Robert Henri Quotes - Page 3

Do whatever you do intensely.

Everything depends on the attitude of the artist toward his subject. It is essential.

You pass people on the street, some are for you, some are not.

The only sensible way to regard the art life is that it is a privilege you are willing to pay for... You may cite honors and attentions and even money paid, but I would have you note that these were paid a long time after the creator had gone through his struggles.

Art tends toward balance, order, judgment of relative values, the laws of growth, the economy of living – very good things for anyone to be interested in.

Don't worry about your originality. You couldn't get rid of it even if you wanted to. It will stick with you and show up for better or worse in spite of all you or anyone else can do.

Knowledge of anatomy is a tool like good brushes.

Cherish your own emotions and never undervalue them.

The pernicious influence of the prize and medal giving in art is so great that it should be stopped. History proves that juries in art have been generally wrong.

Know what the old masters did. Know how they composed their pictures, but do not fall into the conventions they established. These conventions were right for them, and they are wonderful. They made their language. You make yours. All the past can help you.

Don't worry about the rejections. Everybody that's good has gone through it. Don't let it matter if your works are not "accepted" at once. The better or more personal you are the less likely they are of acceptance.

If the artist's will is not strong he will see all kinds of unessential things.

The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence. In such moments activity is inevitable, and whether this activity is with brush, pen, chisel, or tongue, its result is but a by-product of the state, a trace, the footprint of the state.

In certain books—some way in the first few paragraphs you know that you have met a brother.

The true artist regards his work as a means of talking with men [and women], of saying his say to himself and to others. It is not a question of pay.

Good composition is like a suspension bridge - each line adds strength and takes none away.

Art when really understood is the province of every human being. It is simply a question of doing things, anything, well. It is not an outside, extra thing.

It is harder to see than it is to express. The whole value of art rests in the artist's ability to see well into what is before him.

Life is finding yourself. It is a spirit development.

All real works of art look as though they were done in joy.

Today must not be a souvenir of yesterday, and so the struggle is everlasting. Who am I today? What do I see today? How shall I use what I know, and how shall I avoid being victim of what I know? Life is not repetition.

Paint like a fiend when the idea possesses you.

It's a wrong idea that a master is a finished person. Masters are very faulty; they haven't learned everything and they know it.

There are pictures that manifest education and there are pictures that manifest love.

Do whatever you do intensely. The artist is the man who leaves the crowd and goes pioneering. With him there is an idea which is his life.