Robert Adams Quotes

We should always remember that sensitiveness and emotion constitute the real content of a work of art.

The activity of art is... as important as the activity of language itself, and as universal.

How do I define a work of art? It is not an asset in the stock-exchange sense, but a man's timid attempt to repeat the miracle that the simplest peasant girl is capable of at any time, that of magically producing life out of nothing.

If art is not to be life-enhancing, what is it to be?

We have our Arts so we won't die of Truth.

A work of art rests its merits in traditional qualities. It may constitute a remarkable feat in craftsmanship; it may be a searching study of psychological states; it may be a nostalgic glance backward; it may be any one of an infinite number of concepts, none of which may have any possible bearing upon its degree of newness.

What interests me most is when a work of art is no longer just an object, but also touches reality and life.

I don't believe in art. I believe in artists.

There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain.

A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual.

Art evokes emotion. It doesn't have to be a thing of beauty.

I think art is not an ornament or refinement at the fringes of human intelligence, I think it's at the center. It's at the core.

If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for?

I believe art is utterly important. It is one of the things that could save us.

Art in relation to life is nothing more than a glove turned inside out. It seems to have the same shapes and contours, but it can never be used for the same purpose. Art teaches nothing about life, just as life teaches us nothing about art.

We started to confuse entertainment with art, because art has a component of entertainment. It has to have that or it becomes too boring. It becomes too lost in its own devices. But I just think that we started to lose, and even before that, it's not necessary.

In Europe they understand that the arts are incredibly important both culturally and economically.

Art is the highest form of hope.

The power of works of art still continues to be secretly nourished by imitation... kitsch

Those who are concerned with the arts are often asked questions, not always sympathetic ones, about the use or value of what they are doing. It is probably impossible to answer such questions directly, or at any rate to answer the people who ask them.

We possess art lest we perish of the truth.

Even luxuries are arranged according to ideas and ideals, to make them reflect as much of thought-life as possible - and this is Art.

The word "art" does not designate the concept of a mere eventuality; it is a concept of rank.

Henry James proposed asking of art three modest and appropriate questions: What is the artist trying to do? Does he do it? Was it worth doing?

Art is the most benign cultural practice, and yet art has an upper bound of personal revelation that is so far away it is basically a horizon.