Tracey Emin on Louise Bourgeois: Women Without Secrets - Secret Knowledge

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1/2 Tracey Emin on Louise Bourgeois: Women Without Secrets - Secret Knowledge

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1/2 Tracey Emin on Louise Bourgeois: Women Without Secrets - Secret Knowledge

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Venetië: waar Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer Damien Hirst vond

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Venetië: waar Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer Damien Hirst vond

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25/05/2019 BY LILIANE WAANDERS

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Naast Mother and Child (Divided) en God Alone Knows staat het er wat verloren bij, maar ik herken hem/haar onmiddellijk.

'Er was een levensgroot bronzen beeld met afgebroken ledenmaten van een hermafrodiet. De plakken zeepokken zaten eraan vastgekoekt':

zo heb ik hem/haar leren kennen. In Grand Hotel Europa van Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer. Toen hij deze Hermaphrodite van Damien Hirst zag, maakte het beeld deel uit van Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, een allerminst bescheiden tentoonstelling die parallel aan de Biënnale van Venetië geprogrammeerd stond:

'Van de tentoonstelling Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable kon je van alles zeggen, maar niet dat ze voorzichtig, ingetogen of terughoudend was. Alles was er extreem aan. Om te beginnen alleen de omvang al. De tentoonstelling bestond uit honderden werken en besloeg twee complete musea in Venetië: (...).'

Als je dat niet weet, kun je dat niet opmaken uit de tekst op het bordje dat het beeld begeleidt. Wie het wel weet, vraagt zich vooral af waar de rest is gebleven en of Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable niet aan zeggingskracht en betekenis inboet nu Hermaphrodite (en waarschijnlijk nog veel meer beelden) uit de oorspronkelijke context gelicht zijn.

Als Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer in Grand Hotel Europa over de tentoonstelling schrijft, is dat niet voor het eerst. In december 2017 verscheen in NRC Handelsblad het essay Alles is gemaakt om kapot te gaan. Daarin gaat Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer uitgebreid in op wat Damien Hirst volgens hem duidelijk wil maken met Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable:

'Ik liep de zalen van Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable binnen alsof ik een jongensboek opensloeg en ik werd daadwerkelijk meegesleept door het avontuur. Maar geleidelijk drong het besef tot me door dat ik oog in oog stond met de dood van onze cultuur en het einde van onze beschaving. Alles van waarde ligt met het patina van eeuwen overtrokken in het verleden. Hirst drukt ons met de neus op de feiten door ons een verzonnen verleden voor te schotelen. Als iets maar oud is, zetten we het in een museum. Maar we begrijpen niet dat we zelf in een museum leven en dat we niets produceren wat zal glimmen in de pronkzalen van de musea van de toekomst. In het breekbare, zuchtende, zinkende Venetië was Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable de zwanenzang van het avondland. Een extreme, groteske, fantasievolle evocatie van ons werkelijke en gedroomde verleden, dat was het laatste, onherhaalbare grote gebaar.'

Nu ik dat in deze context herlees, zie ik enige verwantschap tussen Damien Hirst en Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer. Beiden schuwen het grote gebaar en de inzet van zware middelen niet. Beiden spelen een spel met echt en onecht, kunst en kitsch. En in dit specifieke geval: beiden wijzen op de kwetsbaarheid van heden, verleden en toekomst, al verschilt de wijze waarop zij - bij wijze van waarschuwing - het verleden exploiteren wezenlijk.

Het personage Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer laat zich bovendien inspireren door wat hij ziet:

'Zo moet ik schrijven, dacht ik, in de geest van dit machtsvertoon, deze gulheid en dit plezier in het avontuur. Ik moet de klassieke vormen en zucht naar monumentale perfectie niet mijden uit angst om niet modern te lijken, maar de moed hebben om de tijd waarin ik leef te vatten in marmeren zinnen, bronzen woorden en beelden van goud, zilver en jade, en met de beste middelen en materialen uit het verleden een gedenkteken op te richten voor het nu. Groots moet het zijn, en overdadig, een overweldigende orgie van fantasie met de technische perfectie van de commercieelste kitsch. Ik moet (...)'

Waarna de op de door zijn alter ego voorgestelde wijze schrijvende schrijver Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer door deze en gene criticus en lezer aangesproken werd op zijn wel heel uitbundige stijl.

Overigens: de tekst van Alles is gemaakt om kapot te gaan haalde bijna ongewijzigd Grand Hotel Europa:

'Ik liep de zalen van Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable binnen alsof ik een jongensboek opensloeg en ik werd meegesleept door het avontuur. Maar geleidelijk aan drong het besef tot me door dat ik oog in oog stond met de dood van onze cultuur en het einde van onze beschaving. Alles van waarde ligt met het patina van eeuwen overtrokken in het verleden. Hirst drukt ons met de neus op de feiten door ons een verzonnen verleden voor te schotelen. Als iets maar oud is, zetten we het in een museum. Maar we begrijpen niet dat we zelf in een museum leven en dat we niets produceren wat zal glimmen in de pronkzalen van de musea van de toekomst. In het breekbare, zuchtende, zinkende Venetië was Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable de zwanenzang van het Avondland. Een extreme, groteske, fantasievolle evocatie van ons werkelijke en gedroomde verleden, dat was het laatste, onherhaalbare grote gebaar.
"Dit moet je gebruiken voor je boek," zei Clio. "Volgens mij is het relevant". '

Bovendien voegde Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer er nog de nodige informatie aan toe, waaronder beschrijvingen van een aantal in het oog springende beelden. Waaronder dus Hermaphrodite. Waardoor ik haar herkende toen ik die zaal vol dood en vergankelijkheid in het Astrup Fearnly Museet in Oslo betrad.

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Venetië: waar Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer Damien Hirst vond - HANTA

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Naast Mother and Child (Divided) en God Alone Knows staat het er wat verloren bij, maar ik herken hem/haar onmiddellijk. 'Er was een levensgroot bronzen beeld met afgebroken ledenmaten van een hermafrodiet. De plakken zeepokken zaten eraan vastgekoekt': zo heb ik hem/haar leren kennen. In Grand Hotel Europa van Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer.

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Essay Damien Hirst liet zich inspireren door een Romeins schip voor zijn tentoonstelling in Venetië. Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer ontleedt waar die tentoonstelling nou over ging. „Hirst stelde het hedendaagse dedain voor ambachtelijkheid aan de kaak.”

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De megalomane tentoonstelling Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable van Damien Hirst, die van april tot begin deze maand te zien was in Venetië, was, zoals alle waarlijk grote kunst, in alles extreem. Zij was verspreid over twee complete musea en bestond uit honderden sculpturen van goden, helden, mythologische figuren en demonen van vaak gigantische omvang, die waren vervaardigd uit de kostbaarste materialen: brons, goud, zilver, jade en marmer uit Carrara.

Het was een tentoonstelling met een verhaal. De beelden waren zogenaamd de schatten van het Romeinse schip 'de Ongelooflijke' dat in de eerste eeuw na Christus was vergaan voor de kust van Oost-Afrika en dat in 2008 bij toeval was teruggevonden. Er werd een video vertoond van de moeizame bergingswerkzaamheden door duikers van de kolossale beelden van de zeebodem. In de tentoonstellingszalen hingen kleurenfoto's van de bergingsoperatie. Er was een replica van het schip opgesteld met een interactieve reconstructie van de manier waarop de beelden in het ruim geborgen moesten zijn. Net als in een echt archeologisch museum was er ook voorzien in zalen met vitrines vol troep waar je snel aan voorbij loopt: gebruiksartikelen, potten en pannen, pollepels en muntjes die nu eenmaal ook waren gevonden.

De vergankelijkheid, dan wel de onvergankelijkheid van kunst werd gethematiseerd. Veel beelden waren beschadigd. De meeste vertoonden zichtbare sporen van een eeuwenlang verblijf op de zeebodem. Ze waren overdekt met veelkleurige wieren, schelpen, koraal, algen en zeesponzen. Maar dat was dus ook allemaal nauwkeurig in brons gegoten of in marmer uitgehakt. Als je daar goed over nadenkt, is dat ironisch. Echte oudheidkundige kunstschatten die echt van de zeebodem zijn opgediept, zouden worden schoongemaakt voordat ze in een museum worden tentoongesteld. Bij Hirst maakte het verval en de tekenen van vervlogen eeuwen een onvervreemdbaar deel uit van het kunstwerk.

Echt en nep

De tentoonstelling ging over echt en nep. In de fictieve context van een verzonnen verhaal over een gezonken schip en een berging werden uiterst tastbare, technisch volmaakte en duurzame beelden getoond die een verzonnen en een werkelijk verleden evoceerden. Het zichtbare verval was fictie, want die beelden waren gisteren gemaakt. Maar uiteindelijk was die aftakeling verre van fictief, want het refereerde aan de vergankelijkheid en het bederf die ons in de werkelijkheid omringen.

De tentoonstelling ging over kunst en kitsch en over de relatie tussen ambachtelijkheid en kunst. De technische perfectie van de sculpturen stond in schril contrast met wat doorgaans voor hedendaagse kunst moet doorgaan. Ik heb ook de Biënnale bezocht in Venetië, waar een staalkaart wordt getoond van de moderne avant-garde. Grote gekleurde bollen van papier-maché. Schoenen aan een touwtje. Honderden gekleurde cassettebandjes op een stuk karton gelijmd. Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable was een kolossale opgestoken middelvinger naar die dilettanten met hun ideetjes en knutselwerkjes en stelde tegelijkertijd de vraag wat dan wel de moeite waard is om in een museum tentoon te stellen. Staat de combinatie van technische perfectie met de kostbaarste materialen garant voor waardevolle kunst? Eeuwenlang is dat wel zo geweest. Hirst stelde het hedendaagse dedain voor ambachtelijkheid aan de kaak. En moet iets per se eeuwenoud zijn om waarde te hebben? Als de sculpturen van Hirst werkelijk tweeduizend jaar oud waren, zouden ze tot de belangrijkste kunstschatten van de mensheid behoren. Dat waren ze niet. Ze waren gisteren gemaakt. Maar ze waren net zo volmaakt als de beste kunst van tweeduizend jaar geleden. Vinden we ze desalniettemin minder waardevol, wellicht omdat ze te nieuw zijn en te veel glimmen? Dan levert Hirst er het verval en de sporen van de tand des tijds bij.

Mythevorming

De tentoonstelling ging over mythevorming en de behoefte aan verhalen. De beelden imponeerden niet alleen door hun omvang en kwaliteit, maar ook door hun gezamenlijke evocatieve kracht van een stoerdere en glorieuzere tijd vol helden, avonturen en mysterie. Zij lieten zien wat wij hebben verloren in deze tijd waarin wij alles denken te weten over alles en geen helden of goden meer nodig menen te hebben.

We hebben niet eens verhalen om over te leveren aan de toekomst

Een constante in het hele oeuvre van Damien Hirst is de maxime memento mori. Dood en vergankelijkheid woekeren in zijn werk. Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable tilde die thematiek naar een hoger niveau en stelde de vergankelijkheid van onze beschaving ter discussie. Want als je de zogenaamde overblijfselen ziet van een cultuur die verloren is gegaan, kan de vraag in je opkomen wat er over twintig eeuwen van onze beschaving zal zijn overgebleven. Dat is een ongemakkelijke vraag. Wat zullen ze in de toekomst van ons in een museum zetten? Alles wat we maken, is gemaakt om kapot te gaan, zodat we blijven consumeren. En die papier-machébollen en schoenen aan touwtjes gaan het ook niet redden, denk ik. Het grootste bouwwerk dat we maken, is het World Wide Web. Dat is het monument van onze generatie. Maar het web is zo vluchtig als het immaterieel is. Ik kan nu mijn leuke digitale vakantiefoto's al niet terugvinden die ik ooit heb gebackupt op een server die niet meer bestaat. Het is goed dat mijn gedichten die ik in Word 4.0 heb geschreven zijn gepubliceerd met inkt op papier, want mijn huidige tekstverwerker kan die bestanden niet meer openen. Een kleine stroomstoring volstaat om ons hele wereldwijde web weg te vagen. Ons gehele geheugen is zo vergankelijk als een stroompje elektronen in een microchip. Geheugen bestaat niet zonder materie. Dat laat Hirst zien. Daarom heeft hij voor de edelste en onvergankelijkste materialen gekozen. De kans dat uitgerekend zijn met opzet beschadigde beelden in de toekomst de enige relicten zullen blijken uit onze tijd, is niet denkbeeldig.

We hebben niet eens verhalen om over te leveren aan de toekomst. We hebben geen mythen meer. Ja, Mickey Mouse misschien. Of Pluto. Hirst heeft hen laten zien. Ze zijn beiden zogenaamd teruggevonden in het wrak op de zeebodem in de vorm van levensgrote bronzen sculpturen. Ze zaten onder de schelpen, koraal en zeesponzen. In de artikelen en recensies die ik over de tentoonstelling heb gelezen, werd dit geïnterpreteerd als postmoderne ironie of humor. Maar als Mickey Mouse en Pluto de enige universele referentiepunten zijn van onze cultuur, en dat zijn ze, valt er weinig te lachen. Het contrast met al die goden en helden uit glorieuzere epochen wordt dan wel erg groot. En dan nog iets. Onze Mickey Mouse en Pluto zijn niet van brons. Ze bestaan uitsluitend op celluloid en goedkoop papier.

Lees ook de recensie van Hans den Hartog Jager: Is het kitsch of toch een teken van de tijd?

Ik liep de zalen van Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable binnen alsof ik een jongensboek opensloeg en ik werd daadwerkelijk meegesleept door het avontuur. Maar geleidelijk aan drong het besef tot mij door dat ik oog in oog stond met de dood van onze cultuur en het einde van onze beschaving. Alles van waarde ligt met het patina van eeuwen overtrokken in het verleden. Hirst drukt ons met de neus op de feiten door ons een verzonnen verleden voor te schotelen. Als iets maar oud is, zetten we het in een museum. Maar we begrijpen niet dat we zelf in een museum leven en dat we niets produceren wat zal glimmen in de pronkzalen van de musea van de toekomst. In het breekbare, zuchtende, zinkende Venetië was Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable de zwanenzang van het avondland. Een extreme, groteske, fantasievolle evocatie van ons werkelijke en gedroomde verleden, dat was het laatste, onherhaalbare grote gebaar.

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De megalomane tentoonstelling Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable van Damien Hirst, die van april tot begin deze maand te zien was in Venetië, was, zoals alle waarlijk grote kunst, in alles extreem.

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Sofia Coppola’s Favorite Films: Stream the “Lost in Translation” Director’s Picks BY MICHAEL NORDINE

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Sofia Coppola’s Favorite Films: Stream the “Lost in Translation” Director’s Picks BY MICHAEL NORDINE

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Sofia Coppola's Favorite Films: Stream the "Lost in Translation" Director's Picks

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Here are 10 movies that have left their mark on the "Lost in Translation" and "Virgin Suicides" director.

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Sofia Coppola, Director: Lost in Translation. Sofia Coppola was born on May 14, 1971 in New York City, New York, USA as Sofia Carmina Coppola. She is a director, known for Somewhere (2010), Lost in Translation (2003) and Marie Antoinette (2006). She has been married to Thomas Mars since August 27, 2011.

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Feminism and the Art of Banality: Sofia Coppola's ​Somewhere

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Feminism and the Art of Banality: Sofia Coppola's ​Somewhere

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You know It's a Sofia Coppola Movie IF...

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You know It's a Sofia Coppola Movie IF...

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You know It's a Sofia Coppola Movie IF...

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'Marie Antoinette' is a (Post) Modern Revolution

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'Marie Antoinette' is a (Post) Modern Revolution

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Of all the female characters that populate Sofia Coppola’s films, the obvious stand-in for the director herself is Scarlett Johansson’s Charlotte in Lost in Translation. But what if Coppola’s true reflection is to be found in a gilded, Versailles mirror instead? After all, if you want to fashion a figure of (cinema) royalty, whose lavish and privileged lifestyle was heavily scrutinized and perhaps even stifled by expectation, then Marie Antoinette isn’t a bad model.

After the near-unanimous adoration for 2003’s Lost in Translation, the dismissive reaction to Coppola’s 2006 follow-up, Marie Antoinette, seemed unjust. And just over a decade on, the film appears to be undergoing some serious critical re-evaluation. It’s now being viewed as a work about shallowness and frivolity, rather than being infected with such traits. It’s a highly (post) modern take on an old warhorse of cinema: the historical epic. And while Coppola used the real boudoirs and ballrooms of Versailles as her own larger-than-life dollhouse, she does much more than just play dress up. Underneath all the designer dresses and shoes, parties and feasts, there’s a young woman, out of her depth and struggling to locate herself — and a director who knows exactly how to find her.

Here at Fandor, we have Sofia Coppola content like “Marie Antoinette” has new wave and post-punk bops. Check out Color By Numbers: Sofia Coppola, Sofia Coppola’s Gilded Cages, and Sofia Coppola’s Favorite Films. And don’t miss Fandor’s latest, like Jeff Goldblum is the Internet’s Chosen One, and What “The Right Stuff” Got Right.

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'Marie Antoinette' is a (Post) Modern Revolution

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Marie Antoinette - Shopping Scene (Sofia Coppola, 2006)

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Marie Antoinette - Shopping Scene (Sofia Coppola, 2006)

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Minuut 0:28
Een anachronisme is iets wat niet helemaal in zijn tijd past. Of, preciezer geformuleerd: een al dan niet gewilde inbreuk op of breuk in de chronologische samenhang van toestanden of gebeurtenissen.

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Marie Antoinette - Shopping Scene (Sofia Coppola, 2006)

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Relevantie artistiek onderzoek bij complexe sociale problemen

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| Bij complexe sociale problemen kan artistiek onderzoek een zinvolle bijdrage leveren aan de ontwikkeling van nieuwe inzichten en perspectieven. Dat stellen Anke Coumans (Hanze) en Ingrid Schuffelers (HKU) in een bijdrage aan ScienceGuide.

Hieronder leest u hun bijdrage.

Recentelijk kregen wij een afwijzing van onze aanvraag bij het fonds ZonMw en dat zette ons als artistiek onderzoekers aan het denken of wij de toegevoegde waarden hier van ons onderzoek wel voldoende kunnen uitleggen. ZonMw ondersteunt namelijk praktijkgericht onderzoek binnen de context van ouderen en alhoewel het ook onze ambitie was om de praktijk van ouderen te verbeteren is het ons duidelijk geworden dat er een kloof bestaat tussen de praktijkgerichtheid van praktijkgericht onderzoek versus de praktijk-ingebedheid van artistiek onderzoek.

Artistiek onderzoek is een relatief nieuwe vorm van onderzoek die in het onderzoeksproces gebruik maakt van de attitude en werkwijze van kunstenaars en ontwerpers. Dit houdt simpel gesteld in in dat onderzoekers beeldend en associatief werken en een open attitude hebben die mogelijk maakt dat iets hen in het oog springt dat een ander wellicht ontgaat.

Voor een beter begrip positioneren we in deze tekst artistiek onderzoek ten aanzien van drie andere onderzoekparadigma's: ontwerpgericht onderzoek, praktijkgericht onderzoek en academisch onderzoek. We doen dit om de maatschappelijke relevantie van artistiek onderzoek inzichtelijk te maken vanuit de concrete ambitie om een ruimte voor artistiek onderzoek te creëren, waarin ouderen, verzorgers, mantelzorgers en onderzoekers samen tot nieuwe inzichten kunnen komen.

Dit heeft niet alleen extra aandacht nodig omdat artistiek onderzoek een andere maatschappelijke toegevoegde waarde heeft, maar ook omdat artistiek onderzoek nog relatief jong is. Het moet de woordenschat nog ontwikkelen om zich verstaanbaar te maken naar de andere, reeds meer uitontwikkelde, vormen van onderzoek. Dit artikel is een eerste poging daartoe.

Anders Belicht

In 2015 deed een groep studenten en verplegers mee aan een fotowandeling in Het Blauwbö rgje, instelling voor mensen met dementie. Deze fotowandeling was door de kunstenares Lino Hellings ontwikkeld als methode De methode heet de papamethode en hoort bij het door haar ontwikkelde papaplatform. om met een diverse groep mensen nieuwe inzichten te ontwikkelen in de omgeving van het Blauwbörgje, waar de ene groep mensen moet wonen en waarin een andere groep mensen werkt als verzorgers.

Het ging haar in deze methode niet om het maken van goed doordachte 'mooie' foto's, maar om het snelle maken van foto's van alles wat zich aan het oog aandiende. Een selectie van de in een paar uur gemaakte beelden werd in de dagen erna geüpload op een site en voorzien van commentaar van degene die de foto gemaakt had. In een sessie met het management van het verzorgingstehuis deelden de studenten en de verzorgers de op basis van foto's en commentaar voorzichtig geformuleerde vermoedens.

De managers en teamleiders van het verzorgingstehuis waren diep onder de indruk van de oprechte, persoonlijke en voor hen nieuwe perspectieven op een omgeving waar zij zelf allang niet meer zo naar kunnen kijken. "Wat mij raakte in de uitwisseling van de medewerkers en de studenten was het langzame proces. Wij zijn gewend aan een snel proces waarin onmiddellijk gehandeld wordt en we ontdekten hoe juist door de traagheid van dit proces heel andere perspectieven naar voren kwamen. (Carla Dijkslag in een interview).

Zie hier voor de hele film van Anders Belicht

Zo ontdekten de studenten samen met de verzorgers dat de leegte in de gemeenschappelijke ruimtes deels te maken had met het feit dat mensen met dementie graag dingen meenemen. Dit resulteerde in het prototype van het Sleepgoed: speciaal voor de bewoners ontwikkelde grote stoffen knuffelbeesten met lange armen die overal naartoe gesleept kunnen worden.

Ook ontdekten ze de sterke scheiding tussen binnenruimtes waar de mensen met dementie niet zonder meer uit kunnen en de buitenruimtes waarin bezoekers en personeel zich kunnen bewegen. Ze ontwikkelden een zowel poëtisch als fysiek concept voor de Tussenruimte, prachtig vormgegeven, half open en overal te plaatsen kleine gebouwtjes waarin mensen met dementie en hun bezoekers plaats kunnen nemen. Aan de basis van deze ontwerp-ideeën staat een manier van werken die zowel beeldend als co-creatief is, een voorbeeld van het ontstaansgerichte denken binnen het artistieke onderzoek.

Overzicht van het geuploade materiaal van een van de fotowandelingen in Het Blauwbörgje, 2014. Zie http://priccapractice.nl/andersbelicht

Lectoraat Image in Context: artistiek onderzoek in context

Het Lectoraat Image in Context specialiseert zich sinds haar oprichting vijf jaar geleden in artistiek onderzoek als een manier om nieuwe inzichten te ontwikkelen in ingewikkelde sociale problematieken. Artistiek onderzoek is een wijze van onderzoek doen die voortkomt uit de artistieke praktijk. Centraal in de artistieke praktijk staat het vermogen van de mens om zich open te stellen voor hetgeen om hem heen gebeurt. Vanuit dit op mogelijkheden gerichte denken ontstaat eerst een veelheid aan materiaal en perspectieven (zie afbeelding Anders Belicht). Van hieruit wordt een eigen perspectief ontwikkeld waar op beeldende wijze vorm aan wordt gegeven. De artistieke praktijk is daarmee een combinatie van een open (convergerende) en kritische (divergerende) Op deze begrippen convergerend en divergerend kom ik later nog terug. attitude en een beeldende kwaliteit die kan leiden tot beelden en ontwerpen die ons in staat stellen de wereld anders te aanschouwen.

De artistieke praktijk wordt een artistieke onderzoekspraktijk in context, indien de praktijk wordt ingezet om nieuwe inzichten en perspectieven te ontwikkelen op sociale problematiekenEigen aan artistiek onderzoek is bovendien dat het proces niet alleen in dienst staat van de uitkomst, maar zelf een autonome waarde krijgt.

Door de aanwezigheid van de onderzoekende kunstenaar in een sociale omgeving wordt een proces van uitwisseling in gang gezet tussen de kunstenaar en de omgeving. Hiermee wordt dit proces als vanzelf een proces van co-creatie. De omgeving, de mensen, de gebeurtenissen worden onderdeel van het creatieve proces. Daarom spreken we van artistieke onderzoeks praktijken.

Artistiek onderzoek draagt dus in eerste instantie geen oplossingen aan of valoriseerbare kennis. De in het voorbeeld gegeven vertaling van inzichten naar prototypes moet dan ook beschouwd worden als de fase waarin het meer fundamentele artistiek onderzoek wordt verlaten ten bate van een resultaat.

Het is een vorm van onderzoek die in het proces niet steeds een uitsluitsel nodig heeft of een conclusie. Het biedt suggesties voor verklaringen waar andere vormen van onderzoek op verder kunnen bouwen, of die zoals in het voorbeeld van Anders Belicht, aanleiding kunnen zijn voor het ontwikkelen van prototypes van het Sleepgoed en de Tussenruimte die verder getest en uitgewerkt kunnen worden.

Artistiek onderzoek als een van de vier onderzoekparadigma's

Om de positie van artistiek onderzoek beter te begrijpen kan het helpen haar te plaatsen naast de drie andere onderzoekparadigma's van deze tijd: praktijkgericht onderzoek, wetenschappelijk onderzoek en ontwerponderzoek. Eeuwenoud is het academische onderzoek van de universiteiten waarin kennis over de werkelijkheid wordt gegenereerd en getoetst. Daarnaast zien we hoe, zeker vanuit de ontwikkeling van lectoraten op het hbo, zich een tweede vorm ontwikkelt die zich praktijkgericht onderzoek noemt en de vraag stelt: wat heeft de samenleving aan deze kennis?

De afgelopen tien jaar hebben twee andere vormen van onderzoek zich een eigen positie verworven binnen het veld van onderzoek: artistiek onderzoek en ontwerponderzoek. Deze onderzoekspraktijken delen een beeldende of beter gezegd ruimtelijke component die zowel aanwezig is in het onderzoekproces als in het resultaat. Beide komen voort uit het kunstonderwijs en ze verhouden zich tot elkaar zoals academisch onderzoek zich verhoudt tot praktijkgericht onderzoek. Zoals we zien dat het academische onderzoek in het praktijkgerichte onderzoek een vertaling naar toepasbaarheid krijgt, zo zien we dat ook plaatsvinden in de vertaling van het artistiek onderzoek naar het ontwerpgerichte onderzoek.

We kunnen inmiddels concluderen dat het ontwerponderzoek zich heeft weten te nestelen in het praktijkgerichte onderzoek van de hogescholen. Een voor een nemen de hogescholen het ontwerponderzoek (ook wel ontwerpend onderzoek of design research genaamd) op binnen hun curricula. Daarmee is een ruimtelijke component in het tot dan toe meest lineaire, praktijkgerichte onderzoek binnengetreden. En wat het artistieke onderzoek betreft, zien we hoe het academische onderzoek, en dan met name het onderzoek binnen de humanitas, de vanzelfsprekende voedingsbodem is voor het artistieke onderzoek en vice versa.

Lineair en ruimtelijk denken

Om de vier vormen met elkaar te kunnen vergelijken en om te begrijpen waar ze elkaar tegenspreken en waar ze elkaar overlappen, zijn twee reeds enkel malen genoemde opposities/tegenstellingen van belang. De oppositie tussen het lineaire, tekstuele denken en het ruimtelijke, beeldende denken en de oppositie tussen ontstaansgericht en resultaatgericht denken.

De oppositie tussen lineair en ruimtelijk denken wordt hier ingebracht als een behulpzame herformulering en verbreding van de bekendere oppositie tussen tekst en beeld. Het lineaire denken is het resultaat van onze alfabetische taal die ons noodzaakt alles na elkaar te plaatsen (te fixeren) in een logische volgorde. In beelden is daarentegen sprake van een gelijktijdige en meer losse en beweeglijke aanwezigheid van alle elementen in de ruimte Voor uitwerking dichotomie ruimtelijk en lineair bij onder meer de mediafilosoof Vilem Flusser zie Coumans Als een beeld ik zegt, 2015. .

In het ruimtelijke denken vindt een andere voorstelling van zaken plaats. De onderdelen wordt naast elkaar geplaatst in plaats van na elkaar. In het voorbeeld van Anders Belicht is deze vorm van ruimtelijk denken met name duidelijk zichtbaar in de site waar de geüploade beelden en hun tekstuele commentaar in eenzelfde digitale ruimte zijn geplaatst worden. Een ruimtelijke voorstelling van zaken maakt het meer-perspectivistische of dialogische denken mogelijk. De site bevat de stemmen van de verschillende onderzoekers. Het in beeld denken en het je in beeld uiten zoals dat bekend is van de kunstacademie maakt andere co-creatieve praktijken mogelijk.

Ontstaansgericht en resultaatgericht denken

Ontstaansgericht en resultaatgericht denken zijn een oppositiepaar dat het resultaat is van onze bestudering van de twee disciplines die een kunstacademie definieert: beeldende kunst en ontwerpen.

In het ontstaansgerichte denken wordt na elke actie pas op de plaats gemaakt om te overwegen wat de volgende acties zouden kunnen zijn. In het ontstaansgerichte denken wijst wat er is de weg naar wat mogelijkerwijs gedaan kan worden, terwijl in het resultaatgericht denken het te bereiken doel de weg wijst naar wat logischerwijs gedaan moet worden.

Het eerste noemen we convergerend en het tweede divergerend. Ontstaansgerichte denkers blijven in contact met wat om hen heen is, durven van de weg af te wijken en zijn bereid zaken te herdefiniëren. Resultaatgerichte denkers houden vast aan wat ze voor ogen hebben en doen wat ze zich hebben voorgenomen. Resultaatgerichte denkers geloven in oplossingen. Ontstaansgerichte denkers proberen juist niet in oplossingen te denken.

Deze oppositie heeft ons in eerste instantie geholpen om de positie van ontwerpen binnen de kunstacademies te herdefiniëren. Waar ontwerpen buiten de kunstacademies een resultaatgerichte, oplossingen biedende praktijk aan het worden is, denken wij dat de kracht en de onderscheidende waarde van ontwerpen en van ontwerponderzoek binnen de kunstacademies zou moeten liggen binnen het hier geschetste ontstaansgerichte denken.

Ontwerpgericht onderzoek in opkomst

Er lijken zich twee vormen van ontwerponderzoek af te tekenen. De eerste vorm die zich richt naar het praktijkgerichte onderzoek wordt ontwerpgericht onderzoek genoemd en we kennen deze vorm van onderzoek ook vanuit de meer populaire term design thinking. De tweede vorm is verbonden met het artistiek onderzoek en wil de positie binnen de kunstacademie serieus te nemen. De opleiding productontwerpen van de HKU wil daar een voorbeeld van zijn.

De botsing tussen artistiek onderzoek en praktijkgericht onderzoek

Eigen aan een praktijkgericht, sociaal onderzoek is het resultaatgerichte denken. Er wordt gevraagd: wie heeft er wat aan en hoe zijn de resultaten overdraagbaar? Hiertegenover staat het artistieke onderzoek dat experimenteel van aard is en waarvan de resultaten niet bij voorbaat zijn aan te geven en waarvan zelfs niet bij voorbaat duidelijk is welke opbrengst er zal zijn. De enige garantie is, dat de opbrengst in de zin van nieuwe perspectieven en inzichten bijzonder kan zijn. Het is ontstaansgericht.

Het onderstaande schema brengt dit in kaart:

Het schema maakt zichtbaar hoe ingewikkeld het is om het ontstaansgerichte, ruimtelijke denken van de kunsten in de omgeving van het praktijkgerichte onderzoek binnen te brengen. We zien hoe ze vanuit de assen die we geformuleerd hebben ver uit elkaar liggen. Waar artistiek onderzoek in zijn zuiverste vorm ontstaansgericht en ruimtelijk is, daar is praktijkgericht onderzoek resultaatgericht en lineair. Ze lijken met elkaar in tegenspraak.

De praktijk wil een logisch lineair geformuleerd plan waarin de resultaten vast zijn opgenomen. Aan het praktijkgerichte onderzoek wordt gevraagd een heldere weg te schetsen, de methodiek te geven, toepasbaarheid te garanderen en al een soort van garanties te geven voor oplossingen en antwoorden. Het ontstaansgerichte onderzoek van de kunsten biedt vragen, voorzichtig geformuleerde vermoedens en nieuwe perspectieven. Het kan zoals het ruimtelijke denken betaamd nog alle kanten op gaan.

Toch is ons streven praktijkgericht onderzoek te verbinden met het ontstaansgerichte denken, omdat we menen dat dit de functie van de kunsten is, een functie die de kunsten niet alleen binnen de muren van het museum moeten uitvoeren, maar ook daarbuiten in de samenleving. Simpel gezegd komt het erop neer dat vernieuwing en verbetering stoelt op het langzame denken, op de omwegen van het ontstaansgerichte, ruimtelijke proces van het artistiek onderzoek.

Dit is een noodzakelijk proces dat de kans moet krijgen zonder dat de druk van het lineaire en resultaatgerichte denken erop ligt. En het voorbeeld van Anders Belicht laat zien dat vanuit die ruimte perspectieven ontstaan die in de andere vormen van onderzoek overgenomen kunnen worden. In een tweede voorbeeld willen we nogmaals duidelijk maken hoe het ontstaansgerichte artistieke onderzoek binnen de zorg nieuwe perspectieven kan opleveren.

Artistiek onderzoek binnen de context van de oudere mens. Een voorbeeld

Het project Ik zie ik zie wat jij niet ziet, portretten van mensen met dementie illustreert wat de waarde is van een artistieke onderzoekbenadering. In ik zie ik zie portretteren kunststudenten mensen met dementie. De afgelopen jaren heeft dit project twee keer plaatsgevonden binnen de institutionele omgeving van een verpleegtehuis, en momenteel vindt het traject plaats binnen het Odensehuis in Groningen.

Studenten krijgen geen handleiding dementie. Wel weten ze dat mensen met dementie vaak niet reageren zoals onze sociale protocollen dat voorschrijven. De studenten wordt gevraagd met dezelfde open houding hun omgeving te benaderen als zij geleerd hebben in het artistieke proces.

Elke week zijn zij bij de persoon die ze gaan portretteren. Na de portretteersessie vinden er uitgebreide reflectiesessies plaats waarbij ook leden van het verplegend personeel aanwezig zijn. Tijdens deze sessies brengen de studenten onder woorden hoe zij de ontmoeting ervaren. Maroussia, een van de studenten: "Ik vind het zo pijnlijk om te zien, zij praat, maar niemand luistert. Er zitten acht mensen in een huiskamer, zij zit midden in de kamer en de anderen negeren haar volledig. Ik ga dus maar goed naar haar luisteren. Ze vertelt over de stoel waarin ze zit, die is belangrijk, van vroeger."

"Ik teken de stoel en geef haar de tekening. Twee weken later kom ik in de kamer en zij vraagt of ik in haar stoel wil zitten. De tekening heeft ze aan de muur geprikt. Ze ontroert me, ik realiseer me dat ik op haar lijk, ik ben ook geen sociaal dier en als ik haar nu teken, laat ik steeds meer ruimte om haar heen ontstaan. Ze is alleen" ( video). De zintuigen van Maroussia stonden op scherp. Twee keer zag zij het onvoorspelbare element. Eerst portretteerde ze de stoel, omdat de mevrouw deze zo belangrijk vond.

Vervolgens zag ze de eenzaamheid, ondanks het voortdurende gepraat van de vrouw, en zette dit om in een beeld. Ze creëerde ruimte om haar heen. Het voorbeeld laat zien hoe artistiek onderzoek dialogisch onderzoek is. De onderzoeker objectiveert de omgeving en de mensen niet maar is ermee in gesprek. Hierdoor beweegt de onderzoeker zijn omgeving, maar wordt hij er tegelijkertijd door bewogen.

Tekening van Maroussia Jansen 2015

Artistiek onderzoek naar de leefwereld van ouderen

Artistiek onderzoek is een geschikte onderzoekmethode naast of in plaats van andere vormen onderzoek. Juist wanneer de situatie om iets anders vraagt dan om een objectieve meetmethode en juist wanneer we op basis van een menselijke ontmoeting inzicht willen krijgen, in dit geval in de belevingswereld van ouderen, kunnen de attitude en de werkwijzen van kunstenaars openingen bieden en nieuwe perspectieve genereren.

Artistiek onderzoek begint bij een menselijke omgeving waarin de onderzoeker open staat voor wat zich aandient, waarin de onderzoeker altijd eerst mens is tegenover een ander mens en dan pas onderzoeker. Artistiek onderzoek i.v.m. ouderen betekent een ontmoeting creëren waarin vanwege de beeldende en de op de context toegesneden methodiek iets anders zichtbaar wordt dan wat zichtbaar wordt in een traditioneel onderzoek, juist vanwege die open blik die geen bewijzen, zoekt maar nieuwe perspectieven.

We kunnen alleen niet vooraf aangeven welk resultaat we zullen boeken, en we kunnen zelfs bij voorbaat geen garanties voor resultaat gegeven. Daarom is ruimte geven aan artistiek onderzoek ook een kwestie van vertrouwen.

We zagen hoe het project Anders Belicht kon leiden tot abductieve vermoedens met betrekking tot de leefwereld van mensen met dementie binnen het Blauwbörgje, en hoe die vermoedens vervolgens vertaald werden in het concept van de Tussenruimte. En we zagen hoe dat in Ik zie ik zie kan leiden tot inzichten in die ene mens met dementie.

Soms leiden deze inzichten tot concrete praktijkgerichte verbeteringen zoals wellicht in het geval van de (nog niet geteste) Tussenruimte en het Sleepgoed; soms leiden ze tot de praktijkingebedde betekenisvolle ontmoetingen tussen kunstenaars en zorgverleners of tussen kunstenaars en mensen die zorg nodig hebben, soms resulteren ze in tentoonstellingen waarin de portretten van mensen met dementie een ander beeld van dementie naar voeren halen, en soms alleen al creëert het langzame denken van de kunstenaar een menselijke betekenisvolle ruimte in de door functionaliteit beheerste ruimte van de zorg.

Dr. Anke Coumans is sinds 2012 Lector Image in Context, Kunstacademie Minerva, kenniscentrum Kunst en Samenleving, Hanzehogeschool Groningen
Ir. Ingrid Schuffelers was tussen 2009 en 2014 lector Veranderende ontwerpprocessen binnen de kunsten en ze is nu hoofd Product binnen de school of Design van de Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht

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De relevantie van artistiek onderzoek - ScienceGuide

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Bij complexe sociale problemen kan artistiek onderzoek een zinvolle bijdrage leveren aan de ontwikkeling van nieuwe inzichten en perspectieven. Dat stellen Anke Coumans (Hanze) en Ingrid Schuffelers (HKU) in een bijdrage aan ScienceGuide. Hieronder leest u hun bijdrage.

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Interview met Alain de Botton door Wieteke van Zeil nav boek: Kunst als therapie

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Foundation Cultureel Rijk, Outsider Art, art, Julia Dotulong, Artists, Rotterdam - Foundation Cultureel Rijk

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Julia Dotulong, Cultureel rijk, Outsider Art, kunstvorm, kunstenaars, Cultureelrijk, In-the-Outside-Art-Tour Naïeve - en Folk Art en Pop Culture Naïevekunst

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De Nederlandse Stichting Collectie De Stadshof verzamelt en bevordert al 25 jaar outsiderkunst, kunstwerken die gemaakt zijn buiten het officiële kunstcircuit.

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Niki de Saint Phalle : le Jardin des Tarots

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Niki de Saint Phalle & Jean Tinguely - Les Bonnie & Clyde de l'Art 55' in ARTS CULTURE

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Niki de Saint Phalle & Jean Tinguely - Les Bonnie & Clyde de l'Art 55' in ARTS CULTURE

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Niki de Saint Phalle & Jean Tinguely - Les Bonnie & Clyde de l'Art 55' in ARTS CULTURE

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Les Tirs de Niki de Saint Phalle (english subtitles)

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Visite guidée : Niki de Saint Phalle au Grand Palais à Paris

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Adolf Wölfli: Waldau

Adolf Wölfli's Irren-Anstalt Band-Hain, 1910

Art brut is een aanduiding voor een genre in de schilderkunst van de 20e eeuw en hedendaagse kunst. Men kan hier eigenlijk niet spreken over een stijl. Het begrip wordt voornamelijk gebruikt voor verschillend werk van -meestal autodidactische- kunstenaars, die de regels van de conventionele kunstwereld negeren of afwijzen en buiten de marges daarvan min of meer geobsedeerd hun eigen vormtaal en thematiek vervolgen. Sommige Art brut-kunstenaars leden aan psychische stoornissen, verbleven in inrichtingen en gevangenissen. Men spreekt daarom ook wel van outsider art of outsiderkunst.

In 1972 gebruikte Roger Cardinal in verband met Art brut voor het eerst de term Outsider Art, in zijn geschrift "Cultural Conditioning," Outsider Art. Beide begrippen dekken dezelfde lading.

" Outsider art staat in een antagonistische relatie met de cultuur. Deze kunstenaars blijven fundamenteel asocialen, zowel met betrekking tot hun omgeving als met betrekking tot hun culturele context". Outsider art genereert hierdoor een wervelende stroom van nieuwe werelden, die uit de mens en de materie ontspringen. Haar taal is die van de subversiviteit, de weerspannigheid van het individu en de weerbarstigheid van de materie.

Het uit het Engels afkomstige begrip is echter ruimer, zodat het soms voor alles gebruikt wordt dat niet binnen de gevestigde kunstwereld valt ongeacht de verdere context.

De Franse wijnhandelaar-kunstschilder Jean Dubuffet introduceerde het begrip Art Brut toen hij, in juni 1948, de Compagnie de l'Art Brut stichtte, te Parijs, samen met de geestelijk vader van het surrealisme André Breton en Jean Paulhan, in de kelders van de Galerie René Drouin op de Place Vendôme.

Het was daarbij de bedoeling exposities te organiseren van een kunst, die Dubuffet omschreef als "...allerlei producties (tekeningen, schilderijen, haakwerken, gemodelleerde of gesculpteerde figuren, enz.) met een spontaan en inventief karakter, die zo weinig mogelijk afhankelijk zijn van de gewone kunst of van culturele voorschriften en die voortkomen van duistere personen, die vreemd zijn aan de professionele artistieke milieus...". De gevestigde kunst noemde hij Art Culturel, die volgens hem echter nooit 'puur' kon zijn.

Er volgden geruchtmakende exposities van Adolf Wölfli, Aloïse Corbaz en anderen, doch de Compagnie hield het maar uit tot in oktober 1951. Ze werd heropgericht in juli 1962 maar nu ondergebracht in de Rue de Sèvres, 137. Naast de exposities publiceerde men, vanaf 1964, de Cahiers de l'Art Brut en l'Art Brut dans l'écrire.

De roem van de eerste generatie Art brut-kunstenaars heeft ertoe geleid dat er tegenwoordig een grotere belangstelling is ontstaan voor outsider art. In vele klinieken is beeldende therapie nu een geaccepteerde behandelmethode. De gegroeide acceptatie heeft geleid tot een toename van presentaties van outsider art in kunstgaleries en musea.

In Hengelo (Overijssel) vindt iedere twee jaar de internationale Art Brut Biennale plaats.

In Zwolle was van 1994 tot ca. 2000 een museum voor naïeve kunst en outsider art gevestigd in Museum De Stadshof.

Sinds 2016 is in de Hermitage Amsterdam het Museum van de Geest | Outsider Art gevestigd.

In Villeneuve d'Ascq bij Rijsel (Frankrijk) is in het LAM (Lille Musee d'Art Moderne) een gehele, grote, vleugel aan Art brut gewijd, waar talloze werken van zowel overleden als nog levende Art brut-kunstenaars worden tentoongesteld.

In Luik bevindt zich het MADmusée dat aan outsiderkunst is gewijd.

Het Musée L in Louvain-la-Neuve bezit een belangrijke collectie Art brut.

Het Museum Dr Guislain in Gent bezit een belangrijke collectie Art brut.

Voorbeelden van outsider art

Willem van Genk (1927-2005) was een belangrijke representant van outsider art in Nederland. Hij concentreerde zich in zijn werk op de buitenwereld, met name op transportmiddelen.

De Belg Sylvain Cosijns tekent op kinderlijk eenvoudige wijze mysterieuze gedaanten zonder gezicht, die aldus als geesten ronddwalen.

Pascal Tassini (eveneens uit België) hanteert een opeenhoping van knopen om uiting te geven aan de zonderlinge denkbeelden van het Ik en de Binnenwereld.

Hendrik Heffinck (Kunstwerkplaats De Zandberg, Harelbeke) recycleert vindmateriaal en transformeert dit tot prikkelende installaties.

Daniel Johnston werd populair met liedjes die hij in zijn kelder opnam met een cassetterecorder

Wesley Willis stond bekend om zijn bizarre liedjes die hij over voorgeprogrammeerde keyboarddemo's zong

Outsidermuziek is een term die in het midden van de jaren 90 van de vorige eeuw door de journalist en muziekhistoricus Irwin Chusid gebruikt werd om liedjes en composities aan te duiden van muzikanten die buiten de commerciële muziekindustrie stonden, doordat zij ofwel geen muzikale opleiding hadden ofwel de conventies afwezen. In sommige gevallen was hun onaangepastheid ook het gevolg van excessief drugsgebruik of schizofrenie. Chusid stelt twee voorwaarden aan outsidermuziek:

1. Authenticiteit, oprechtheid en echtheid. De artiest doet een eerlijke artistieke uiting. Hierdoor worden komische acts uitgesloten.

2. Gebrek aan zelfbewustzijn. De artiest heeft niet door hoe anders zijn muziek is in vergelijking met de mainstream. Hierdoor wordt experimentele muziek uitgesloten.

Bekende muzikanten die als outsiders genoemd en soms zeer bewonderd worden zijn onder anderen:

Outsiderliteratuur is de literaire variant op art brut - dat hedendaagse en schilderkunst betreft - maar ook een variant op muziek door outsiders. In 1982 verscheen een editie van het literaire tijdschrift Raster met als titel Gestoorde teksten. Benadrukt wordt in de inleiding dat het bijvoeglijk naamwoord 'gestoord' op de teksten slaat, niet op de auteurs ervan. Bijna veertig jaar later wijdde het Vlaamse literaire tijdschrift DW B (Dietsche, Warande en Belfort) een editie aan wat de curatoren van het tijdschrift 'excentrische literatuur' noemen. In de inleiding leggen de curatoren uit dat het excentrische slaat op de teksten, en niet op de auteurs ervan. In de academische wereld wordt toch echter van outsiderliteratuur gesproken, getuige de studie uit 2020 door Arnout de Cleene, die als titel Outsiderliteratuur draagt. De ondertitel hiervan luidt "Waanzinnige" auteurs in het Nederlands-Franstalige discours na 1960. Een kritiek op de term outsiderliteratuur kan zijn dat deze omschrijving te veel nadruk legt op de sociale status van de auteurs, en te weinig op wat zij schrijven.

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Art brut is een aanduiding voor een genre in de schilderkunst van de 20e eeuw en hedendaagse kunst. Men kan hier eigenlijk niet spreken over een stijl. Het begrip wordt voornamelijk gebruikt voor verschillend werk van -meestal autodidactische- kunstenaars, die de regels van de conventionele kunstwereld negeren of afwijzen en buiten de marges daarvan min of meer geobsedeerd hun eigen vormtaal en thematiek vervolgen.

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The Living Museum NL is het eerste Outsider Art Program in Nederland dat toebehoort aan de mensen die de kunst maken. Dát zijn de rechtmatige eigenaren van de oude gestichtsgebouwen in lommerrijke omgevingen. We gaan ze die gebouwen teruggeven. In het kader van herstel.
In Bennebroek runnen sinds 1 november 2015 45 kunstenaars met- en zonder psychiatrische achtergrond hun eigen Living Museum, onder de bezielende coaching van Rokus Loopik. Hij houdt zich vooral bezig met 'the Big Picture' en hakt zo af en toe ingewikkelde knopen door.

Wij doen dit allemaal op vrijwillige basis, ook de man van 'the Big Picture'.

Wij hebben het gebouw in bruikleen gekregen van GGZinGeest. We betalen geen huur en geen energiekosten. Wat doen we er voor terug? We ontsluiten het terrein van GGZinGeest voor de buitenwereld. En dat gaat geweldig.

Ons Museum wordt wekelijks bezocht door groepen. Ze komen er vergaderen, boekpresentaties doen, hun verjaardagen vieren, Leadership Trainingen geven, teveel om op te noemen. En daarvoor doneren ze altijd geld en diensten aan the Living Museum. Het is een win-win-situatie voor iedereen.

Eindhoven is in de laatste week van maart 2017 ook begonnen met hun Living Museum. De stad Tilburg en Rob en Tamara Haen zijn ook op zoek naar een gebouw.

In 2017 gaan we ook een Living Museum in Amsterdam openen. Die zijn nu op zoek naar een gebouw om ons museum in te vestigen. The Living Museum is booming! Het spreekt iedereen geweldig aan!

New York

The Living Museum in Queens, New York, is een vast onderdeel van mijn studiereizen naar Amerika. Elke deelnemer die daar naar binnen stapt, komt met een grote glimlach om de mond weer naar buiten. Mensen worden er gelukkig van en je wilt niet meer weg. Janos Martin en zijn artiesten hebben er een vrijplaats gecreëerd waar mensen, of die nou op het terrein van de psychiatrische kliniek Creedmoor wonen of er buiten, elke dag oogverblindende kunst kunnen maken.

Atelier

Een atelier, een safe haven, een asylum dat toebehoort aan de mensen die er wonen. Een plek waar je volledig jezelf kunt zijn en niet veroordeeld wordt. Een plek waar je al je talenten aan de wereld kunt laten zien.

Foto's van The Living Museum, Queens, NY

Janos Martin, oprichter van The Living Museum NY

Een bureau

Superman en het Laatste Avondmaal van Issa Ibrahim

Draadfiguren van John Tursi

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In het Outsider Art Museum vind je tentoonstellingen van Outsider Art kunstenaars, het Museum is gevestigd in de Hermitage Amsterdam.

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Merce Cunningham - on modern dance (1960)

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Merce Cunningham - on modern dance (1960)

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1 Iedere beweging kan als een danspas of –thema worden gebruikt.

2 Iedere procedure (bv. toeval) kan als choreografische compositiemethode worden gebruikt.

3 Ieder deel van het lichaam kan worden gebruikt om te dansen.

4 Choreografie, muziek, kostuums, decors, en belichting zijn afzonderlijke bestanddelenvan een dansstuk, die eventueel geheel autonoom kunnen functioneren.

5 Iedere danser kan als solist optreden.

6 Iedere ruimte kan fungeren als ‘theater’ of dansruimte.

7 Dans kan overal over gaan, maar gaat in eerste instantie en principieel over het menselijkelichaam en zijn bewegingsmogelijkheden.

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Merce Cunningham - of modern dance (1960) - Google Search

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Mercier Philip " Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 - July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American modern dance for more than 50 years. ..... Medal of the Society for the Advancement of Dancing in Sweden, Stockholm. 1960. Dance Magazine Award, New York NY.

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Throughout art history we have been enthralled and inspired by the art and quotes by famous artists. This page has been created to bring information and inspiration to our readers. We update this page regularly with images and quotations that are positive and healing. We also created a video on YouTube of Art and Quotes by Famous Artists. You can view it here.

Please visit often! If you have a favorite quote please add it to the comments below.

"If I think, everything is lost."

"Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one's sensations." ~ Paul Cézanne

"I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint." ~ Frida Kahlo
Read the article "Frida Kahlo Created Art That Transcended Her Suffering"

"Every good composition is above all a work of abstraction. All good painters know this. But the painter cannot dispense with subjects altogether without his work suffering impoverishment. " ~ Diego Rivera

"Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist...

"The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown." ~ Rene Magritte

"Art is something that makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness." ~ Anni Albers

"I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own." ~ Jackson Pollock

"If you are not skillful enough to sketch a man jumping out of a window in the time it takes him to fall from the fourth story to the ground, you will never be able to produce great works." ~ Eugène Delacroix

"I applied streaks and blobs of colors onto the canvas with a palette knife, and I made them sing with all the intensity I could..."

"Color provokes a psychic vibration. Color hides a power still unknown but real, which acts on every part of the human body."~ Wassily Kandinsky
Read The Power of Color
"I am independent! I can live and I love to work." ~ Mary Cassatt
Read How Mothers Nurture Artists and Their Creativity

"Look at life with the eyes of a child." ~ Henri Matisse

"I didn't expect to recover from my second operation but since I did, I consider that I'm living on borrowed time. Every day that dawns is a gift to me and I take it in that way. I accept it gratefully without looking beyond it." ~ Henri Matisse
Read the article Henri Matisse and The Healing Power of Art

"If you hear a voice within you saying, 'You are not a painter,' then by all means paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced." ~ Vincent van Gogh

"What I am seeking is not the real and not the unreal but rather the unconscious, the mystery of the instinctive in the human race." ~ Amadeo Modigliani

Visit The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS Online Art Gallery. Click here.

"If I create from the heart, nearly everything works: if from the head, almost nothing." ~ Marc Chagall

"Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing-and keeping the unknown always beyond you." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

"The works must be conceived with fire in the soul but executed with clinical coolness." - Joan Miro

"I just decided, when someone says you can't do something. DO MORE OF IT." Faith Ringgold ~ Faith Ringgold

"For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity." ~ Jean Dubuffet

"I can't understand how anyone is able to paint without optimism. Despite the general pessimistic attitude in the world today, I am nothing but an optimist." ~ Hans Hofmann

"If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all." ~ Michelangelo

"The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live." ~ Auguste Rodin

"A really good picture looks as if it's happened at once. It's an immediate image. For my own work, when a picture looks labored and overworked... I usually throw these out, though I think very often it takes ten of those over-labored efforts to produce one really beautiful wrist motion that is synchronized with your head and heart, and you have it, and therefore it looks as if it were born in a minute" ~ Helen Frankenthaler

"I was supporting myself, but nothing like the guy painters, as I refer to them. I always resented that actually... we were all getting the same amount of press, but they were going gangbusters with sales."
~ Cindy Sherman

"There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept." ~ Ansel Adams

"I don't listen to what art critics say. I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is. ~ Jean-Michel Basquiat

"I would rather wait for a public that will come fifty years - a hundred years - after my death." ~ Marcel Duchamp, when asked whether he cared what his contemporaries thought of him.

"One who knows how to appreciate color relationships, the influence of one color with another, their contrasts and dissonances, is promised an infinite variety of images." ~ Sonia Delaunay

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see." ~ Degas

"Art is a line around your thoughts." ~ Gustav Klimt

"If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint." ~ Edward Hopper

"I was not ready for abstraction. I clung to earth and her dear shapes, her density, her herbage, her juice. I wanted her volume, and I wanted to hear her throb. ~ Emily Carr

"I wanted to support things that are helpful to people and maybe bash what I think is dangerous. So I switched from being everybody to being myself." ~ Jenny Holzer

"I was the first woman to paint cleanly, and that was the basis of my success. From a hundred pictures, mine will always stand out. And so the galleries began to hang my work in their best rooms, always in the middle, because my painting was attractive. It was precise. It was 'finished.'" ~ Tamara de Lempicka

"To know ahead of time what you're looking for means you're then only photographing your own preconceptions, which is very limiting, and often false." ~ Dorothea Lange

"Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love." ~ Claude Monet

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art." ~ Leonardo da Vinci

"You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself." ~ Leonardo da Vinci

"A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others." ~ Salvador Dali

"Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision." ~ Salvador Dali

"I shut my eyes in order to see" ~ Paul Gauguin

"My illustrious lordship, I'll show you what a woman can do." ~ Artemisia Gentileschi

"My mother said to me, 'If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.' Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso." ~ Pablo Picasso

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of every day life." ~ Pablo Picasso

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary." - Pablo Picasso

"An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision." ~ James McNeill Whistler

"The creative habit is like a drug. The particular obsession changes, but the excitement, the thrill of your creation lasts." ~ Henry Moore

"I admit clearly and frankly that early Mexican art formed my views of carving as much as anything I could do." ~ Henry Moore

"I have always said that you do not see a thing until you look away from it. In other words, an object or a fact in nature has not become itself until it has been projected in the realm of the imagination. ~ Marsden Hartley

"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery." ~ Francis Bacon

"Some paint comes across directly onto the nervous system and other paint tells you the story in a long diatribe through the brain." ~ Francis Bacon

"Nothing makes me so happy as to observe nature and to paint what I see." ~ Henri Rousseau

"The true use of art is, first, to cultivate the artist's own spiritual nature." ~ George Inness

"No longer would interiors, people who read and women who knit, be painted. There should be living people who breathe and feel, suffer and love." ~ Edvard Munch in his "Saint-Cloud Manifesto" in 1889

"I like to pretend that my art has nothing to do with me." ~ Roy Lichtenstein

Unfortunately, there seems to no quotes in existence by Botticelli; however, this work of art has been described as "Mars lies asleep, presumably after lovemaking, while Venus watches as infant satyrs play with his military gear, and one tries to rouse him by blowing a conch shell in his ear." The painting is presumed to have been created to celebrate a marriage, and decorate the bedchamber.

"Generally speaking, color directly influences the soul. Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another purposively, to cause vibrations in the soul." ~ Wassily Kandinsky

"Art does not reproduce what we see. It makes us see." ~ Paul Klee

More Inspirational Art Quotes

"When artists give form to revelation, their art can advance, deepen and potentially transform the consciousness of their community." ~ Alex Grey

"Happiness is being on the beam with life - to feel the pull of life." ~ Agnes Martin

"I want the people looking at my work to feel a sense of all the possibilities of painting, and, through that, in life as a whole. When that happens, I feel I've accomplished something useful." ~ Wolf Kahn

"'Painting' and 'religious experience' are the same thing. It is a question of the perpetual motion of a right idea." ~ Ben Nicholson

"I am fifty years old and I have always lived in freedom; let me end my life free; when I am dead let this be said of me: 'He belonged to no school, to no church, to no institution, to no academy, least of all to any régime except the régime of liberty." ~ Gustave Courbet

"the only thing that matters is that you are original and find your own voice. One could perhaps divide painters into two categories: those who have something to tell and those who do not." ~ Odd Nerdrum

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Throughout art history we have been enthralled and inspired by the art and quotes by famous artists. This page has been created to bring information and inspiration to our readers. We update this page regularly with images and quotations that are positive and healing.

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Many people turn to the portfolios of prolific artists, writers, and other creatives when seeking artistic inspiration. In addition to their powerful bodies of work, however, it is also worth listening to the words spoken, written, and shared by these influential figures. Many creatives offer quotes about art in an effort to inform their audience and impart their wisdom to artistic hopefuls.

When you take a look at some of the most powerful prose spoken by well-known creatives-from Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh to Bob Ross and Basquiat-it's clear to see how profoundly knowledgeable they are. Ranging from explorations about the meaning of art to presentations of their own motivational mantras, these quotes about art prove the creative power and potential of words.

Here are some inspiring art quotes from some of history's most creative figures.

"Art is a line around your thoughts." - Gustav Klimt

"To be an artist is to believe in life." - Henry Moore

"Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist." - René Magritte

"Art should be something that liberates your soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further." - Keith Haring

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." - Pablo Picasso

"The true use of art is, first, to cultivate the artist's own spiritual nature." - George Inness

"The principles of true art is not to portray, but to evoke." - Jerzy Kosinski

"Great art picks up where nature ends." - Marc Chagall

On Finding Inspiration

"The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration." - Claude Monet

"If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint." - Edward Hopper

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until i set him free." - Michelangelo

"Before I start carving the idea must be almost complete. I say 'almost' because the really important thing seems to be the sculptor's ability to let his intuition guide him over the gap between conception and realization without compromising the integrity of the original idea."- Barbara Hepworth

"I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality." - Frida Kahlo

"If the artist has outer and inner eyes for nature, nature rewards him by giving him inspiration." - Wassily Kandinsky

"What moves those of genius, what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough." - Eugene Delacroix

"It is not so much where my motivation comes from but rather how it manages to survive." - Louise Bourgeois

On Creating Great Art

"You don't take a photograph, you make it." - Ansel Adams

"The works must be conceived with fire in the soul but executed with clinical coolness." - Joan Miró

"To my mind one does not put oneself in place of the past, one only adds a new link." - Paul Cézanne

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." - Aristotle

"I shut my eyes in order to see." - Paul Gauguin

"The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live." - Auguste Rodin

"The beautiful, which is perhaps inseparable from art, is not after all tied to the subject, but to the pictorial representation. In this way and in no other does art overcome the ugly without avoiding it." - Paul Klee

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art." - Leonardo da Vinci

"I have a flood of ideas in my mind. I just follow my vision." - Yayoi Kusama

"Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing." - Georgia O'Keeffe

"Creativity takes courage." - Henri Matisse

"Every artist was first an amateur." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I am independent! I can live alone and I love to work." - Mary Cassatt

"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun." - Pablo Picasso

"The artist is not a different kind of person, but every person is a different kind of artist." - Eric Gill

"Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it." - Salvador Dalí

"We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents." - Bob Ross

"The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." - Sylvia Plath

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." - Vincent van Gogh

Reminders to Stay Creative

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." - Pablo Picasso

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol

"I want to make paintings that look as if they were made by a child." - Jean-Michel Basquiat

"Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo Da Vinci

"Art is the proper task of life. The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude." - Friedrich Nietzsche

"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery." - Francis Bacon

"No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist." - Oscar Wilde

"Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do." - Edgar Degas

"One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself." - Leonardo da Vinci

"There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about." - Helen Frankenthaler

We hope you have enjoyed these inspiring and insightful quotes about art!

This article has been edited and updated.

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45 Brilliant Quotes About Art From Famous Artists and Great Creative Minds

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Let these 45 inspiring art quotes from history's most creative artists energize your creative sensibilities & push you to achieve your dream.

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life quotes, inspirational quotes, creativity quotes

The Best Art Quotes Ever
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Art is either revolution or plagiarism. Paul Gauguin

The chief enemy of creativity is 'good' sense. Pablo Picasso

Life is creation - self and circumstances, the raw material. Dorothy Richardson

An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one. Charles Horton Cooley

Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious. Oscar Wilde

Art is meant to disturb, science reassures. Georges Braque

You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at the picture for a second and think of it all your life. Joan Miro

If I paint something, I don't want to have to explain what it is. Bob Ross

An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success. Henri Matisse

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. Leonardo da Vinci Click to tweet

Tell your own story, and you will be interesting. Louise Bourgeois Click to tweet

I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality. Frida Kahlo

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams Click to tweet

It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all to prudent. Vincent van Gogh

The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize. Robert Hughes

All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up. James Baldwin

Our primary function is to create an emotion and our secondary function is to sustain that emotions. Alfred Hitchcock

Art is standing with one hand extended into the universe and one hand extended into the world, and letting ourselves be a conduit for passing energy. Albert Einstein

You have to systematically create confusion, it sets creativity free. Everything that is contradictory creates life. Salvador Dalí

I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free. Georgia O'Keeffe

Never worry about being obsessive. I like obsessive people. Obsessive people make great art. Susan Sontag

I think being different, going against the grain of society is the greatest thing in the world. Elijah Wood

In the mind of every artist there is a masterpiece. Kai Greene

The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before. Neil Gaiman

To be an artist, you need to exist in a world of silence. Louise Bourgeois

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. Henry Ward Beecher

The best reason to paint is that there is no reason to paint. Keith Haring Click to tweet

The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death. Steven Pressfield (The War Of Art)

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 is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it. Leon Trotsky

The principles of true art is not to portray, but to evoke. Jerzy Kosinski

In the creative state a man is taken out of himself. E. M. Forster

I wanted to start a revolution, using art to build the sort of society I myself envisioned. Yayoi Kusama

A work is finished when an artist realizes his intentions. Rembrandt

Art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something. Rainbow Rowell

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

The works must be conceived with fire in the soul but executed with clinical coolness. Joan Miro

Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. Edward de Bono

Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things. Edgar Degas

A woman's perfume tells more about her than her handwriting. Christian Dior

Art speaks where words are unable to explain. Unknown (Submitted by the Wisdom Quotes Community)

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Dr. Seuss (This is one of my favorite quote. Leave a reply here and let me know what's yours!)

Top 3 Art Quotes With Images
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To draw you must close your eyes and sing. Pablo Picasso Click to tweet

Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is. Jackson Pollock Click to tweet

I had so much fire in me and so many plans. Claude Monet Click to tweet

Part 2. Art Quotes That Are...

The Most Famous Art Quotes (Picasso, da Vinci, Einstein)
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Art is never finished, only abandoned. Leonardo da Vinci

Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen. Leonardo da Vinci

Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings. Agnes Martin

Bad artists copy. Good artists steal. Pablo Picasso Click to tweet

Every act of creation is first an act of destruction. Pablo Picasso

Everything you can imagine is real. Pablo Picasso

The only art I'll ever study is stuff that I can steal from. David Bowie

I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art. Madonna

Art is my life and my life is art. Yoko Ono

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream. Vincent Van Gogh

If you hear a voice within you saying, "You are not a painter," then by all means paint... and that voice will be silenced. Vincent van Gogh

I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process. Vincent van Gogh

Every artist was first an amateur. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The moment you think you understand a great work of art, it's dead for you. Oscar Wilde

A picture is a poem without words. Horace

Without tradition art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation it is a corpse. Winston Churchill

I guess I'm a little weird. I like to talk to trees and animals. That's okay though; I have more fun than most people. Bob Ross

Let's get a little crazy here. Bob Ross

You don't take a photograph, you make it. Ansel Adams

Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. Salvador Dalí Click to tweet

I am not strange. I am just not normal. Salvador Dalí

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing. Salvador Dalí

If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all. Michelangelo

The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude. Friedrich Nietzsche

I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best. Frida Kahlo

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted. Martin Luther King Jr

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. Albert Einstein

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist. Albert Einstein

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Albert Einstein

Short Art Quotes
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One liners, thoughts and captions for your bio, social status, self-talk, motto, mantra, signs, posters, wallpapers, backgrounds, tattoos, SMS, Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.

Beauty will save the world. Dosteovsky Click to tweet

Painter, paint! Salvador Dalí

Art must destroy violence, only it can do it. Leo Tolstoy

Creativity is contagious. Pass it on. Albert Einstein

Art is the expression of the profoundest thoughts in the simplest way. Albert Einstein

Art is a way of recognizing oneself. Louise Bourgeois

Personality is everything in art and poetry. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. Henri Matisse

Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom. Leonardo da Vinci

Painting is silent poetry. Plutarch

Sometimes with art, it is important just to look. Marina Abramović

Controversy is part of the nature of art and creativity. Yoko Ono

Don't think about making art... Andy Warhol

Every good painter paints what he is. Jackson Pollock Click to tweet

A true masterpiece does not tell everything. Albert Camus

Intensity is all that matters in painting. John Piper

To be an artist is to believe in life. Henry Moore

Art is a lie that makes us realize truth. Pablo Picasso

It takes a long time to become young. Pablo Picasso

Art is the elimination of the unnecessary. Pablo Picasso

Art is a line around your thoughts. Gustav Klimt

Art is coming face to face with yourself. Jackson Pollock

Creativity takes courage. Henri Matisse

I shut my eyes in order to see. Paul Gauguin Click to tweet

Art = a mad search for individualism. Paul Gauguin

The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands. Leonardo da Vinci

Perspective is to painting what the bridle is to the horse, the rudder to a ship. Leonardo da Vinci

The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of. Leonardo da Vinci

Think eight hours, work two hours. Mirko Ilic

Choose only one master - Nature. Rembrandt

Art is not a thing, it is a way. Elbert Hubbard

To create one's own world takes courage. Georgia O'Keeffe

The great artist is the simplifier. Vincent Van Gogh

I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate. Vincent van Gogh Click to tweet

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. Pablo Picasso

I shall be so brief that I have already finished. Salvador Dalí

It is absurd to look for perfection. Camille Pissarro

I must have flowers, always, and always. Claude Monet

Life is too short to remain unnoticed. Salvador Dalí

Knowing how to look is a way of inventing. Salvador Dalí

I'm in fine fettle and fired with a desire to paint. Claude Monet

In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different. Coco Chanel

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. Elbert Hubbard

To create, one must first question everything. Eileen Gray

Everything starts from a dot. Wassily Kandinsky

To gain freedom is to gain simplicity. Joan Miro

The more I work, the more I want to work. Joan Miro

I work like a gardener. Joan Miro

At the heart of all great art is an essential melancholy. Federico Garcia Lorca

Inspirational And Uplifting Art Quotes
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The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to. Frida Kahlo Click to tweet

Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches. Andy Warhol

Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working. Pablo Picasso

It is not a torment to be an artist. It is a privilege. Louise Bourgeois

Don't be fooled by success and money. Don't let anything come between you and your work. Louise Bourgeois

To be great, art has to point somewhere. Anne Lamott

Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen. Leo Tolstoy

When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye it is in the mind. In our minds there is awareness of perfection. Agnes Martin

The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying. Steven Pressfield ( The War Of Art)

Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it. Steven Pressfield (The War Of Art)

All you need to paint is a few tools, a little instruction, and a vision in your mind. Bob Ross

I started painting as a hobby when I was little. I didn't know I had any talent. I believe talent is just a pursued interest. Anybody can do what I do. Bob Ross

A true artist is not one who is inspired but one who inspires others. Salvador Dalí

If I'm going to be anything more than average, if anyone is going to remember me, then I need to go further, in art, in life, in everything! Salvador Dalí

The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. Steve Jobs

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. William Faulkner

Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world. Leonardo da Vinci

With the pride of the artist, you must blow against the walls of every power that exists the small trumpet of your defiance. Norman Mailer

The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation. Auguste Rodin

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him. John F. Kennedy

My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all. John Lennon

He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist. Francis of Assisi Click to tweet

Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire. Dale Carnegie

It's on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly. Claude Monet

To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it. Kurt Vonnegut

Stay firmly in your path and dare; be wild two hours a day. Paul Gauguin

I have been enlightened. I have fallen into poetry and it has swallowed me up. Keith Haring

Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else's dreams? Tim Burton

Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I accomplish. Michelangelo

Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. Peter O'Toole

The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose. James Baldwin

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. Vincent van Gogh

By working hard, old man, I hope to make something good one day. I haven't yet, but I am pursuing it and fighting for it. Vincent van Gogh

One must spoil as many canvases as one succeeds with. Vincent van Gogh

If I close my eyes, I see things better than with my eyes open. Henri Matisse

See also: 13 Ways To Be More Creative, According To Science

Funny And Quirky Art Quotes That Will Make You Smile
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We don't make mistakes. We just have happy accidents. Bob Ross Click to tweet

I am not an inventor. I steal everything. Anne Bogart

We have always been shamelss about stealing great ideas. Steve Jobs

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line. Oscar Levant

It's better to create something that others criticize than to create nothing and criticize others. Ricky Gervais

I just wanna make the world a better-looking place. If you don't like it, you can paint over it! Banksy ( Check out Banksy on Instagram)

People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish... but that's only if it's done properly. Banksy

We tell people sometimes: we're like drug dealers, come into town and get everybody absolutely addicted to painting. It doesn't take much to get you addicted. Bob Ross

There are three responses to a piece of design: yes, no and wow. Milton Glaser

If people would just look at the paintings, I don't think they would have any trouble enjoying them. It's like looking at a bed of flowers, you don't tear your hair out over what it means. Jackson Pollock

As my artist's statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of deep significance. Calvin

The fact I myself do not understand what my paintings mean while I am painting them does not imply that they are meaningless. Salvador Dalí

The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret. Salvador Dalí

If you understand a painting beforehand, you might as well not paint it. Salvador Dalí

I believe in general death but in the death of Dalí absolutely not. Salvador Dalí

What is originality? Undetected plagiarism. William Ralph Inge Click to tweet

Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons. Al Hirschfeld

I'm not performing miracles, I'm using up and wasting a lot of paint. Claude Monet

The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic. Oscar Wilde

Bus stops are far more interesting and useful places to have art than in museums. Banksy

Deep Art Quotes That Will Make You Think
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The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery. Francis Bacon Click to tweet

You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star. Friedrich Nietzsche

My paintings are not about what is seen. They are about what is known forever in the mind. Agnes Martin

All great art contains at its center contemplation, a dynamic contemplation. Susan Sontag

If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for. Alice Walker

Forget yourself. Become one with eternity. Become part of your environment. Yayoi Kusama

The creative union of the conscious with the unconscious is what one usually calls 'inspiration'. Leon Trotsky

Feeling and longing are the motive forces behind all human endeavor and human creations. Albert Einstein

What is important is to spread confusion, not eliminate it. Salvador Dalí

People love mystery, and that is why they love my paintings. Salvador Dalí

An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have but that he - for some reason - thinks it would be a good idea to give them. Andy Warhol

Not everyone is capable of madness; and of those lucky enough to be capable, not many have the courage for it. August Strindberg

Perhaps it's true that I'm very hard on myself, but that's better than exhibiting mediocre work... too few were satisfactory enough to trouble the public with. Claude Monet

It is a tragedy that we live in a world where physical courage is so common, and moral courage is so rare. Claude Monet

It is better to have done something than to have been someone. Claude Monet

I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could. Georgia O'Keeffe

The true painter must be able, with the most usual things, to have the most unusual ideas. Salvador Dalí

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. Henry David Thoreau Click to tweet

The creative process is a process of surrender, not control. Julia Cameron

I would like to paint the way a bird sings. Claude Monet

One person's craziness is another person's reality. Tim Burton

Art is a step in the known toward the unknown. Kahlil Gibran

Art helps us identify with one another and expands our notion of we - from the local to the global. Olafur Eliasson

See also: Why art has the power to change the world

Every line is the actual experience with its own unique story. Cy Twombly

The main thing in making art often is letting go of your expectation and your idea. Agnes Martin

There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality. Pablo Picasso

Most people die before they are fully born. Creativeness means to be born before one dies. Erich Fromm

So much time is wasted on trying to be better than others. Elijah Wood

An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world. George Santayana

The artist must train not only his eye but also his soul. Wassily Kandinsky

Wise Art Quotes (Words Of Wisdom)
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There is no must in art because art is free. Wassily Kandinsky Click to tweet

The thermometer of success is merely the jealousy of the malcontents. Salvador Dalí

The Revolution introduced me to art, and in turn, art introduced me to the Revolution! Albert Einstein

The painting rises from the brushstrokes as a poem rises from the words. The meaning comes later. Joan Miro

The public wants to understand and learn in a single day, a single minute, what the artist has spent years learning. Paul Gauguin

I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things. Henri Matisse

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted. Henri Matisse

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. Herman Melville

It is better to paint from memory, for thus your work will be your own. Paul Gauguin

Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do. Edgar Degas

If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint. Edward Hopper

Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known. Oscar Wilde Click to tweet

Art is not about thinking something up. It is the opposite - getting something down. Julia Cameron

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. Oscar Wilde

The artist is not a different kind of person, but every person is a different kind of artist. Eric Gill

He only moves toward the perfection of his art whose criticism surpasses his achievement. Leonardo da Vinci

Contrary to general belief, an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs. Edgard Varese

Practice what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know. Rembrandt

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. Edgar Degas

An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision. James Whistler

See also: 9 Steps to Staying Motivated, for Artists, Makers, and Creative Freelancers

Part 3. Art Quotes About...

Art Quotes About Love, Passion, Emotions
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When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. John Ruskin

I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. Vincent van Gogh

All art, like all love, is rooted in heartache. Alfred Stieglitz

Hatred is a parasite that devours all. One doesn't build upon hatred, but upon love. Henri Matisse

These landscapes of water and reflection have become an obsession. Claude Monet

I would rather die of passion than of boredom. Emile Zola Click to tweet

We should always remember that sensitiveness and emotion constitute the real content of a work of art. Maurice Ravel

Art and love are the same thing: It's the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you. Chuck Klosterman

Works of art are of an infinite loneliness and with nothing so little to be reached as with criticism. Only love can grasp and hold and be just toward them. Rainer Maria Rilke

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. Pablo Picasso

Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well. Vincent Van Gogh

To labor in the arts for any reason other than love is prostitution. Steven Pressfield (The War Of Art)

It doesn't matter how the paint is put on, as long as something is said. Jackson Pollock

(On how he knows when he's finished) How do you know when you're finished making love? Jackson Pollock

When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. Jackson Pollock

I couldn't give you something mediocre even if that's all you asked for. Michelangelo

When you start a painting, it is somewhat outside you. At the conclusion, you seem to move inside the painting. Fernando Botero

If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing. Marc Chagall

Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love. Claude Monet

See also: The Best Love Quotes

Nothing can be accomplished without love. Henri Matisse

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art. Paul Cezanne

Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing. Marc Chagall

Art Quotes About Life
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I am not sick. I am broken. But I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint. Frida Kahlo

Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist. Rene Magritte

Artwork is a representation of our devotion to life. Agnes Martin

Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do. Make good art. Neil Gaiman

Without anxiety and illness I should have been like a ship without a rudder. Edvard Munch

Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them. Anais Nin

No longer shall I paint interiors with men reading and women knitting. I will paint living people who breathe and feel and suffer and love. Edvard Munch

I build a kind of wall between myself and t he model so that I can paint in peace behind it. Otherwise, she might say something that confuses and distracts me. Edvard Munch

Disease, insanity, and death were the angels that attended my cradle, and since then have followed me throughout my life. Edvard Munch

Someone else's vision will never be as good as your own vision of your self. Live and die with it 'cause in the end it's all you have. Lose it and you lose yourself and everything else. I should have listened to myself. Georgia O'Keeffe

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do. Georgia O'Keeffe

Without the sense of fellowship with men of like mind, of preoccupation with the objective, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific research, life would have seemed to me empty. Albert Einstein

The more ignoble I find life, the more strongly I react by contradiction, in humour and in an outburst of liberty and expansion. Joan Miro

One must work and dare if one really wants to live. Vincent van Gogh Click to tweet

There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke. Vincent van Gogh

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. Leonardo da Vinci

Whatever you do in life, if you want to be creative and intelligent, and develop your brain, you must do everything with the awareness that everything, in some way, connects to everything else. Leonardo da Vinci

Life is more important than art; that's what makes art important. James Baldwin

Everything alters me, but nothing changes me. Salvador Dalí

Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature, understand them thoroughly. Salvador Dalí

In a sense, as we are creative beings, our lives become our work of art. Julia Cameron

All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness. Eckhart Tolle

I value those artists who embody the expression of their life. Wassily Kandinsky

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. Pablo Picasso

I paint objects as I think them not as I see them. Pablo Picasso

See also: How to Live Artfully

Art Quotes About Beauty, Appreciation, Happiness
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There are always flowers for those who want to see them. Henri Matisse

To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage. Henri Matisse

Creativity is a lot like happiness. It shows up when you're thinking of something else. Bert Dodson

Look around. Look at what we have. Beauty is everywhere - you only have to look to see it. Bob Ross

In my experience, the best creative work is never done when one is unhappy. Albert Einstein

Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness. It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind. As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life. John Lubbock

There are some days when I think I'm going to die from an overdose of satisfaction. Salvador Dalí

Beauty should be edible, or not at all. Salvador Dalí

All I did was to look at what the universe showed me, to let my brush bear witness to it. Claude Monet

Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. It's enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it. Claude Monet

I haven't many years left ahead of me and I must devote all my time to painting, in the hope of achieving something worthwhile in the end, something if possible that will satisfy me. Claude Monet

I think it's so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary - you're happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous. Georgia O'Keeffe

A simple line painted with the brush can lead to freedom and happiness. Joan Miro Click to tweet

We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause. Steven Pressfield (The War Of Art)

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart. Helen Keller

Every morning when I wake up, I experience an exquisite joy - the joy of being Salvador Dalí - and I ask myself in rapture: What wonderful things is this Salvador Dalí going to accomplish today?" Salvador Dalí

After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in aesthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are artists as well. Albert Einstein

Personally, I experience the greatest degree of pleasure in having contact with works of art. They furnish me with happy feelings of an intensity that I cannot derive from other sources. Albert Einstein

Great art is indefinable but that's all right; it exists anyway. Edward Abbey

Great art transcends its culture and touches on that which is eternal. Madeleine L'Engle

Photography my passion, the search for truth, my obsession. Alfred Stieglitz

Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing. Camille Pissarro

I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty. Georgia O'Keeffe

Filling a space in a beautiful way - that is what art means to me. Georgia O'Keeffe

See also: gratitude quotes, happiness quotes

Art Quotes About The Importance Of Art, Purpose, Healing Power
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Artists to my mind are the real architects of change. William S. Burroughs

The purpose of art is mystery. Rene Magritte

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. Thomas Merton

Art must be life - it must belong to everybody. Marina Abramović

Man needs music, literature, and painting - all those oases of perfection that make up art - to compensate for the rudeness and materialism of life. Fernando Botero

Art is restoration: the idea is to repair the damages that are inflicted in life, to make something that is fragmented - which is what fear and anxiety do to a person - into something whole. Louise Bourgeois

Healing yourself is connected with healing others. Yoko Ono

The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind. Marina Abramovic

The activity of art is... as important as the activity of language itself, and as universal. Leo Tolstoy

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. Aristotle

My art is capable of liberating man from the tyranny of the 'practical, rational world.' Salvador Dalí

In art, and in the higher ranges of science, there is a feeling of harmony which underlies all endeavor. There is no true greatness in art or science without that sense of harmony. Albert Einstein

One of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. Albert Einstein

For as long as I can remember I have suffered from a deep feeling of anxiety which I have tried to express in my art. Edvard Munch

Art is an escape from reality. Henri Matisse

Art should be something that liberates your soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. Keith Haring

Whatever you do, the only secret is to believe in it and satisfy yourself. Don't do it for anyone else. Keith Haring

Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. Banksy Click to tweet

Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler

For me, painting is a way to forget life. It is a cry in the night, a strangled laugh. Georges Rouault

What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit. John Updike

The artist has one function-to affirm and glorify life. W. Edward Brown

I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say "he feels deeply, he feels tenderly". Vincent Van Gogh

The goal of art was the vital expression of self. Alfred Stieglitz

A good painter has two main objects to paint, man and the intention of his soul. The former is easy, the latter hard as he has to represent it by the attitude and movement of the limbs. Leonardo da Vinci

All the sorrow, all the bitterness, all the sadness, I forget them and ignore them in the joy of working. Camille Pissarro

The attitude that nature is chaotic and that the artist puts order into it is a very absurd point of view, I think. All that we can hope for is to put some order into ourselves. Willem de Kooning

I am an artist because the knot is so powerful I just can not, nor want to be, anything else or do anything else. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. Pablo Picasso

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. Pablo Picasso

See also: 7 Ways Art Improves Quality of Life

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary. Pablo Picasso

An artist discovers his genius the day he dares not to please. Andre Malraux

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home. Twyla Tharp

Quotes About Art, Creativity, Fear, Imagination, Expression
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Creativity is the residue of time wasted. Albert Einstein

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Albert Einstein

The most seductive thing about art is the personality of the artist himself. Paul Cezanne

You are born alone. You die alone. The value of the space in between is trust and love. Louise Bourgeois

See also: Artist Louise Bourgeois on How Solitude Enriches Creative Work

Painting must be fertile. It must give birth to a world... it must fertilize the imagination. Joan Miro

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking. George S. Patton

They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality. Frida Kahlo

Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas. Austin Kleon

They say everything looks better with odd numbers of things. But sometimes I put even numbers - just to upset the critics. Bob Ross

Creativity often consists of merely turning up what is already there. Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. Erich Fromm

Candor could not be more crucial to our creative process. Why? Because early on, all of our movies suck. Ed Catmull (Pixar)

The most creative people are willing to work in the shadow of uncertainty. Ed Catmull (Pixar)

I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. Jackson Pollock

Self-doubt can be an ally. This is because it serves as an indicator of aspiration. Steven Pressfield (The War Of Art)

Are you paralyzed with fear? That's a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Steven Pressfield

If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. Albert Einstein

I'd like to pretend that I've never seen anything, never read anything, never heard anything, and then make something. Keith Haring

I want to express my feelings rather than illustrate them. Jackson Pollock Click to tweet

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist. Oscar Wilde

Do not imitate one another's style. If you do, so far as your art is concerned you will be called a grandson, rather than the son of Nature. Leonardo da Vinci

Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing-and keeping the unknown always beyond you. Georgia O'Keeffe

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that's easy. What's hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. Charles Mingus

Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things. Ray Bradbury

You cannot be all things to all people. Be unique. Be different. Give to others what you want yourself. And do what you were made to do. Robert Kiyosaki

The modern artist... is working and expressing an inner world - in other words - expressing the energy, the motion, and other inner forces. Jackson Pollock

Sometimes people say I should see a therapist, but I don't want any therapist wrecking my weirdness. Peter Wolf

My great mistake, the fault for which I can't forgive myself, is that one day I ceased my obstinate pursuit of my own individuality. Oscar Wilde

The one who walks alone, is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been. Albert Einstein

To this day, no one has come up with a set of rules for originality. There aren't any. Les Paul

My work is always better when I am alone and follow my own impressions. Claude Monet

I want to be important. By being different. And these girls are all the same. Sylvia Plath

See also: The Best Creativity Quotes

Quotes And Sayings About Art, Education, Teachers, Students
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I am still learning. Michelangelo

You can't learn techniques and then try to become a painter. Techniques are a result. Jackson Pollock

I'm not telling you it's going to be easy - I'm telling you it's going to be worth it. Art Williams

The worst thing you can think about when you're working is yourself. Agnes Martin

You can't be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again. Austin Kleon

If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room. Austin Kleon

Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy you will find your self. Austin Kleon

If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, it's research. Wilson Mizner

I was never capable of being an average pupil. I would either seem refractory to any teaching and give the impression of being completely dumb or I would fling myself on my work with a frenzy, a patience, and a willingness to learn that astonished everybody. But to awaken my zeal, it was necessary to offer me something I liked. Once my appetite had been whetted, I became ravenously hungry. Salvador Dalí

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. John Steinbeck

More important than a work of art itself is what it will sow. Art can die, a painting can disappear. What counts is the seed. Joan Miro

If only I'd known my differentness would be an asset, then my earlier life would have been much easier. Bette Midler

The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality. T. S. Eliot

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. Albert Einstein Click to tweet

One must, of course, have one's entire experience behind one and not have lost the freshness of instinct. Henri Matisse

All artists are willing to suffer for their work. But why are so few prepared to learn to draw? Banksy

I decided to start anew - to strip away what I had been taught, to accept as true my own thinking. Georgia O'Keeffe

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. Friedrich Nietzsche

It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academicism. Mark Rothko

The most valuable thing a teacher can impart to children is not knowledge and understanding per se but a longing for knowledge and understanding, and an appreciation for intellectual values, whether they be artistic, scientific, or moral. Albert Einstein

A society's competitive advantage will come not from how well its schools teach the multiplication and periodic tables, but from how well they stimulate imagination and creativity. Albert Einstein

The great moral teachers of humanity were in a way artistic geniuses in the art of living. Albert Einstein

The value of an education in a liberal arts college is not learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks. Albert Einstein

The seed of your next artwork lies embedded in the imperfections of your current piece. David Bayles

Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it. Steven Pressfield (The War Of Art)

Don't worry about how you 'should' draw it. Just draw it the way you see it. Tim Burton

I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. Pablo Picasso

Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master. Leonardo da Vinci

See also: The Best Education Quotes

Quotes And Sayings About Art, Kids, Children, Youth
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Everybody draws when they are little. Keith Haring

Old age is a hindrance to creativity but cannot crush my youthful spirit. Rembrandt Click to tweet

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. Pablo Picasso

The great geniuses are those who have kept their childlike spirit and have added to it breadth of vision and experience. Alfred Stieglitz

Anybody with artistic ambitions is always trying to reconnect with the way they saw things as a child. Tim Burton

There is nothing that makes me happier than making a child smile. Keith Haring

The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live. Be a man before being an artist! Auguste Rodin

See also: The Best Children Quotes

Not everyone will understand your journey. That's okay. You're here to live your life, not to make everyone understand. Banksy

In order to produce something new, you have to return to the original source, to the childhood of mankind. Paul Gauguin

A young man who is unable to commit a folly is already an old man. Paul Gauguin

Quotes About Art And Color, Light
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You need the dark in order to show the light. Bob Ross

Some colors reconcile themselves to one another, others just clash. Edvard Munch

Color is a power which directly influences the soul. Wassily Kandinsky

Color is a means to exert a direct influence on the soul. Wassily Kandinsky

Color is the keyboard. The eye is the hammer. The soul is the piano, with its many strings. Wassily Kandinsky

There is no blue without yellow and without orange. Vincent van Gogh (Did he mean that there's no sadness without happiness?)

I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. Vincent van Gogh

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment. Claude Monet Click to tweet

It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression. Henri Matisse

I've been forty years discovering that the queen of all colors is black. Henri Matisse

It is with color that you render light, though you must also feel this light, have it within yourself. Henri Matisse

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for. Georgia O'Keeffe

The point is to know how to use the colors, the choice of which is, when all's said and done, a matter of habit. Claude Monet

Critic asks: 'And what, sir, is the subject matter of that painting?' - 'The subject matter, my dear good fellow, is the light. Claude Monet

What I need most of all is color, always, always. Claude Monet

Without atmosphere a painting is nothing. Rembrandt

Quotes About Unfinished art
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Finish the work, otherwise an unfinished work will finish you. Amit Kalantri

Another year is ending, but something is pending. Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

I'm never finished with my paintings; the further I get, the more I seek the impossible and the more powerless I feel. Claude Monet

Above all, an artist must never be too easily satisfied with what he has done. Henri Matisse

No great work of art is ever finished. Michelangelo Click to tweet

There are dozens of unfinished or aborted projects in my files, but I can only assume they don't get done because they're not robust enough to struggle through the birth process. Grant Morrison

I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished. Mary Oliver

You are an unfinished work in progress. One of the good things about life's challenges: you get to find out that you're capable of being far more than you ever thought possible. Karen Salmonsohn

I never want projects to be finished; I have always believed in unfinished work. I got that from Schubert, you know, the 'Unfinished Symphony'. Yoko Ono

I always believed that my work should be unfinished in the sense that I encourage people to add their creativity to it, either conceptually or physically. Yoko Ono

When I'm playing, I'm never through. It's unfinished. I like to find a place to leave for someone else to finish it. That's where the high comes in. Miles Davis

I know I will leave my work unfinished. I just hope I planted enough seeds in my children and grandchildren that they will continue. David Robinson

Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun. Christina Rossetti

Quotes About Art And Spirituality, God, Bible, Religion
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The essential thing is to work in a state of mind that approaches prayer. Henri Matisse Click to tweet

God will not pour fresh, creative ideas and blessing into old attitudes. Joel Osteen

The most important function of art and science is to awaken the cosmic religious feeling and keep it alive. Albert Einstein

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom. Albert Einstein

Art class was like a religious ceremony to me. I would wash my hands carefully before touching paper or pencils. The instruments of work were sacred objects to me. Joan Miro

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 ESV

In the beginning god created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 ESV

Let all that you do be done in love. 1 Corinthians 16:14 ESV

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace. 1 Peter 4:10 ESV

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

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better. Andre Gide

Only God creates. The rest of us just copy. Michelangelo

Painting is the grandchild of nature. It is related to God. Rembrandt

See also: How Art Changes Consciousness

Part 4. Conclusion
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Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something. Kurt Vonnegut Click to tweet

What is your favorite quote? Would you like to add another one here? Please let me know in the comment section below!

Call to action: 8 Ways to Be More Creative Today, Backed by Science

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400 Art Quotes That Will Inspire The Artist In You

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Access the best art quotes now. Some quotes are about love, emotions, life, beauty, happiness, the importance of art. Other art sayings are famous, short, inspirational, uplifting, funny deep and wise. You'll also discover some words about creativity, passion, kids, color (and some have great images).

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" Like love, art is all around, a human need. See it."" Van wie? Onbekend.

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"Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist-a master-and that is what Auguste Rodin was-can look at an old woman, protray her exactly as she is...and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be...and more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo, or even you, see that this lovely young girl is still alive, not old and ugly at all, but simply prisoned inside her ruined body. He can make you feel the quiet, endless tragedy that there was never a girl born who ever grew older than eighteen in her heart...no matter what the merciless hours have done to her. Look at her, Ben. Growing old doesn't matter to you and me; we were never meant to be admired-but it does to them."
― Robert Heinlein

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8367 quotes have been tagged as art: Pablo Picasso: 'Everything you can imagine is real.', Rainbow Rowell: 'Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She...

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Wat maakt dat ik kunst levensbelangrijk vind?

Wat zou er anders zijn in mijn vragen als er geen kunst in mijn leven is?

Dit ook aan studenten vragen? Hoe kan ik hierover communiceren?

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DASArts

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A Film About Feedback
Documentary / 2013 / 55 min / 16:9 / English

A documentary featuring the innovating Feedback Method developed by DasArts in collaboration with the philosopher Karim Benammar.
This unique method allows a whole new attitude toward professional group working through giving and receiving feedback on each other works in process, while expanding the edge boundaries of the process of learning.

Commissioned by DasArts, Master of theatre, this film is a collaboration with the Master of Film program in the Netherlands Film Academy (NFA) and Sub-Pacific Films.

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How would you react if someone told you that you're beautiful? 18-year-old Shea Glover, a highschool student from Chicago, conducted a social experiment to find out. She posed people in front of her camera and then told them "I'm taking pictures of things I find beautiful."

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Student Captures What Happens When People Are Told They Are Beautiful

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How would you react if someone told you that you're beautiful? 18-year-old Shea Glover, a highschool student from Chicago, conducted a social experiment to find out. She posed people in front of her camera and then told them "I'm taking pictures of things I find beautiful."

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A version of this story originally appeared in the January 1971 issue of ARTnews.

While the recent upsurge of feminist activity in this country has indeed been a liberating one, its force has been chiefly emotional-personal, psychological and subjective-centered, like the other radical movements to which it is related, on the present and its immediate needs, rather than on historical analysis of the basic intellectual issues which the feminist attack on the status quo automatically raises. ¹ Like any revolution, however, the feminist one ultimately must come to grips with the intellectual and ideological basis of the various intellectual or scholarly disciplines-history, philosophy, sociology, psychology, etc.-in the same way that it questions the ideologies of present social institutions. If, as John Stuart Mill suggested, we tend to accept whatever is as natural, this is just as true in the realm of academic investigation as it is in our social arrangements. In the former, too, "natural" assumptions must be questioned and the mythic basis of much so-called "fact" brought to light. And it is here that the very position of woman as an acknowledged outsider, the maverick "she" instead of the presumably neutral "one"-in reality the white-male-position-accepted-as-natural, or the hidden "he" as the subject of all scholarly predicates-is a decided advantage, rather than merely a hindrance of a subjective distortion.

In the field of art history, the white Western male viewpoint, unconsciously accepted as the viewpoint of the art historian, may-and does-prove to be inadequate not merely on moral and ethical grounds, or because it is elitist, but on purely intellectual ones. In revealing the failure of much academic art history, and a great deal of history in general, to take account of the unacknowledged value system, the very presence of an intruding subject in historical investigation, the feminist critique at the same time lays bare its conceptual smugness, its meta-historical naïveté. At a moment when all disciplines are becoming more self-conscious, more aware of the nature of their presuppositions as exhibited in the very languages and structures of the various fields of scholarship, such uncritical acceptance of "what is" as "natural" may be intellectually fatal. Just as Mill saw male domination as one of a long series of social injustices that had to be overcome if a truly just social order were to be created, so we may see the unstated domination of white male subjectivity as one in a series of intellectual distortions which must be corrected in order to achieve a more adequate and accurate view of historical situations.

It is the engaged feminist intellect (like John Stuart Mill's) that can pierce through the cultural-ideological limitations of the time and its specific "professionalism" to reveal biases and inadequacies not merely in the dealing with the question of women, but in the very way of formulating the crucial questions of the discipline as a whole. Thus, the so-called woman question, far from being a minor, peripheral and laughably provincial sub-issue grafted on to a serious, established discipline, can become a catalyst, an intellectual instrument, probing basic and "natural" assumptions, providing a paradigm for other kinds of internal questioning, and in turn providing links with paradigms established by radical approaches in other fields. Even a simple question like "Why have there been no great women artists?" can, if answered adequately, create a sort of chain reaction, expanding not merely to encompass the accepted assumptions of the single field, but outward to embrace history and the social sciences, or even psychology and literature, and thereby, from the outset, to challenge the assumption that the traditional divisions of intellectual inquiry are still adequate to deal with the meaningful questions of our time, rather than the merely convenient or self-generated ones.

Let us, for example, examine the implications of that perennial question (one can, of course, substitute almost any field of human endeavor, with appropriate changes in phrasing): "Well, if women really are equal to men, why have there never been any great women artists (or composers, or mathematicians, or philosophers, or so few of the same)?"

"Why have there been no great women artists?" The question tolls reproachfully in the background of most discussions of the so-called woman problem. But like so many other so-called questions involved in the feminist "controversy," it falsifies the nature of the issue at the same time that it insidiously supplies its own answer: "There are no
great women artists because women are incapable of greatness."

The assumptions behind such a question are varied in range and sophistication, running anywhere from "scientifically proven" demonstrations of the inability of human beings with wombs rather than penises to create anything significant, to relatively open-minded wonderment that women, despite so many years of near-equality-and after all, a lot of men have had their disadvantages too-have still not achieved anything of exceptional significance in the visual arts.

The feminist's first reaction is to swallow the bait, hook, line and sinker, and to attempt to answer the question as it is put: i.e., to dig up examples of worthy or insufficiently appreciated women artists throughout history; to rehabilitate rather modest, if interesting and productive careers; to "re-discover" forgotten flower-painters or David-followers and make out a case for them; to demonstrate that Berthe Morisot was really less dependent upon Manet than one had been led to think-in other words, to engage in the normal activity of the specialist scholar who makes a case for the importance of his very own neglected or minor master. Such attempts, whether undertaken from a feminist point of view, like the ambitious article on women artists which appeared in the 1858 Westminster Review, ² or more recent scholarly studies on such artists as Angelica Kauffmann and Artemisia Gentileschi, ³ are certainly worth the effort, both in adding to our knowledge of women's achievement and of art history generally. But they do nothing to question the assumptions lying behind the question "Why have there been no great women artists?" On the contrary, by attempting to answer it, they tacitly reinforce its negative implications.

Another attempt to answer the question involves shifting the ground slightly and asserting, as some contemporary feminists do, that there is a different kind of "greatness" for women's art than for men's, thereby postulating the existence of a distinctive and recognizable feminine style, different both in its formal and its expressive qualities and based on the special character of women's situation and experience.

This, on the surface of it, seems reasonable enough: in general, women's experience and situation in society, and hence as artists, is different from men's, and certainly the art produced by a group of consciously united and purposefully articulate women intent on bodying forth a group consciousness of feminine experience might indeed be stylistically identifiable as feminist, if not feminine, art. Unfortunately, though this remains within the realm of possibility it has so far not occurred. While the members of the Danube School, the followers of Caravaggio, the painters gathered around Gauguin at Pont-Aven, the Blue Rider, or the Cubists may be recognized by certain clearly defined stylistic or expressive qualities, no such common qualities of "femininity" would seem to link the styles of women artists generally, any more than such qualities can be said to link women writers, a case brilliantly argued, against the most devastating, and mutually contradictory, masculine critical clichés, by Mary Ellmann in her Thinking about Women. ⁴ No subtle essence of femininity would seem to link the work of Artemesia Gentileschi, Mme. Vigée-Lebrun, Angelica Kauffmann, Rosa Bonheur, Berthe Morisot, Suzanne Valadon , Kaethe Kollwitz, Barbara Hepworth, Georgia O'Keeffe, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Helen Frankenthaler, Bridget Riley, Lee Bontecou or Louise Nevelson, any more than that of Sappho, Marie de France, Jane Austen, Emily Brontë, George Sand, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Anaïs Nin, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath and Susan Sontag. In every instance, women artists and writers would seem to be closer to other artists and writers of their own period and outlook than they are to each other.

Women artists are more inward-looking, more delicate and nuanced in their treatment of their medium, it may be asserted. But which of the women artists cited above is more inward-turning than Redon, more subtle and nuanced in the handling of pigment than Corot? Is Fragonard more or less feminine than Mme. Vigée-Lebrun? Or is it not more a question of the whole Rococo style of 18th-century France being "feminine," if judged in terms of a two-valued scale of "masculinity" vs. "femininity"? Certainly though, if daintiness, delicacy and preciousness are to be counted as earmarks of a feminine style, there is nothing fragile about Rosa Bonheur's Horse Fair, nor dainty and introverted about Helen Frankenthaler's giant canvases. If women have turned to scenes of domestiC life, or of children, so did Jan Steen, Chardin and the Impressionists-Renoir and Monet as well as Morisot and Cassatt. In any case, the mere choice of a certain realm of subject matter, or the restriction to certain subjects, is not to be equated with a style, much less with some sort of quintessentially feminine style.

The problem lies not so much with the feminists' concept of what femininity is, but rather with their misconception-shared with the public at large-of what art is: with the naïve idea that art is the direct, personal expression of individual emotional experience, a translation of personal life into visual terms. Art is almost never that, great art never is. The making of art involves a self-consistent language of form, more or less dependent upon, or free from, given temporally-defined conventions, schemata or systems of notation, which have to be learned or worked out, either through teaching, apprenticeship or a long period of individual experimentation. The language of art is, more materially, embodied in paint and line on canvas or paper, in stone or clay or plastic or metal-it is neither a sob-story nor a confidential whisper.

The fact of the matter is that there have been no supremely great women artists, as far as we know, although there have been many interesting and very good ones who remain insufficiently investigated or appreciated; nor have there been any great Lithuanian jazz pianists, nor Eskimo tennis players, no matter how much we might wish there had been. That this should be the case is regrettable, but no amount of manipulating the historical or critical evidence will alter the situation; nor will accusations of male-chauvinist distortion of history. The fact, dear sisters, is that there are no women equivalents for Michelangelo or Rembrandt, Delacroix or Cézanne, Picasso or Matisse, or even, in very recent times, for de Kooning or Warhol, any more than there are Black American equivalents for the same. If there actually were large numbers of "hidden" great women artists, or if there really should be different standards for women's art as opposed to men's-and one can't have it both ways-then what are the feminists fighting for? If women have in fact achieved the same status as men in the arts, then the status quo is fine as it is.

But in actuality, as we all know, things as they are and as they have been, in the arts as in a hundred other areas, are stultifying, oppressive and discouraging to all those, women among them, who did not have the good fortune to be born white, preferably middle class and, above all, male. The fault, dear brothers, lies not in our stars, our hormones, our menstrual cycles or our empty internal spaces, but in our institutions and our education-education understood to include everything that happens to us from the moment we enter this world of meaningful symbols, signs and signals. The miracle is, in fact, that given the overwhelming odds against women, or blacks, that so many of both have managed to achieve so much sheer excellence, in those bailiwicks of white masculine prerogative like science, politics or the arts.

It is when one really starts thinking about the implications of "Why have there been no great women artists?" that one begins to realize to what extent our consciousness of how things are in the world has been conditioned-and often falsified-by the way the most important questions are posed. We tend to take it for granted that there really is an East Asian Problem, a Poverty Problem, a Black Problem-and a Woman Problem. But first we must ask ourselves who is formulating these "questions," and then, what purposes such formulations may serve. (We may, of course, refresh our memories with the connotations of the Nazi's "Jewish Problem.") Indeed, in our time of instant communication, "problems" are rapidly formulated to rationalize the bad conscience of those with power: thus the problem posed by Americans in Vietnam and Cambodia is referred to by Americans as "the East Asian Problem," whereas East Asians may view it, more realistically, as "the American Problem"; the so-called Poverty Problem might more directly be viewed as the "Wealth Problem" by denizens of urban ghettos or rural wastelands; the same irony twists the White Problem into its opposite: a Black Problem; and the same inverse logic turns up in the formulation of our own present state of affairs as the "Woman Problem."

Now the "Woman Problem," like all human problems, so-called (and the very idea of calling anything to do with human beings a "problem" is, of course, a fairly recent one) is not amenable to "solution" at all, since what human problems involve is re-interpretation of the nature of the situation, or a radical alteration of stance or program on the part of the "problems" themselves. Thus women and their situation in the arts, as in other realms of endeavor, are not a "problem" to be viewed through the eyes of the dominant male power elite. Instead, women must conceive of themselves as potentially, if not actually, equal subjects, and must be willing to look the facts of their situation full in the face, without self-pity, or cop-outs; at the same time they must view their situation with that high degree of emotional and intellectual commitment necessary to create a world in which equal achievement will be not only made possible but actively encouraged by social institutions.

It is certainly not realistic to hope that a majority of men, in the arts, or in any other field, will soon see the light and find that it is in their own self-interest to grant complete equality to women, as some feminists optimistically assert, or to maintain that men themselves will soon realize that they are diminished by denying themselves access to traditionally "feminine" realms and emotional reactions. After all, there are few areas that are really "denied" to men, if the level of operations demanded be transcendent, responsible or rewarding enough: men who have a need for "feminine" involvement with babies or children gain status as pediatricians or child psychologists, with a nurse (female) to do the more routine work; those who feel the urge for kitchen creativity may gain fame as master chefs; and, of course, men who yearn to fulfill themselves through what are often termed "feminine" artistic interests can find themselves as painters or sculptors, rather than as volunteer museum aides or part time ceramists, as their female counterparts so often end up doing; as far as scholarship is concerned, how many men would be willing to change their jobs as teachers and researchers for those of unpaid, part-time research assistants and typists as well as full-time nannies and domestic workers?

Those who have privileges inevitably hold on to them, and hold tight, no matter how marginal the advantage involved, until compelled to bow to superior power of one sort or another.

Thus the question of women's equality-in art as in any other realm-devolves not upon the relative benevolence or ill-will of individual men, nor the self-confidence or abjectness of individual women, but rather on the very nature of our institutional structures themselves and the view of reality which they impose on the human beings who are part of them. As John Stuart Mill pointed out more than a century ago: "Everything which is usual appears natural. The subjection of women to men being a universal custom, any departure from it quite naturally appears unnatural." ⁵ Most men, despite lip-service to equality, are reluctant to give up this "natural" order of things in which their advantages are so great; for women, the case is further complicated by the fact that, as Mill astutely pointed out, unlike other oppressed groups or castes, men demand of her not only submission but unqualified affection as well; thus women are often weakened by the internalized demands of the male-dominated society itself, as well as by a plethora of material goods and comforts: the middle-class woman has a great deal more to lose than her chains.

The question "Why have there been no great women artists?" is simply the top tenth of an iceberg of misinterpretation and misconception; beneath lies a vast dark bulk of shaky idées reçues about the nature of art and its situational concomitants, about the nature of human abilities in general and of human excellence in particular, and the role that the social order plays in all of this. While the "woman problem" as such may be a pseudo-issue, the misconceptions involved in the question "Why have there been no great women artists?" points to major areas of intellectual obfuscation beyond the specific political and ideological issues involved in the subjection of women. Basic to the question are many naïve, distorted, uncritical assumptions about the making of art in general, as well as the making of great art. These assumptions, conscious or unconscious, link together such unlikely superstars as Michelangelo and van Gogh, Raphael and Jackson Pollock under the rubric of "Great"-an honorific attested to by the number of scholarly monographs devoted to the artist in question-and the Great Artist is, of course, conceived of as one who has "Genius"; Genius, in turn, is thought of as an atemporal and mysterious power somehow embedded in the person of the Great Artist. ⁶ Such ideas are related to unquestioned, often unconscious, meta-historical premises that make Hippolyte Taine's race-milieu-moment formulation of the dimensions of historical thought seem a model of sophistication. But these assumptions are intrinsic to a great deal of art-historical writing. It is no accident that the crucial question of the conditions generally productive of great art has so rarely been investigated, or that attempts to investigate such general problems have, until fairly recently, been dismissed as unscholarly, too broad, or the province of some other discipline, like sociology. To encourage a dispassionate, impersonal, sociological and institutionally-oriented approach would reveal the entire romantic, elitist, individual-glorifying and monograph-producing substructure upon which the profession of art history is based, and which has only recently been called in to question by a group of younger dissidents.

Underlying the question about woman as artist, then, we find the myth of the Great Artist-subject of a hundred monographs, unique, godlike-bearing within his person since birth a mysterious essence, rather like the golden nugget in Mrs. Grass's chicken soup, called Genius or Talent, which, like murder, must always out, no matter how unlikely or unpromising the circumstances.

The magical aura surrounding the representational arts and their creators has, of course, given birth to myths since the earliest times. Interestingly enough, the same magical abilities attributed by Pliny to the Greek sculptor Lysippos in antiquity-the mysterious inner call in early youth, the lack of any teacher but Nature herself-is repeated as late as the 19th century by Max Buchon in his biography of Courbet. The supernatural powers of the artist as imitator, his control of strong, possibly dangerous powers, have functioned historically to set him off from others as a godlike creator, one who creates Being out of nothing. The fairy tale of the Boy Wonder, discovered by an older artist or discerning patron, usually in the guise of a lowly shepherd boy, has been a stock-in-trade of artistic mythology ever since Vasari immortalized the young Giotto, discovered by the great Cimabue while the lad was guarding his flocks, drawing sheep on a stone; Cimabue, overcome with admiration by the realism of the drawing, immediately invited the humble youth to be his pupil. ⁷ Through some mysterious coincidence, later artists including Beccafumi, Andrea Sansovino, Andrea del Castagno, Mantegna, Zurbaran and Goya were all discovered in similar pastoral circumstances. Even when the young Great Artist was not fortunate enough to come equipped with a flock of sheep, his talent always seems to have manifested itself very early, and independent of any external encouragement: Filippo Lippi and Poussin, Courbet and Monet are all reported to have drawn caricatures in the margins of their schoolbooks instead of studying the required subjects-we never, of course, hear about the youths who neglected their studies and scribbled in the margins of their notebooks without ever becoming anything more elevated than department-store clerks or shoe salesmen. The great Michelangelo himself, according to his biographer and pupil, Vasari, did more drawing than studying as a child. So pronounced was his talent, reports Vasari, that when his master, Ghirlandaio, absented himself momentarily from his work in Santa Maria Novella, and the young art student took the opportunity to draw "the scaffolding, trestles, pots of paint, brushes and the apprentices at their tasks" in this brief absence, he did it so skillfully that upon his return the master exclaimed: "This boy knows more than I do."

As is so often the case, such stories, which probably have some truth in them, tend both to reflect and perpetuate the attitudes they subsume. Despite any basis in fact of these myths about the early manifestations of Genius, the tenor of the tales is misleading. It is no doubt true, for example, that the young Picasso passed all the examinations for entrance to the Barcelona, and later to the Madrid, Academy of Art at the age of 15 in but a single day, a feat of such difficulty that most candidates required a month of preparation. But one would like to find out more about similar precocious qualifiers for art academies who then went on to achieve nothing but mediocrity or failure-in whom, of course, art historians are uninterested-or to study in greater detail the role played by Picasso's art-professor father in the pictorial precocity of his son. What if Picasso had been born a girl? Would Señor Ruiz have paid as much attention or stimulated as much ambition for achievement in a little Pablita?

What is stressed in all these stories is the apparently miraculous, non-determined and a-social nature of artistic achievement; this semi-religious conception of the artist's role is elevated to hagiography in the 19th-century, when both art historians, critics and, not least, some of the artists themselves tended to elevate the making of art into a substitute religion, the last bulwark of Higher Values in a materialistic world. The artist, in the 19th-century Saints' Legend, struggles against the most determined parental and social opposition, suffering the slings and arrows of social opprobrium like any Christian martyr, and ultimately succeeds against all odds-generally, alas, after his death-because from deep within himself radiates that mysterious, holy effulgence: Genius. Here we have the mad van Gogh, spinning out sunflowers despite epileptic seizures and near-starvation; Cézanne, braving paternal rejection and public scorn in order to revolutionize painting; Gauguin throwing away respectability and financial security with a single existential gesture to pursue his Calling in the tropics, or Toulouse-Lautrec, dwarfed, crippled and alchoholic [ sic], sacrificing his aristocratic birthright in favor of the squalid surroundings that provided him with inspiration, etc.

Now no serious contemporary art historian takes such obvious fairy tales at their face value. Yet it is this sort of mythology about artistic achievement and its concomitants which forms the unconscious or unquestioned assumptions of scholars, no matter how many crumbs are thrown to social influences, ideas of the times, economic crises and so on. Behind the most sophisticated investigations of great artists-more specifically, the art-historical monograph, which accepts the notion of the Great Artist as primary, and the social and institutional structures within which he lived and worked as mere secondary "influences" or "background"-lurks the golden-nugget theory of genius and the free-enterprise conception of individual achievement. On this basis, women's lack of major achievement in art may be formulated as a syllogism: If women had the golden nugget of artistic genius then it would reveal itself. But it has never revealed itself. Q.E.D. Women do not have the golden nugget of artistic genius. If Giotto, the obscure shepherd boy, and van Gogh with his fits could make it, why not women?

Yet as soon as one leaves behind the world of fairy-tale and self-fulfilling prophecy and, instead, casts a dispassionate eye on the actual situations in which important art production has existed, in the total range of its social and institutional structures throughout history, one finds that the very questions which are fruitful or relevant for the historian to ask shape up rather differently. One would like to ask, for instance, from what social classes artists were most likely to come at different periods of art history, from what castes and sub-group. What proportion of painters and sculptors, or more specifically, of major painters and sculptors, came from families in which their fathers or other close relatives were painters and sculptors or engaged in related professions? As Nikolaus Pevsner points out in his discussion of the French Academy in the 17th and 18th centuries, the transmission of the artistic profession from father to son was considered a matter of course (as it was with the Coypels, the Coustous, the Van Loos, etc); indeed, sons of academicians were exempted from the customary fees for lessons. ⁸ Despite the noteworthy and dramatically satisfying cases of the great father-rejecting révoltés of the 19th century, one might be forced to admit that a large proportion of artists, great and not-so-great, in the days when it was normal for sons to follow in their fathers' footsteps, had artist fathers. In the rank of major artists, the names of Holbein and Dürer, Raphael and Bernini, immediately spring to mind; even in our own times, one can cite the names of Picasso, Calder, Giacometti and Wyeth as members of artist-families.

As far as the relationship of artistic occupation and social class is concerned, an interesting paradigm for the question "Why have there been no great women artists?" might well be provided by trying to answer the question: "Why have there been no great artists from the aristocracy?" One can scarcely think, before the anti-traditional 19th century at least, of any artist who sprang from the ranks of any more elevated class than the upper bourgeoisie; even in the 19th century, Degas came from the lower nobility-more like the haute bourgeoisie, in fact-and only Toulouse-Lautrec, metamorphosed into the ranks of the marginal by accidental deformity, could be said to have come from the loftier reaches of the upper classes. While the aristocracy has always provided the lion's share of the patronage and the audience for art-as, indeed, the aristocracy of wealth does even in our more democratic days-it has contributed little beyond amateurish efforts to the creation of art itself, despite the fact that aristocrats (like many women) have had more than their share of educational advantages, plenty of leisure and, indeed, like women, were often encouraged to dabble in the arts and even develop into respectable amateurs, like Napoleon III's cousin, the Princess Mathilde, who exhibited at the official Salons, or Queen Victoria, who, with Prince Albert, studied art with no less a figure than Landseer himself. Could, it be that the little golden nugget-Genius-is missing from the aristocratic make-up in the same way that it is from the feminine psyche? Or rather, is it not, that the kinds of demands and expectations placed before both aristocrats and women-the amount of time necessarily devoted to social functions, the very kinds of activities demanded-simply made total devotion to professional art production out of the question, indeed unthinkable, both for upper-class males and for women generally, rather than its being a question of genius and talent?

When the right questions are asked about the conditions for producing art, of which the production of great art is a sub-topic, there will no doubt have to be some discussion of the situational concomitants of intelligence and talent generally, not merely of artistic genius. Piaget and others have stressed in their genetic epistemology that in the development of reason and in the unfolding of imagination in young children, intelligence-or, by implication, what we choose to call genius-is a dynamic activity rather than a static essence, and an activity of a subject in a situation. As further investigations in the field of child development imply, these abilities, or this intelligence, are built up minutely, step by step, from infancy onward, and the patterns of adaptation-accommodation may be established so early within the subject-in-an-environment that they may indeed appear to be innate to the unsophisticated observer. Such investigations imply that, even aside from meta-historical reasons, scholars will have to abandon the notion, consciously articulated or not, of individual genius as innate, and as primary to the creation of art. ⁹

The question "Why have there been no great women artists?" has led us to the conclusion, so far, that art is not a free, autonomous activity of a super-endowed individual, "influenced" by previous artists, and, more vaguely and superficially, by "social forces," but rather, that the total situation of art making, both in terms of the development of the art maker and in the nature and quality of the work of art itself, occur in a social situation, are integral elements of this social structure, and are mediated and determined by specific and definable social institutions, be they art academies, systems of patronage, mythologies of the divine creator, artist as he-man or social outcast.
The Question of the Nude
We can now approach our question from a more reasonable standpoint, since it seems probable that the answer to why there have been no great women artists lies not in the nature of individual genius or the lack of it, but in the nature of given social institutions and what they forbid or encourage in various classes or groups of individuals.

Let us first examine such a simple, but critical, issue as availability of the nude model to aspiring women artists, in the period extending from the Renaissance until near the end of the 19th century, a period in which careful and prolonged study of the nude model was essential to the training of every young artist, to the production of any work with pretentions to grandeur, and to the very essence of History Painting, generally accepted as the highest category of art: indeed, it was argued by defenders of traditional painting in the 19th century that there could be no great painting with clothed figures, since costume inevitably destroyed both the temporal universality and the classical idealization required by great art. Needless to say, central to the training programs of the academies since their inception late in the 16th and early in the 17th centuries, was life drawing from the nude, generally male, model. In addition, groups of artists and their pupils often met privately for life drawing sessions from the nude model in their studios. In general, it might be added, while individual artists and private academies employed the female model extensively, the female nude was forbidden in almost all public art schools as late as 1850 and after-a state of affairs which Pevsner rightly designates as "hardly believable." ¹⁰ Far more believable, unfortunately, was the complete unavailability to the aspiring woman artist of any nude models at all, male or female. As late as 1893, "lady" students were not admitted to life drawing at the Royal Academy in London, and even when they were, after that date, the model had to be "partially draped." ¹¹

A brief survey of representations of life-drawing sessions reveals: an all male clientele drawing from the female nude in Rembrandt's studio; men working from male nudes in 18th-century representations of academic instruction in The Hague and Vienna; men working from the seated male nude in Bailly's charming painting of the interior of Houdon's studio at the beginning of the 19th century; Mathieu Cochereau's scrupulously veristic Interior of David's Studio, exhibited in the Salon of 1814, reveals a group of young men diligently drawing or painting from a male nude model, whose discarded shoes may be seen before the models' stand.

The very plethora of surviving "Academies"-detailed, painstaking studies from the nude studio model-in the youthful oeuvre of artists down through the time of Seurat and well into the 20th century, attests to the central importance of this branch of study in the pedagogy and development of the talented beginner. The formal academic program itself normally proceeded, as a matter of course,
from copying from drawings and engravings, to drawing from casts of famous works of sculpture, to drawing from the living model. To be deprived of this ultimate stage of training meant, in effect, to be deprived of the possibility of creating major art works, unless one were a very ingenious lady indeed, or simply, as most of the women aspiring to be painters ultimately did, to restrict oneself to the "minor" fields of portraiture, genre, landscape or still-life. It is rather as though a medical student were denied the opportunity to dissect or even examine the naked human body.

There exist, to my knowledge, no representations of artists drawing from the nude model which include women in any role but that of the nude model itself, an interesting commentary on rules of propriety: i.e., it is all right for a ("low," of course) woman to reveal herself naked-as-an-object for a group of men, but forbidden to a woman to participate in the active study and recording of naked-man-as-an-object, or even of a fellow woman. An amusing example of this taboo on confronting a dressed lady with a naked man is embodied in a group portrait of the members of the Royal Academy in London in 1772, represented by Zoffany as gathered in the life room before two nude male models: all the distinguished members are present with but one noteworthy exception-the single female member, the renowned Angelica Kauffmann, who, for propriety's sake, is merely present in effigy, in the form of a portrait hanging on the wall. A slightly earlier drawing of Ladies in the Studio by the Polish artist Daniel Chodowiecki, shows the ladies portraying a modestly dressed member of their sex. In a lithograph dating from the relatively liberated epoch following the French Revolution, the lithographer Marlet has represented some women sketchers in a group of students working from the male model, but the model himself has been chastely provided with what appears to be a pair of bathing trunks, a garment hardly conducive to a sense of classical elevation: no doubt such license was considered daring in its day, and the young ladies in question suspected of doubtful morals, but even this liberated state of affairs seems to have lasted only a short while. In an English stereoscopic color view of the interior of a studio of about 1865, the standing, bearded male model is so heavily draped that not an iota of his anatomy escapes from the discreet toga, save for a single bare shoulder and arm: even so, he obviously had the grace to avert his eyes in the presence of the crinoline-clad young sketchers.

The women in the Women's Modeling Class at the Pennsylvania Academy were evidently not allowed even this modest privilege. A photograph by Thomas Eakins of about 1885 reveals these students modeling from a cow (bull? ox? the nether regions are obscure in the photograph), a naked cow to be sure, perhaps a daring liberty when one considers that even piano legs might be concealed beneath pantalettes during this era (the idea of introducing a bovine model into the artist's studio stems from Courbet, who brought a bull into his short-lived studio academy in the 1860s). Only at the very end of the 19th century, in the relatively liberated and open atmosphere of Repin's studio and circle in Russia, do we find representations of women art students working uninhibitedly from the nude-the female model, to be sure-in the company of men. Even in this case, it must be noted that certain photographs represent a private sketch group meeting in one of the women artists' homes; in the other, the model is draped; and the large group portrait, a co-operative effort by two men and two women students of Repin's, is an imaginary gathering together of all of the Russian realist's pupils, past and present, rather than a realistic studio view.

I have gone into the question of the availability of the nude model, a single aspect of the automatic, institutionally-maintained discrimination against women, in such detail simply to demonstrate both the universality of the discrimination against women and its consequences, as well as the institutional rather than individual nature of but one facet of the necessary preparation for achieving mere proficiency, much less greatness, in the realm of art during a long stretch of time. One could equally well examine other dimensions of the situation, such as the apprenticeship system, the academic educational pattern which, in France especially, was almost the only key to success and which had a regular progression and set competitions, crowned by the Prix de Rome which enabled the young winner to work in the French Academy in that city-unthinkable for women, of course-and for which women were unable to compete until the end of the 19th century, by which time, in fact, the whole academic system had lost its importance anyway. It seems clear, to take France in the 19th century as an example, a country which probably had a larger proportion of women artists than any other-that is to say, in terms of their percentage in the total number of artists exhibiting in
the Salon-that "women were not accepted as professional painters." ¹² In the middle of the century, there were only a third as many women as men artists, but even this mildly encouraging statistic is deceptive when we discover that out of this relatively meager number, none had attended that major stepping stone to artistic success, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, only 7 percent had received any official commission or had held any official office-and these might include the most menial sort of work-only 7 percent had ever received any Salon medal, and none had ever received the Legion of Honor. ¹³ Deprived of encouragements, educational facilities and rewards, it is almost incredible that a certain percentage of women did persevere and seek a profession in the arts.

It also becomes apparent why women were able to compete on far more equal terms with men-and even become innovators-in literature. While art-making traditionally has demanded the learning of specific techniques and skills, in a certain sequence, in an institutional setting outside the home, as well as becoming familiar with a specific vocabulary of iconography and motifs, the same is by no means true for the poet or novelist. Anyone, even a women, has to learn the language, can learn to read and write, and can commit personal experiences to paper in the privacy of one's room. Naturally this oversimplifies the real difficulties and complexities involved in creating good or great literature, whether by man or woman, but it still gives a clue as to the possibility of the existence of Emily Brönte or an Emily Dickinson, and the lack of their counterparts, at least until quite recently, in the visual arts.

Of course we have not gone into the "fringe" requirements for major artists, which would have been, for the most part, both psychically and socially closed to women, even if hypothetically they could have achieved the requisite grandeur in the performance of their craft: in the Renaissance and after, the great artist, aside from participating in the affairs of an academy, might well be intimate
with members of humanist circles with whom he could exchange ideas, establish suitable relationships with patrons, travel widely and freely, perhaps politic and intrigue; nor have we mentioned the sheer organizational acumen and ability involved in running a major studio-factory, like that of Rubens. An enormous amount of self-confidence and worldly knowledgeability, as well as a natural sense of well-earned dominance and power, was needed by the great chef d'école, both in the running of the production end of painting, and in the control and instruction of the numerous students and assistants.
The Lady's Accomplishment
In contrast to the single-mindedness and commitment demanded of a chef d'école, we might set the image of the "lady painter" established by 19th-century etiquette books and reinforced by the literature of the times. It is precisely the insistence upon a modest, proficient, self-demeaning level of amateurism as a "suitable accomplishment" for the well-brought up young woman, who naturally would want to direct her major attention to the welfare of others-family and husband-that militated, and still militates, against any real accomplishment on the part of women. It is this emphasis which transforms serious commitment to frivolous self-indulgence, busy work or occupational therapy, and today, more than ever, in suburban bastions of the feminine mystique, tends to distort the whole notion of what art is and what kind of social role it plays. In Mrs. Ellis' widely read The Family Monitor and Domestic Guide, published before the middle of the 19th century, a book of advice popular both in the United States and in England, women were warned against the snare of trying too hard to excel in any one thing:

It must not be supposed that the writer is one who would advocate, as essential to woman, any very extraordinary degree of intellectual attainment, especially if confined to one particular branch of study. "I should like to excel in something" is a frequent and, to some extent, laudable expression; but in what does it originate, and to what does it tend? To be able to do a great many things tolerably well, is of infinitely more value to a woman, than to be able to excel in any one. By the former, she may render herself generally useful: by the latter, she may dazzle for an hour. By being apt, and tolerably well skilled in everything, she may fall into any situation in life with dignity and ease-by devoting her time to excellence in one, she may remain incapable of every other.

So far as cleverness, learning, and knowledge are conducive to woman's moral excellence, they are therefore desirable, and no further. All that would occupy her mind to the exclusion of better things, all that would involve her in the mazes of flattery and admiration, all that would tend to draw away her thoughts from others and fix them on herself, ought to be avoided as an evil to her, however brilliant or attractive it may be in itself. ¹⁴

Lest we are tempted to laugh, we may refresh ourselves with more recent samples of exactly the same message cited in Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique, or in the pages of recent issues of popular women's magazines.

This advice has a familiar ring, of course: propped up by a bit of Freudianism and some tag-lines from the social sciences about the well-rounded personality, preparation for woman's chief career, marriage, and the unfemininity of deep involvement with work rather than sex, it is still the mainstay of the Feminine Mystique. Such an outlook helps guard man from unwanted competition in his "serious" professional activities and assures him of "well-rounded" assistance on the home front, so that he may have sex and family in addition to the fulfillment of his own specialized talent and excellence at the same time.

As far as painting specifically is concerned, Mrs. Ellis finds that it has one immediate advantage for the young lady over its rival branch of artistic activity, music-it is quiet and disturbs no one (this negative virtue, of course, would not be true of sculpture, but accomplishment with the hammer and chisel simply never occurs as a suitable accomplishment for the weaker sex); in addition, says Mrs. Ellis, "it [drawing] is an employment which beguiles the mind of many cares...Drawing is, of all other occupations, the one most calculated to keep the mind from brooding upon self, and to maintain
that general cheerfulness which is a part of social and domestic duty...It can also," she adds, "be laid down and resumed, as circumstance or inclination may direct, and that without any serious loss." ¹⁵ Again, lest we feel that we have made a great deal of progress in this area in the past 100 years, I might bring up the remark of a bright young doctor who, when the conversation turned to his wife and her friends "dabbling" in the arts, snorted: "Well, at least it keeps them out of trouble!" Now as in the 19th century, amateurism and lack of real commitment as well as snobbery and emphasis on chic on the part of women in their artistic "hobbies," feeds the contempt of the successful, professionally committed man who is engaged in "real" work and can, with a certain justice, point to his wife's lack of seriousness in her artistic activities. For such men, the "real" work of women is only that which directly or indirectly serves the family; any other commitment falls under the rubric of diversion, selfishness, egomania or, at the unspoken extreme, castration. The circle is a vicious one, in which philistinism and frivolity mutually re-enforce each other.

In literature, as in life, even if the woman's commitment to art was a serious one, she was expected to drop her career and give up this commitment at the behest of love and marriage: this lesson is, today as in the 19th century, still inculcated in young girls, directly or indirectly, from the moment they are born. Even the determined and successful heroine of Mrs. Craik's mid-19th-century novel about feminine artistic success, Olive, a young woman who lives alone, strives for fame and independence and actually supports herself through her art-such unfeminine behavior is at least partly excused by the fact that she is a cripple and automatically considers that marriage is denied to her-even Olive ultimately succumbs to the blandishments of love and marriage. To paraphrase the words of Patricia Thomson in The Victorian Heroine, Mrs. Craik, having shot her bolt in the course of her novel, is content, finally, to let her heroine, whose ultimate greatness the reader has never been able to doubt, sink gently into matrimony. "Of Olive, Mrs. Craik comments imperturbably that her husband's influence is to deprive the Scottish Academy of 'no one knew how many grand pictures.' " ¹⁶ Then as now, despite men's greater "tolerance," the choice for women seems always to be marriage or a career, i.e., solitude as the price of success or sex and companionship at the price of professional renunciation.

That achievement in the arts, as in any field of endeavor, demands struggle and sacrifice, no one would deny; that this has certainly been true after the middle of the 19th century, when the traditional institutions of artistic support and patronage no longer fulfilled their customary obligations, is undeniable: one has only to think of Delacroix, Courbet, Degas, van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec as examples of great artists who gave up the distractions and obligations of family life, at least in part, so that they could pursue their artistic careers more singlemindedly. Yet none of them was automatically denied the pleasures of sex or companionship on account of this choice. Nor did they ever conceive that they had sacrificed their manhood or their sexual role on account of their singleness and singlemindedness in order to achieve professional fulfillment. But if the artist in question happens to be a woman, 1,000 years of guilt, self-doubt and objecthood have been added to the undeniable difficulties of being an artist in the modern world.

The unconscious aura of titillation that arises from a visual representation of an aspiring woman artist in the mid-19th century, Emily Mary Osborne's heartfelt painting, Nameless and Friendless, 1857, a canvas representing a poor but lovely and respectable young girl at a London art dealer, nervously awaiting the verdict of the pompous proprietor about the worth of her canvases while two ogling "art lovers" look on, is really not too different in its underlying assumptions from an overtly salacious work like Bompard's Debut of the Model. The theme in both is innocence, delicious feminine innocence, exposed to the world. It is the charming vulnerability of the young woman artist, like that of the hesitating model, which is really the subject of Miss Osborne's painting, not the value of the young woman's work or her pride in it: the issue here is, as usual, sexual rather than serious. Always a model but never an artist might well have served as the motto of the seriously aspiring young woman in the arts of the 19th century.
Successes
But what of the small band of heroic women, who, throughout the ages, despite obstacles, have achieved pre-eminence, if not the pinnacles of grandeur of a Michelangelo, a Rembrandt or a Picasso? Are there any qualities that may be said to have characterized them as a group and as individuals? While we cannot go into such an investigation in depth in this article, we can point to a few striking characteristics of women artists generally: they all, almost without exception, were either the daughters of artist fathers, or, generally later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, had a close personal connection with a stronger or more dominant male artistic personality. Neither of these characteristics is, of course, unusual for men artists, either, as we have indicated above in the case of artist fathers and sons: it is simply true almost without exception for their feminine counterparts, at least until quite recently. From the legendary sculptor, Sabina von Steinbach, in the 13th century, who, according to local tradition, was responsible for South Portal groups on the Cathedral of Strasbourg, down to Rosa Bonheur, the most renowned animal painter of the 19th century, and including such eminent women artists as Marietta Robusti, daughter of Tintoretto, Lavinia Fontana, Artemisia Gentileschi, Elizabeth Chéron, Mme. Vigée-Lebrun and Angelica Kauffmann-all, without exception, were the daughters of artists; in the 19th century, Berthe Morisot was closely associated with Manet, later marrying his brother, and Mary Cassatt based a good deal of her work on the style of her close friend Degas. Precisely the same breaking of traditional bonds and discarding of time-honored practices that permitted men artists to strike out in directions quite different from those of their fathers in the second half of the 19th century enabled women, with additional difficulties, to be sure, to strike out on their own as well. Many of our more recent women artists, like Suzanne Valadon, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Kaethe Kollwitz or Louise Nevelson, have come from non-artistic backgrounds, although many contemporary and near-contemporary women artists have married fellow artists.

It would be interesting to investigate the role of benign, if not outright encouraging, fathers in the formation of women professionals: both Kaethe Kollwitz and Barbara Hepworth, for example, recall
the influence of unusually sympathetic and supportive fathers on their artistic pursuits. In the absence of any thoroughgoing investigation, one can only gather impressionistic data about the presence or absence of rebellion against parental authority in women artists, and whether there may be more or less rebellion on the part of women artists than is true in the case of men or vice versa. One thing however is clear: for a woman to opt for a career at all, much less for a career in art, has required a certain amount of unconventionality, both in the past and at present; whether or not the woman artist rebels against or finds strength in the attitude of her family, she must in any case have a good strong streak of rebellion in her to make her way in the world of art at all, rather than submitting to the socially approved role of wife and mother, the only role to which every social institution consigns her automatically. It is only by adopting, however covertly, the "masculine" attributes of singlemindedness, concentration, tenaciousness and absorption in ideas and craftsmanship for their own sake, that women have succeeded, and continue to succeed, in the world of art.
Rosa Bonheur
It is instructive to examine in greater detail one of the most successful and accomplished women painters of all time, Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899), whose work, despite the ravages wrought upon its estimation by changes of taste and a certain admitted lack of variety, still stands as an impressive achievement to anyone interested in the art of the 19th century and in the history of taste generally. Rosa Bonheur is a woman artist in whom, partly because of the magnitude of her reputation, all the various conflicts, all the internal and external contradictions and struggles typical of her sex and profession, stand out in sharp relief.

The success of Rosa Bonheur firmly establishes the role of institutions, and institutional change, as a necessary, if not a sufficient cause of achievement in art. We might say that Bonheur picked a fortunate time to become an artist if she was, at the same time, to have the disadvantage of being a woman: she came into her own in the middle of the 19th century, a time in which the struggle between traditional History Painting as opposed to the less pretentious and more free-wheeling genre painting, landscape and still-life was won by the latter group hands down. A major change in the social and institutional support for art itself was well under way: with the rise of the bourgeoisie and the fall of the cultivated aristocracy, smaller paintings, generally of every-day subjects, rather than grandiose mythological or religious scenes were much in demand. To cite the Whites: "Three hundred provincial museums there might be, government commissions for public works there might be, but the only possible paid destinations for t he rising flood of canvases were the homes of the bourgeoisie. History painting had not and never would rest comfortably in the middle-class parlor. 'Lesser' forms of image art-genre, landscape, still-life-did." ¹⁷ In mid-century France, as in 17th-century Holland, there was a tendency for artists to attempt to achieve some sort of security in a shaky market situation by specializing, by making a career out of a specific subject: animal painting was a very popular field, as the Whites point out, and Rosa Bonheur was no doubt its most accomplished and successful practitioner, followed in popularity only by the Barbizon painter Troyon (who at one time was so pressed for his paintings of cows that he hired another artist to brush in the backgrounds). Rosa Bonheur's rise to fame accompanied that of the Barbizon landscapists, supported by those canny dealers, the Durand-Ruels, who later moved on to the Impressionists. The
Durand-Ruels were among the first dealers to tap the expanding market in movable decoration for the middle classes, to use the Whites' terminology. Rosa Bonheur's naturalism and ability to capture the individuality-even the "soul"-of each of her animal subjects coincided with bourgeois taste at the time. The same combination, of qualities, with a much stronger dose of sentimentality and pathetic fallacy to be sure, likewise assured the success of her animalier contemporary, Landseer, in England.

Daughter of an impoverished drawing master, Rosa Bonheur quite naturally showed her interest in art early; at the same time, she exhibited an independence of spirit and liberty of manner which immediately earned her the label of tomboy. According to her own later accounts, her "masculine protest" established itself early; to what extent any show of persistence, stubbornness and vigor would be counted as "masculine" in the first half of the 19th century is conjectural. Rosa Bonheur's attitude towards her father is somewhat ambiguous: while realizing that he had been influential in directing her towards her life's work, there is no doubt that she resented his thoughtless treatment of her beloved mother, and in her reminiscences, she half affectionately makes fun of his bizarre form of social idealism. Raimond Bonheur had been an active member of the short-lived Saint-Simonian community, established in the third decade of the 19th century by "Le Père" Enfantin at Menilmontant. Although in her later years Rosa Bonheur might have made fun of some of the more far-fetched eccentricities of the members of the community, and disapproved of the additional strain which her father's apostolate placed on her overburdened mother, it is obvious that the Saint-Simonian ideal of equality for women-they disapproved of marriage, their trousered feminine costume was a token of emancipation, and their spiritual leader, Le Père Enfantin, made extraordinary efforts to find a Woman Messiah to share his reign-made a strong impression on her as a child, and may well have influenced her future course of behavior.

"Why shouldn't I be proud to be a woman?" she exclaimed to an interviewer. "My father, that enthusiastic apostle of humanity, many times reiterated to me that woman's mission was to elevate the human race, that she was the Messiah of future centuries. It is to his doctrines that I owe the great, noble ambition I have conceived for the sex which I proudly affirm to be mine, and whose independence I will support to my dying day..." ¹⁸ When she was hardly more than a child, he instilled in her the ambition to surpass Mme. Vigée-Lebrun certainly the most eminent model she could be expected to follow, and he gave her early efforts every possible encouragement. At the same time, the spectacle of her uncomplaining mother's slow decline from sheer overwork and poverty might have been an even more realistic influence on her decision to control her own destiny and never to become the slave of a husband and children. What is particularly interesting from the modern feminist viewpoint is Rosa Bonheur's ability to combine the most vigorous and unapologetic masculine protest with unabashedly self-contradictory assertions of "basic" femininity.

In those refreshingly straightforward pre-Freudian days, Rosa Bonheur could explain to her biographer that she had never wanted to marry for fear of losing her independence-too many young girls let themselves be led to the altar like lambs to the sacrifice, she maintained. Yet at the same time that she rejected marriage for herself and implied an inevitable loss of selfhood for any woman who engaged in it, she, unlike the Saint-Simonians, considered marriage "a sacrament indispensable to the organization of society."

While remaining cool to offers of marriage, she joined in a seemingly cloudless, lifelong and apparently Platonic union with a fellow woman artist, Nathalie Micas, who evidently provided her with the companionship and emotional warmth which she needed. Obviously the presence of this sympathetic friend did not seem to demand the same sacrifice of genuine commitment to her profession which marriage would have entailed: in any case, the advantages of such an arrangement for women who wished to avoid the distraction of children in the days before reliable contraception are obvious.

Yet at the same time that she frankly rejected the conventional feminine role of her times, Rosa Bonheur still was drawn into what Betty Friedan has called the "frilly blouse syndrome," that innocuous version of the feminine protest which even today compels successful women psychiatrists or professors to adopt some ultra-feminine item of clothing or insist on proving their prowess as pie-bakers. ¹⁹ Despite the fact that she had early cropped her hair and adopted men's clothes as her habitual attire, following the example of George Sand, whose rural Romanticism exerted a powerful influence over her imagination, to her biographer she insisted, and no doubt sincerely believed, that she did so only because of the specific demands of her profession. Indignantly denying rumors to the effect that she had run about the streets of Paris dressed as a boy in her youth, she proudly provided her biographer with a daguerreotype of herself at 16 years, dressed in perfectly conventional feminine fashion, except for her shorn head, which she excused as a practical measure taken after the death of her mother; "who would have taken care of my curls?" she demanded. ²⁰

As far as the question of masculine dress was concerned, she was quick to reject her interlocutor's suggestion that her trousers were a symbol of emancipation. "I strongly blame women who renounce their customary attire in the desire to make themselves pass for men," she affirmed. "If I had found that trousers suited my sex, I would have completely gotten rid of my skirts, but this is not the
case, nor have I ever advised my sisters of the palette to wear men's clothes in the ordinary course of life. If, then, you see me dressed as I am, it is not at all with the aim of making myself interesting, as all too many women have tried, but simply in order to facilitate my work. Remember that at a certain period I spent whole days in the slaughterhouses. Indeed, you have to love your art in order to live in pools of blood...I was also fascinated with horses, and where better can one study these animals than at the fairs...? I had no alternative but to realize that the garments of my own sex were a total nuisance. That is why I decided to ask the Prefect of Police for the authorization to wear masculine clothing. ²¹ But the costume I am wearing is my working outfit, nothing else. The remarks of fools have never bothered me. Nathalie [her companion] makes fun of them as I do. It doesn't bother her at all to see me dressed as a man, but if you are even the slightest bit put off, I am completely prepared to put on a skirt, especially since all I have to do is to open a closet to find a whole assortment of feminine outfits." ²²

Yet at the same time Rosa Bonheur is forced to admit: "My trousers have been my great protectors...Many times I have congratulated myself for having dared to break with traditions which would have forced me to abstain from certain kinds of work, due to the obligation to drag my skirts everywhere..." Yet the famous artist again feels obliged to qualify her honest admission with an ill-assumed "femininity": "Despite my metamorphoses of costume, there is not a daughter of Eve who appreciates the niceties more than I do; my brusque and even slightly unsociable nature has never prevented my heart from remaining completely feminine." ²³

It is somewhat pathetic that this highly successful artist, unsparing of herself in the painstaking study of animal anatomy, diligently pursuing her bovine or equine subjects in the most unpleasant surroundings, industriously producing popular canvases throughout the course of a lengthy career, firm, assured and incontrovertably masculine in her style, winner of a first medal in the Paris Salon, Officer of the Legion of Honor, Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and the Order of Leopold of Belgium, friend of Queen Victoria-that this world-renowned artist should feel compelled late in life to justify and qualify her perfectly reasonable assumption of masculine ways, for any reason whatsoever, and to feel compelled to attack her less modest trouser-wearing sisters at the same time, in order to satisfy the demands of her own conscience. For her conscience, despite her supportive father, her unconventional behavior and the accolade of worldly success, still condemned her for not being a "feminine" woman.

The difficulties imposed by such demands on the woman artist continue to add to her already difficult enterprise even today. Compare, for example, the noted contemporary, Louise Nevelson, with her combination of utter, "unfeminine" dedication to her work and her conspicuously "feminine" false eyelashes; her admission that she got married at 17 despite her certainty that she couldn't live without creating because "the world said you should get married." ²⁴ Even in the case of these two outstanding artists-and whether we like The Horsefair or not, we still must admire Rosa Bonheur's achievement-the voice of the feminine mystique with its potpourri of ambivalent narcissism and guilt, internalized, subtly dilutes and subverts that total inner confidence, that absolute certitude and self-determination, moral and esthetic, demanded by the highest and most innovative work in art.
Conclusion
We have tried to deal with one of the perennial questions used to challenge women's demand for true, rather than token, equality, by examining the whole erroneous intellectual substructure upon which
the question "Why have there been no great women artists?" is based; by questioning the validity of the formulation of so-called "problems" in general and the "problem" of women specifically; and then, by probing some of the limitations of the discipline of art history itself. Hopefully, by stressing the institutional-i.e. the public-rather than the individual, or private, pre-conditions for achievement or the lack of it in the arts, we have provided a paradigm for the investigation of other areas in the field. By examining in some detail a single instance of deprivation or disadvantage-the unavailability of nude models to women art students-we have suggested that it was indeed institutionally made impossible for women to achieve artistic excellence, or success, on the same footing as men, no matter what the potency of their so-called talent, or genius. The existence of a tiny band of successful, if not great, women artists throughout history does nothing to gainsay this fact, any more than does the existence of a few superstars or token achievers among the members of any minority groups. And while great achievement is rare and difficult at best, it is still rarer and more difficult if, while you work, you must at the same time wrestle with inner demons of self-doubt and guilt and outer monsters of ridicule or patronizing encouragement, neither of which have any specific connection with the quality of the art work as such.

What is important is that women face up to the reality of their history and of their present situation, without making excuses or puffing mediocrity. Disadvantage may indeed be an excuse; it is not, however, an intellectual position. Rather, using as a vantage point their situation as underdogs in the realm of grandeur, and outsiders in that of ideology, women can reveal institutional and intellectual weaknesses in general, and, at the same time that they destroy false consciousness, take part in the creation of institutions in which clear thought-and true greatness-are challenges open to anyone, man or woman, courageous enough to take the necessary risk, the leap into the unknown.
1. Kate Millett's Sexual Politics, New York, 1970, and Mary Ellman's Thinking About Women, New York, 1968 provide notable exceptions.
2. "Women Artists." Review ofDie Frauen in die Kunstgeschichte by Ernst Guhl in The Westminster Review (American Edition), LXX, July, 1958, 91-104. I am grateful to Elaine Showalter for having brought this review to my attention.
3. See, for example, Peter S. Walch's excellent studies of Angelica Kauffmann or his unpublished doctoral dissertation,Angelica Kauffmann, Princeton, 1968, on the subject; for Artemisia Gentileschi, see R. Ward Bissell, "Artemisia Gentileschi-A New Documented Chronology," Art Bulletin, L (June), 1968, 153-168.
4. New York, 1968.
5. John Stuart Mill,The Subjection of Women (1869) in Three Essays by John Stuart Miff, World's Classics Series, London, 1966, p. 441.
6. For the relatively recent genesis of the emphasis on the artist as the nexus of esthetic experience, see M. H. Abrams,The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition, New York, 1953, and Maurice Z. Shrader, Icarus: The Image of the Artist in French
Romanticism, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1961.
7. A comparison with the parallel myth for women, the Cinderella Story, is revealing: Cinderella gains higher status on the basis of a passive, "sex-object" attribute-small feet-whereas the Boy Wonder always proves himself through active accomplishment. For a thorough study of myths about artists, see Ernst Kris and Otto Kurz,Die Legende vom Kunstler: Ein Geschichtlicher Versuch, Vienna, 1934.
8. Nikolaus Pevsner,Academies of Art, Past and Present, Cambridge, 1940, p. 96f.
9. Contemporary directions-earthworks, conceptual art, art as information, etc.-certainly pointaway from emphasis on the individual genius and his salable products; in art history, Harrison C. and Cynthia A. White's Canvases and Careers: Institutional Change in the French Painting World, New York, 1965, opens up a fruitful new direction of investigation, as did Nikolaus Pevsner's pioneering Academies of Art. Ernst Gombrich and Pierre Francastel, in their very different ways, always have tended to view art and the artist as part of a total situation rather than in lofty isolation.
10. Female models were introduced in the life-class in Berlin in 1875, in Stockholm in 1839, in Naples in 1870, at the Royal College of Art in London, after 1875. Pevsner,op. cit., p. 231. Female models at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts wore masks to hide their identity
as late as about 1866-as attested to in a charcoal drawing by Thomas Eakins-if not later.
11. Pevsner,op. cit., p. 231 .
12. H. C. and C. A. White,op. cit., p. 51.
13.Ibid., Table 5.
14. Mrs. Ellis,The Daughters of England: Their Position in Society, Character, and Responsibilities (1844) in The Family Monitor, New York, 1844, p. 35.
15.Ibid., 38-39.
16. Patricia Thomson,The Victorian Heroine: A Changing Ideal, London, 1956, p. 77.
17. H. C. an d C . A. White,op. cit., p. 91 .
18. Anna Klumpke, Rosa Bonheur: Sa Vie, son oeuvre, Paris, 1908, p. 311.
19. Betty Friedan,The Feminine Mystique, New York, 1963, p. 158.
20. A. Klumpke,op. cit., p. 166.
21. Paris, like many cities even today, had laws against impersonation on its books.
22. A. Klumpke,op. cit., pp. 308-309.
23.Ibid., pp. 310-311 .
24. Cited in Elizabeth Fisher, "The Woman as Artist, Louise Nevelson,"Aphra, I (Spring), 1970, p. 32.
Author: Linda Nochlin is professor of art history at Vassar. Her book on Realism (Penguin) will come out this winter. This article is based on a section of the anthology Woman in Sexist Society: Studies in Power and Powerlessness, to be published by Basic Books in April.
A version of this story originally appeared in the January 1971 issue of ARTnews on page 22 under the title "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?"

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From 1971: Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? -

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A version of this story originally appeared in the January 1971 issue of ARTnews. While the recent upsurge of feminist activity in this country has indeed been a liberating one, its force has been chiefly emotional-personal, psychological and subjective-centered, like the other radical movements to which it is related, on the present and its immediate needs, rather than on historical analysis of the basic intellectual issues which the feminist attack on the status quo automatically raises.

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From 1971: Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?

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Worktable
https://www.kaaitheater.be/nl/agenda/worktable-0

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Kate McIntosh | Hans Bryssinck | Diederik Peeters | Ingrid Vranken | performances | films & video | installations | music | research | workshops | lectures | public talks | other collaborations

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'Gelijkheid wordt niet gegeven, en het wordt niet opgeeist; het wordt gepraktiseerd, het wordt geverifieerd.' Jaques Ranciere
Hoofdstuk 5 boek: het prachtige risico van onderwijs p. 117 G. Biesta

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HUIS - LOD muziektheater & hetpaleis/Inne Goris. Inne Goris nodigt je uit in een huis. Met een koptelefoon op verken je iedere ruimte. Wie woont er? Wat doen ze? Waar wachten ze op?

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Totaal project Inne Goris

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HUIS - LOD muziektheater & hetpaleis/Inne Goris. Inne Goris nodigt je uit in een huis. Met een koptelefoon op verken je iedere ruimte. Wie woont er? Wat doen ze? Waar wachten ze op?

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Dertien kinderen, een theatermaker, een schrijver, een scenograaf en een kostuumontwerper verwelkomen je opnieuw in hun huis, na de première afgelopen seizoen. Ons huis lijkt op een walvis markeerde het eindpunt van een langdurige samenwerking tussen Inne Goris en Imelda Basisschool Molenbeek. Wat is de plek van kunst in het dagelijkse schoolleven?

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Waarom kunsteducatie?
- waar geloof ik in?
- mijn doel?
- mijn motivatie?

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Begin met het waarom

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Basisschool: Stoklandschool
binnenwegen-buitenwereld

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One more clip from  Karel Appel's studio