Auguste Rodin Quotes

The sculptor must paint with his chisel; half his touches are not to realize, but to put power into, the form. They are touches of light and shadow, and raise a ridge, or sink a hollow, not to represent an actual ridge or hollow, but to get a line of light, or a spot of darkness.

Most of the power of painting comes through the manipulation of space... but I don't understand that.

Painting from life is a completely different monster, which I like. But because I've been painting from photography for so long, I've learned my best moves from photography.

The artist does not see both eyes alike. There is always 'the eye' and the other eye... It adds life and plasticity to the drawing if the eye in the light is darker than the one in the shadow. It gives the head vividness.

In every picture there should be shade as well as light.

In the hands of a master, light and shade is one of the great qualities of art.

I suppose I envy painters because they can meditate on form and structure, on color and light, and not concern themselves with human torment and chaos. It is restful even to imagine expression without words.

Shadows which you see with difficulty, and whose boundaries you cannot define... these you should not represent as finished or sharply defined, for the result would be that your work would seem wooden.

Darkness is absence of light. Shadow is diminution of light.

In a face, look for the main light and the main shadow; the rest will come naturally — it's often not important. And then you must cultivate your memory, because Nature will only provide you with references. Nature is like a warden in a lunatic asylum. It stops you from becoming banal.

... there are shadows because there are hills.

The world is in balance . To light a candle is to cast a shadow.

A colourist makes his presence known even in a simple charcoal drawing.

When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow.

I learned from Seurat this important thing about colour and light, that 'a light' can be built from colour. I learned a great deal about interaction, that 'a blue' in different parts will play all sorts of different roles.

A luminous body will appear more brilliant in proportion as it is surrounded by deeper shadow.

Since light is best expressed through differences in color quality, color should not be handled as a tonal gradation, to produce the effect of light.

Even in art, there is no light without shadows, and no shadows are cast without some light. Even the shadow of Adolf Hitler is accompanied by some light.

Where the light is brightest, the shadows are deepest.

I see only forms that are lit up and forms that are not. There is only light and shadow.

I'm interested in the landscape of the face, the way in which light and shadow fall across the forms. That's really my subject matter.

Its when the sun shines the brightest that our shadows appear the biggest

The Lord of Light in his wisdom made us male and female, two parts of a greater whole. In our joining there is power. Power to make life. Power to make light. Power to cast shadows.

Shadow is the obstruction of light. Shadows appear to me to be of supreme importance in perspective, because, without them opaque and solid bodies will be ill defined; that which is contained within their outlines and their boundaries themselves will be ill-understood unless they are shown against a background of a different tone from themselves.

It seemed to me that it was possible to translate light, forms, and character using nothing but color, without recourse to values.