Pearls from artists* # 97
“No Cure for Insomnia,” pastel on sandpaper, 58″ x 38″
* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.
“Art should be independent of all clap-trap – should stand alone, and appeal to the artistic sense of eye or ear, without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it, as devotion, pity, love, patriotism, and the like,” he wrote in The Gentle Art of Making Enemies.
Take the picture of my mother, exhibited at the Royal Academy as an “Arrangement in Grey and Black.” Now that is what it is. To me it is interesting as a picture of my mother; but what can or ought the public to care about the identity of the portrait?
James McNeill Whistler quoted in Whistler: The Enraged Genius by Christopher Benfey in The New York Review of Books, June 5, 2014
Comments are welcome!
Posted on June 25, 2014, in 2014, An Artist's Life, Art in general, Domestic Threats, Inspiration, Painting in General, Pearls from Artists, Quotes and tagged "Arrangement in Grey and Black", "New York Review of Books", "No Cure for Insomnia", "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies", "Whistler: The Enraged Genius", alone, appeal, art, artistic, care, Christopher Benfey, clap-trap, confounding, devotion, ear, emotions, entirely, exhibited, eye, foreign, identity, independent, interesting, James McNeill Whistler, love, mother, pastel-on-sandpaper, patriotism, picture, pity, portrait, public, Royal Academy, sense, stand. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
barbararachkoscoloreddust.com 
I absolutely love the title/subtitle “The Enraged Genius.” Both ‘enraged’ and ‘genius’ are diabolic, infused, explosive words when used properly — but of course they are rarely used because being enraged and being a genius are also (apparently) rare. There’s a question in that breach.
Carol, I just tried to forward the NYRB article to you, but it’s not available online yet. Benfey’s article appears in the June 5 (hard-copy) issue.
Once again great insight and a cool work to boot .
okay, thanks Barbara. I was just wondering when you’d be down here again with Kit Kat. I could visit him. That’d be wonderful. Let me know. We could also go to lunch.
Thank you, Carol. I’ll be down on July 7 for a few days, but will have lots to do to get ready for Guatemala and my cousin’s son’s move into my house. We’ll see how the time goes.