We look at a painting to know the painter; it's his company we are after, not his skill.
James WhistlerRead
Art happens-no hovel is safe from it, no prince may depend upon it, the vastest intelligence cannot bring it about.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art is an omnipresent force that cannot be controlled or dictated by status or intelligence.
In this quote, James Whistler expresses the idea that art transcends social status and intellect. It is a universal and spontaneous phenomenon that can emerge from anywhere, regardless of the environment or the individuals involved. This emphasizes the democratizing nature of art, suggesting that it cannot be confined to elite spaces or dictated by pretentious standards; it flourishes independent of human control.
Themes
ArtCreativityExpressionFreedomUniversal
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in an art exhibition to emphasize the inclusivity of art.
More from James Whistler
All quotes βTo say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, that it shows great and earnest labour, is to say that it is incomplete and unfit for view.
James WhistlerRead
I maintain that two and two would continue to make four, in spite of the whine of the amateur for three, or the cry of the critic for five.
James WhistlerRead
To say to the painter that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player that he may sit on the piano.
James WhistlerRead
An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.
James WhistlerRead
Similar quotes
Grant that the true organ with which the beautiful is apprehended is the imagination, and it follows that all arts are likely to affect the feelings indirectly.
Eduard HanslickRead
To write it, it took three months; to conceive it three minutes; to collect the data in it all my life.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
The moment a man sets his thoughts down on paper, however secretly, he is in a sense writing for publication.
Raymond ChandlerRead
I, too, am interested in identity and Islam, which is what people expect of us. But one must not write what is expected. It's important for North African writers to show they have other things to say.
Leila SlimaniRead
In the 1960s when the recording studio suddenly really took off as a tool, it was the kids from art school who knew how to use it, not the kids from music school. Music students were all stuck in the notion of music as performance, ephemeral. Whereas for art students, music as painting? They knew how to do that.
Brian EnoRead
I want my buildings to take root and look as if they've always been there. It isn't about pastiche or adapting what's already there. It's about trying to blend the future and the past.
Moshe SafdieRead