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You must be absolutely honest and true in the depicting of a totem for meaning is attached to every line. You must be most particular about detail and proportion.
Emily Carr
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the importance of authenticity and attention to detail in art, particularly when creating meaningful representations.

Emily Carr highlights the necessity for artists to be genuine and precise in their work, especially when depicting symbols, like totems, that carry deep meaning. She suggests that every aspect of the creation process—down to the lines—holds significance, and thus, the artist must commit to honesty and meticulousness to honor the essence of the subject.

Themes

HonestyArtDetailTotemMeaning

In practice

Example use cases

Sharing this quote during an art workshop to inspire participants to focus on authenticity in their creations.

More from Emily Carr

The men resent a woman getting any honour in what they consider is essentially their field. Men painters mostly despise women painters. So I have decided to stop squirming, to throw any honour in with Canada and women.
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Art is art, nature is nature, you cannot improve upon it.... Pictures should be inspired by nature, but made in the soul of the artist. It is the soul of the individual that counts.
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I think that one's art is a growth inside one. I do not think one can explain growth. It is silent and subtle. One does not keep digging up a plant to see how it grows.
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There was neither horizon, cloud, nor sound; of that pink, spread silence even I had become part, belonging as much to sky as to earth.
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It is wonderful to feel the grandness of Canada in the raw.
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Indians do not hinder the progress of their dead by embalming or tight coffining. When the spirit has gone they give the body back to the earth. the earth welcomes the body-coaxes new life and beauty from it, hurries over what men shudder at. Lovely tender herbage bursts from the graves, swiftly, exulting over corruption.
Emily CarrRead

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