I remember being handed a score composed by Mozart at the age of eleven. What could I say? I felt read more

I remember being handed a score composed by Mozart at the age of eleven. What could I say? I felt like de Kooning, who was asked to comment on a certain abstract painting, and answered in the negative. He was then told it was the work of a celebrated monkey. 'That's different. For a monkey, it's terrific.' - "London Magazine", March, 1967.

I invent nothing, I rediscover.

I invent nothing, I rediscover.

Rice Krispies happens to be one of my favorite junk foods, just as I regard Michener as superior among junk read more

Rice Krispies happens to be one of my favorite junk foods, just as I regard Michener as superior among junk writers.

The work of art, just like any fragment of human life considered in its deepest meaning, seems to me devoid read more

The work of art, just like any fragment of human life considered in its deepest meaning, seems to me devoid of value if it does not offer the hardness, the rigidity, the regularity, the luster on every interior and exterior facet, of the crystal.

The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art's audience. Art has increasingly become read more

The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art's audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public.

One thing that makes art different from life is that in art things have a shape... it allows us to read more

One thing that makes art different from life is that in art things have a shape... it allows us to fix our emotions on events at the moment they occur, it permits a union of heart and mind and tongue and tear.

Portraits are supposed to "look within," but in my opinion very few people have an interior significantly different from the read more

Portraits are supposed to "look within," but in my opinion very few people have an interior significantly different from the outside portrait.

Art need no longer be an account of past sensations. It can become the direct organization of more highly evolved read more

Art need no longer be an account of past sensations. It can become the direct organization of more highly evolved sensations. It is a question of producing ourselves, not things that enslave us.

You do have to be fairly selfish when you have a gift. You cannot afford to let too many outside read more

You do have to be fairly selfish when you have a gift. You cannot afford to let too many outside things get in the way.