"Inversion"
Degrees: Thought Capsules and Micro Tales (1989)
Source: Art & Other Serious Matters, (1985), p. 51, "Inquest into Modernism"
“The worst evil which can befall the artist is that his work should appear good in his own eyes.”
1951 - 1968, The Creative Act', 1957
Context: Let us consider two important factors, the two poles of the creation of art: the artist on one hand, and on the other the spectator who later becomes the posterity; to all appearances the artist acts like a mediumistic being who, from the labyrinth beyond time and space, seeks his way out to a clearing.
“A skillful Artist in shapes and appearances does no more than necessary to create His effect.”
Job: A Comedy of Justice (1984)
Context: Time is never a problem on the God level. Or space. Whatever needed to deceive you was provided. But no more than that. That is the conservative principle in art at the God level. While I can't do it, not being at that level, I have seen a lot of it done. A skillful Artist in shapes and appearances does no more than necessary to create His effect.
“An artist who theorizes about his work is no longer artist but critic.”
The Temptaion of Harringay (1929)
“He who would to the purpose do a good action, must not neglect his season.”
Heaven On Earth, 1654
Attributed to Rodin in: Southwestern Art Vol. 6 (1977). p. 20; Partly cited in: A Toolbox for Humanity: More Than 9000 Years of Thought (2004) by Lloyd Albert Johnson, p. 7
1930s and later
“We are finding out that what looked like a neglected house a year ago is in fact a ruin.”
Statement about the conditions in Czechoslovakia and other previously Soviet Bloc countries. Daily Telegraph London (3 January 1991)
“I have often neglected my appearance. I admit it, and I also admit that it is "shocking."”
1880s, 1880, Letter to Theo (Cuesmes, July 1880)
Context: I have often neglected my appearance. I admit it, and I also admit that it is "shocking." But look here, lack of money and poverty have something to do with it too, as well as a profound disillusionment, and besides, it is sometimes a good way of ensuring the solitude you need, of concentrating more or less on whatever study you are immersed in.
