What is art? It is not just nature, it is nurtured nature. It is intelligence applied to what physical ability you have.
Interpretation
Art is a combination of natural inspiration and the skill developed through practice and intelligence.
In this quote, Rudolf Nureyev defines art as an extension of the natural world that is enhanced and shaped by human intelligence and effort. It emphasizes that while nature provides the raw material for artistic expression, it is the nurturing through creativity and skill that transforms these elements into art, highlighting the importance of both innate ability and learned technique in the creative process.
In practice
In a discussion about the nature of creativity in an art class.
I don't care if Margot is a Dame of the British Empire or older than myself. For me she represents eternal youth; there is an absolute musical quality in her beautiful body and phrasing. Because we are sincere and gifted, an intense abstract love is born between us every time we dance together.
For me, purity of movement wasn't enough. I needed expression, more intensity, more mind.
The main thing is dancing, and before it withers away from my body, I will keep dancing till the last moment, the last drop.
I approach dancing from a different angle than those who begin dancing at 8 or 9. Those who have studied from the beginning never question anything.
Technique is what you fall back on when you run out of inspiration.
When I miss class for one day, I know it. When I miss class for two days, my teacher knows it. When I miss class for three days, the audience knows it.
Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art.
My dread is for my show to be a nostalgia act. So the key to it is how do we keep it fresh?
The mathematical sciences particularly exhibit order symmetry and limitations; and these are the greatest forms of the beautiful.
Architecture depends on facts, but its real field of activity lies in the realm of the significance.
Writing is more about imagination than anything else. I fell in love with words. I fell in love with storytelling.
I don't care who you are. When you sit down to write the first page of your screenplay, in your head, you're also writing your Oscar acceptance speech.
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