“I grant you that the artist does not see Nature as she appears to the vulgar, because his emotion reveals to him the hidden truths beneath appearances.
But, after all, the only principle in Art is to copy what you see. Dealers in esthetics to the contrary, every other method is fatal. There is no recipe for improving nature.”
Source: Art, 1912, Ch. I. Realism in Art, p. 33
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Auguste Rodin 73
French sculptor 1840–1917Related quotes

Propylaea (1798) Introduction

RODIN, AUGUSTE. L'Art. Entretiens réunis par Paul Gsell, 1911

1910 - 1915
Source: On the Spiritual in Art, 1911; as quoted in Schönberg and Kandinsky: An Historic Encounter, by Klaus Kropfinger; edited by Konrad Boehmer; published by Routledge (imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informal company), 2003, p. 15

undated quotes, The Daily Practice of Painting, Writings (1962-1993)

Attributed to Auguste Rodin by Isadora Duncan, As quoted in Modern Dancing and Dancers (1912) by John Ernest Crawford Flitch, p. 105.
1900s-1940s

RODIN, AUGUSTE. L'Art. Entretiens réunis par Paul Gsell, 1911

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)

“Copy nature and you infringe on the work of our Lord. Interpret nature and you are an artist.”
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