Art is either plagiarism or revolution.

Art is either plagiarism or revolution.

A great artist is always before his time or behind it.

A great artist is always before his time or behind it.

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.

Each of the arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish and grace life is under the patronage of read more

Each of the arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish and grace life is under the patronage of a muse, no god being found worthy to preside over them.

Balance is the enemy of art.

Balance is the enemy of art.

As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn't make read more

As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn't make a turning point of it, we were assigned to the humanities, to poetry, philosophy, painting -- the nursery games of humankind, which had to be left behind when the age of science began. The humanities would be called upon to choose a wallpaper for the crypt, as the end drew near.

One day the world will look upon research
on animals as it now looks upon research on human beings.
Da read more

One day the world will look upon research
on animals as it now looks upon research on human beings.
Da Vinci.

In order for the artist to have a world to express he must first be situated in this world, oppressed read more

In order for the artist to have a world to express he must first be situated in this world, oppressed or oppressing, resigned or rebellious, a man among men.

Twentieth-century art may start with nothing, but it flourishes by virtue of its belief in itself, in the possibility of read more

Twentieth-century art may start with nothing, but it flourishes by virtue of its belief in itself, in the possibility of control over what seems essentially uncontrollable, in the coherence of the inchoate, and in its ability to create its own values.