
“Vision is the Art of seeing Things invisible.”
Thoughts on various subjects (Further thoughts on various subjects) (1745)
1990s
Source: Artforum International. Vol. 32 (1994), p. 38
“Vision is the Art of seeing Things invisible.”
Thoughts on various subjects (Further thoughts on various subjects) (1745)
“Art is naturally concerned with man in his existential aspect, not in his scientific aspect.”
Source: The Strength To Dream (1961), p. 214
Context: Art is naturally concerned with man in his existential aspect, not in his scientific aspect. For the scientist, questions about man's stature and significance, suffering and power, are not really scientific questions; consequently he is inclined to regard art as an inferior recreation. Unfortunately, the artist has come to accept the scientist's view of himself. The result, I contend, is that art in the twentieth century — literary art in particular — has ceased to take itself seriously as the primary instrument of existential philosophy. It has ceased to regard itself as an instrument for probing questions of human significance. Art is the science of human destiny. Science is the attempt to discern the order that underlies the chaos of nature; art is the attempt to discern the order that underlies the chaos of man. At its best, it evokes unifying emotions; it makes the reader see the world momentarily as a unity.
Henry Flynt: "Essay: Concept Art." (1961) In: La Monte Young (ed.) An Anthology, 1963.
Quoted in: Margaret Walch (1979) Color source book, p. 98
Quote from: 'Analysis of the Primary Elements of Painting', W. Kandinsky, 1928
1920 - 1930
Space (1912)
Context: How if Space is really full of things we cannot see and as yet do not know? How if all animals and some savages have a cell in their brain or a nerve which responds to the invisible world? How if all Space be full of these landmarks, not material in our sense, but quite real? A dog barks at nothing, a wild beast makes an aimless circuit. Why? Perhaps because Space is made up of corridors and alleys, ways to travel and things to shun? For all we know, to a greater intelligence than ours the top of Mont Blanc may be as crowded as Piccadilly Circus.
“Art is not nature.. There was a lot more to be got out of color.”
“To sense the invisible and to be able to create it — that is art.”
Statement of 1950, as quoted in Hans Hofmann (1998), ed. Helmut Friedel and Tina Dickey
1950s