Traditionally art is to create and not to revive. To revive: leave that to the historians, who are looking backward.
Interpretation
Art should focus on creation rather than attempting to recreate or revive past works.
In this quote, Josef Albers emphasizes the importance of originality in art. He suggests that true artistic expression lies in the act of creation, while historians play a vital role in preserving and reflecting on the past. By urging artists to look forward rather than backward, Albers champions innovation and the continual evolution of artistic expression.
In practice
During a lecture on modern art, you can use this quote to highlight the importance of artistic creativity.
Simultaneous contrast is not just a curious optical phenomenon β it is the very heart of painting. Repeated experiments with adjacent colors will show that any ground subtracts its own hue from the colors which it carries and therefore influences.
Instead of art I have taught philosophy. Though technique for me is a big word, I never have taught how to paint. All my doing was to make people to see.
When we are honest - that's my saying - if we are honest then we will reveal ourselves. But we do not have to make an effort to be individualistic, different from others.
Ah, the creative process is the same secret in science as it is in art. They are all the same absolutely.
In order to use color effectively it is necessary to recognize that color deceives continually.
The aim of our studies is to prove that color is the most relative means of artistic expression, that we never really perceive what color is physically.
Those people who recognise that imagination is reality's master, we call sages, and those who act upon it, we call artists.
Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.
People tell me they open my e-mails first, because they aren't demands and you don't need to reply. They're simply for pleasure.
I have to say, I feel a weird sort of calling in filmmaking that I didn't feel with other things. I feel like there are things in life you want to do, and then things you are called to do, and hopefully you can allow yourself to want to do whatever you're called to do.
I wanted to be a scientist. I did a thesis on lions. But I realised photography can show things writing can't. Lions were my professor of photography.
My design always has a political agenda. When I borrow components from various cultures and juxtapose them in an object, it is a message that co-existence is indeed possible. Design creates an ideal world where different ideas live close to each other in perfect harmony.
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