„If the genius is an artist, then he accomplishes his work as art, but neither he nor his work of art has a telos outside him.“

Source: 1840s, Two Ethical-Religious Minor Essays (1849), P. 108

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021.

Sören Kierkegaard309

Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism 1813 - 1855

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„You know, all insanity is a form of artistic expression, I often think. Only the person has nothing but himself to work with—he can’t get at outside materials to manipulate them—so he puts all his art into his behavior.“

— Fritz Leiber, book Our Lady of Darkness

Source: Our Lady of Darkness (1977), Chapter 10 (p. 56)

Art, Behavior, Thinking, Personality

„We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies. If he only shows in his work that he has searched, and re-searched, for the way to put over lies, he would never accomplish anything.“

— Pablo Picasso Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer 1881 - 1973

Source: 1920s, "Picasso Speaks" (1923), p. 315.

Truth, Lie, Art, Way

„There ought to be but one large art warehouse in the world, to which the artist could carry his art-works, and from which he could carry away whatever he needed. As it is, one must be half a tradesman.“

— Ludwig Van Beethoven German Romantic composer 1770 - 1827

Conversations (January 1801)

World, Art

„The one thing to say about art and life is that art is art and life is life, that art is not life and life is not art. A 'slice-of-life' art is no better or worse than a 'slice-of-art' life. Fine art is not a 'means of making a living' or a 'way of living a life', and a artist who dedicates his life to his art or his art to his life burdens his art with his life and his life with his art. Art that is a matter of life and death is neither fine nor free.“

— Ad Reinhardt American painter 1913 - 1967

Source: 1956 - 1967, Art-as-Art Dogma' part II, (1964), p. 155

Life, Death, Art, Way

„The first and foremost critic of a work of art is the artist who created it. Give him every means to illustrate it and make it known. If an artist awaits celebrity or gratefulness for his work through other people, he will have the time to die a thousand times for sheer hunger.“

— Fortunato Depero Italian painter, writer, sculptor and graphic designer 1892 - 1960

p 97.
So I think, so I paint (1947)

Hunger, People, Art, Time

„Works of art are analytic propositions. That is, if viewed within their context – as art – they provide no information whatsoever about any matter of fact. A work of art is a tautology in that it is a presentation of the artist’s intention, that is, he is saying that that particular work of art is art, which means, is a definition of art.“

— Joseph Kosuth American conceptual artist 1945

Art after Philosophy, 1969

Art

„Photography is not an art. Neither is painting, nor sculpture, literature or music. They are only different media for the individual to express his aesthetic feelings... You do not have to be a painter or a sculptor to be an artist. You may be a shoemaker. You may be creative as such. And, if so, you are a greater artist than the majority of the painters whose work is shown in the art galleries of today.“

— Alfred Stieglitz American photographer 1864 - 1946

'Is Photography a Failure?', Alfred Stieglitz, 'Sun: 5.', March 14, 1922; as quoted on Wikipedia

Art, Music, Feeling, Literature

„An artistic impression is substantially the resultant of two components. One what the work of art gives the onlooker — the other, what he is capable of giving to the work of art.“

— Arnold Schoenberg Austrian-American composer 1874 - 1951

"An Artistic Impression" (1909) in Style and Idea (1985), p. 189
1900s

Art

„He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.“

— Francis of Assisi Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order 1182 - 1226

This quote was actually composed by Louis Nizer, and published in his book, Between You and Me (1948).
Misattributed
Variant: He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.

Heart

„The skill and the art of the labourer have been overlooked, and he has been vilified; while the work of his hands has been worshiped.“

— Thomas Hodgskin British writer 1787 - 1869

Source: Labour Defended against the Claims of Capital (1825), p. 66

Art

„The artist works out his own formulas; the interest of science lies in the art of making science.“

— Paul Valéry French poet, essayist, and philosopher 1871 - 1945

Moralités (1932)
Context: Science is feasible when the variables are few and can be enumerated; when their combinations are distinct and clear. We are tending toward the condition of science and aspiring to do it. The artist works out his own formulas; the interest of science lies in the art of making science.

Art, Science

„English: For his high level of work, a contribute for the Albanian art and for preparing the new generation of artists.“

— Sadik Kaceli Albanian artist 1914 - 2000

Për nivel të lartë në krijimtari, një kontribut në shquar në artet figurative Shqiptare dhe një ndihmë të pakursyer në përgatitjen e brezave të artistëve të rinj.
Sali Berisha, President of Albania (22-03-1994)

Art

„Too often in the past, we have thought of the artist as an idler and dilettante and of the lover of arts as somehow sissy and effete. We have done both an injustice. The life of the artist is, in relation to his work, stern and lonely. He has labored hard, often amid deprivation, to perfect his skill. He has turned aside from quick success in order to strip his vision of everything secondary or cheapening. His working life is marked by intense application and intense discipline.“

— John F. Kennedy 35th president of the United States of America 1917 - 1963

"LOOK Magazine Article 'The Arts in America' (552)" (18 December 1962) http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations.aspx
1962

Life, Art, Lovers, Success

„Who science has and art
He has religion too
Who neither of them owns
Religion is his due.“

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German writer, artist, and politician 1749 - 1832

Wer Wissenschaft und Kunst besitzt, / Hat auch Religion / Wer jene beiden nicht besitzt / Der habe Religion
As quoted in Jost Lemmerich's "Science and Conscience: The Life of James Franck" (2011), p. 261.
Variant translation: "The man who science has and art, He also has religion. But he who is devoid of both, He surely needs religion." (as quoted in "Homilies of science" by Paul Carus (1892) and The Open Court, Weekly Journal, Vol. II (1887).
Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre (Apprenticeship) (1786–1830)

Religion, Art, Science

„A creative artist works on his next composition because he is not satisfied with his previous one. When he loses a critical attitude toward his own work, he ceases to be an artist.“

— Dmitri Shostakovich Russian composer and pianist 1906 - 1975

New York Times, October 25, 1959.

„Calcutta is like a work of modern art that neither makes sense nor has utility, but exists for some esoteric aesthetic reason.“

— Amit Chaudhuri contemporary Indian-English novelist 1962

A Strange and Sublime Address (1991)

Art, Sense

„Art is not for the personal satisfaction of one or the other, but art wants to return all what’s in life… Art wants to give back everything what’s in our lives. The more comprehensive the artist stands in life the more powerful his work will speak, and therefore a work of art is a measure of the mental size of his creator.“

— Bram van Velde Dutch painter 1895 - 1981

Letter to H. E. Kramer, 25-10-1926, as quoted in: Bram van Velde, A Tribute, Municipal Museum De Lakenhal Leiden, Municipal Museum Schiedam, Museum de Wieger, Deurne 1994, p. 44 (English translation: Charlotte Burgmans)
1920's

Life, Art, Personality

„In the remote purity of his solitariness, where the work of art is made, the artist is supremely the anti-social creature.“

— Patrick Swift British artist 1927 - 1983

X magazine (1959-62)
Context: It is not necessary to subscribe to the tiresome conception of the artist as rampaging Bohemian to understand that the activity of painting is socially useless, or at best occupies a dubious position... In the remote purity of his solitariness, where the work of art is made, the artist is supremely the anti-social creature.

Art

„Art is internal and external. The repose a person feels in aesthetic creation comes from his, for the time, feeling he is what he is and also what he is not. Ego and otherness don't fight for the while. The artist feels he has reached form in the deepest places of his personality, because things outside himself have been see courageously, truly, respectfully by him.“

— Eli Siegel Latvian-American poet, philosopher 1902 - 1978

Everything Has to Do with Hardness and Softness (1969)

Art, Feeling, Courage, Time

„Before the blank canvas, the unrealized work, completely in the artist’s head, must seem to him equal to the greatest. To say that which has never been said – is the reason for all artistic work. But only outside of the work should the artist worthily get down on his knees before the great artists of the past... Rembrandt in our days would be Rembrandt again, because the work of the master is his self. But in order to be Rembrandt in our days, he would have used new ways that would give a new culture.“

— Marianne von Werefkin expressionist painter 1860 - 1938

Vol. 1: 'My beautiful One, My Unique!', pp. 130-140
1895 - 1905, Lettres à un Inconnu, 1901 – 1905; Museo Communale, Ascona

Way, Past

„If the genius is an artist, then he accomplishes his work as art, but neither he nor his work of art has a telos outside him.“

Sören Kierkegaard309

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