“Science, like art, is not a copy of nature but a re-creation of her.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) Polish-born British mathematician
Part 1: "The Creative Mind", §9 (p. 20)
Science and Human Values (1956, 1965)
E. H. Gombrich (1962), quoted in: Robert Maxwell Young. Mind, Brain, and Adaptation in the Nineteenth Century, 1970. p. 101.
“Science, like art, is not a copy of nature but a re-creation of her.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) Polish-born British mathematician
Part 1: "The Creative Mind", §9 (p. 20)
Science and Human Values (1956, 1965)
Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) French sculptor
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
1950s-1990s
Context: The artist must learn the difference between the appearance of an object and the interpretation of this object through his medium. The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation.
George Holmes Howison (1834–1916) American philosopher
Source: The Limits of Evolution, and Other Essays, Illustrating the Metaphysical Theory of Personal Ideaalism (1905), The Art-Principle as Represented in Poetry, p.201-2
“Copy nature and you infringe on the work of our Lord. Interpret nature and you are an artist.”
Jacques Lipchitz (1891–1973) American and French sculptor
Jacques Lipchitz cited in: Bernard S. Raskas (1976). Living thoughts: inspiration, insight, and wisdom from sources throughout the ages. p. 22; Quoted in: William Safire, Leonard Safir (1990). Words of Wisdom. p. 34
Francisco De Goya (1746–1828) Spanish painter and printmaker (1746–1828)
1790s, Goya's announcement about 'Los Caprichos', 6 Febr. 1799
“Be sure, from nature never to depart;
To copy nature is the task of art.”
Praeterea haud lateat te nil conarier artem,
Naturam nisi ut assimulet, propiusque sequatur.
Hanc unam vates sibi proposuere magistram:
Quicquid agunt, hujus semper vestigia servant.
Marco Girolamo Vida (1485–1566) Italian bishop
Book II, line 455
De Arte Poetica (1527)
Context: Be sure, from nature never to depart;
To copy nature is the task of art.
The noblest poets own her sovereign sway,
And ever follow where she leads the way.
Gerhard Richter (1932) German visual artist, born 1932
undated quotes, The Daily Practice of Painting, Writings (1962-1993)
Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) French sculptor
RODIN, AUGUSTE. L'Art. Entretiens réunis par Paul Gsell, 1911
John James Audubon (1785–1851) American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter
On a meeting with a young artist, Mr. J. B. Kidd, Ch. X, p. 140
The Life and Adventures of John James Audubon, the Naturalist (1868)