On Poesy or Art (1818)
Context: Now Art, used collectively for painting, sculpture, architecture and music, is the mediatress between, and reconciler of, nature and man. It is, therefore, the power of humanizing nature, of infusing the thoughts and passions of man into everything which is the object of his contemplation.
“Being an artist now means to question the nature of art. If one is questioning the nature of painting, one cannot be questioning the nature of art. If an artist accepts painting (or sculpture) he is accepting the tradition that goes with it. That’s because the word art is general and the word painting is specific. Painting is a kind of art. If you make paintings you are already accepting (not questioning) the nature of art. One is then accepting the nature of art to be the European tradition of a painting-sculpture dichotomy.”
Joseph Kosuth in: Arthur R. Rose, “Four Interviews,” Arts Magazine (February, 1969).
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Joseph Kosuth 11
American conceptual artist 1945Related quotes
Paris 1923
As quoted in Futurism, ed. Didier Ottinger; Centre Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008, p. 312
Quotes, 1920's
Daniel Buren, Olivier Mosset, Michel Parmentier and Niele Toroni, at the Paris Biennale in October 1967. Translated and cited in: Lucy R. Lippard, Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972, New York: Praeger, (1973), p. 30.
1960s
Source: Art on the Edge, (1975), p. 71, "Lester Johnson's Abstract Men"
RODIN, AUGUSTE. L'Art. Entretiens réunis par Paul Gsell, 1911
Gregory Battcock. New Artists’ Video, an anthology, (1978) p. xiii. Introduction:
Listing of the several general questions to which video art gave rise to in those days.
Source: 1960's, What is Pop Art? Interviews with eight painters' (1963), pp. 25-27
Quote from History of Impressionism, Rev. ed. John Rewald, Museum of Modern Art, 1961, p. 89
posthumous quotes, Degas Dance Drawing' (1935)