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.
Architecture depends on facts, but its real field of activity lies in the realm of the significance.
An actor really is a kind of intermediary between an audience and the piece, whether it's a play or movie.
I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art - and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.
Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.
The urge to make art or contemplate philosophy does not go away when you are sick. Those urges just become transfigured by illness.
The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight... [Breadmaking is] one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world's sweetest smells... there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel. that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.