Robert Henri Quotes

You start blocking out things, and that's a really important part of taking a picture is the ability to isolate what you're - what you're concentrating on.

It's an ear job, not an eye job.

A lot of painters listen to music, I think, while they paint. But I hate to do that. It's a horror. I can't really listen to the music. I'm not really concentrating on it, and I'm not really concentrating on the painting.

It is a process of diverting one's scattered forces into one powerful channel.

If you're really in the process of photographing, you are absolutely aware. You are looking.

Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one's aim.

I never listen to music when I write.

The art of photography is all about directing the attention of the viewer.

I'm not photographing anything naked these days. I haven't been concentrating on bodies recently.

Although I've made notes for things and even written synopses sitting in trains or on park benches, for the complete composition of things I need absolute solitude, preferably an empty house.

Any artist that's involved in their work is inevitably going to have a focus in what they do.

Learning lines is on my mind until I do know them. I'll read the paper or paint the house to keep from starting to memorize. I've never found an easy way.

I can concentrate on my art.

Classical music requires an immense amount of concentration, and I don't know if I would've been that committed to that particular life.

I'm a believer that you shouldn't really talk about the drawing until you're done with the drawing.

Anytime you look at someone in detail, you're putting the camera on that person. What I typically look for is one or two or three really strong characters who will hold the narrative throughout the work.

You can never know your lines well enough, and you better listen.

I've got a hundred thousand things on my mind that are taking precedence over trying to make pop collaborations.

... I'm sort of a nervous person with the camera, so I will just shoot arbitrarily until I can focus and compose something, and then I make a shot. So generally, in [the] proof sheets, there are only three or four really concentrated efforts to take a photograph. It's not like a professional kind of person who sets it up so every photograph looks really cool.

Like when you have the right title for something you're writing and you get lost - you can always go back to the title and go, "Yeah, that's what this is about."

Thinking should be done beforehand and afterwards - never while actually taking a photograph.

How do you remember all those lines? By forgetting everything else.

Keep your eyes on the finish line and not on the turmoil around you.

And after drawing comes composition. A well-composed painting is half done

If I'm really working on something, writing or painting or really concentrating, I don't even think about brushing my hair.