Edward Hopper Quotes

Restorers of paintings and pottery follow a code of conduct in their work to distinguish the original material from what they are adding later.

You don't restore 'The Last Supper' by filling in the missing bits - you preserve. You accept the material that has somehow survived.

Most art is fragile and some should be placed and never moved away.

I definitely am concerned with preservation. For me, what's interesting is the archival state, or how long oil paintings last.

The 19th century became the age of the museum. Objects were scrambled for, specimens seized, and friezes and antiques grasped.

Restoration is a skilled profession. You might even call it an art in its own right, except that it is frowned on to be original. First rule of restoration: follow the intention of the artist. Never try to improve on him.

Some of our greatest historical and artistic treasures we place in museums; others, we take for walks.

We are similar to a museum. My function is to present old masterpieces in modern frames.

The most basic task of any museum must be the protection of works of cultural significance entrusted to its care for the edification and pleasure of future generations.

Archaeology is not only the hand maid of history, it is also the conservator of art.

Our characteristic response to the mutilated statue, the bronze dug up from the earth, is revealing. It is not that we prefer time-worn bas-reliefs, or rusted statuettes as such, nor is it the vestiges of death that grip us in them, but those of life. Mutilation is the scar left by the struggle with Time, and a reminder of it - Time which is as much a part of ancient works of art as the material they are made of, and thrusts up through the fissures, from a dark underworld, where all is at once chaos and determinism.

If I owned a Rembrandt and it had some dull colors, I don't think I'd go put reds and yellows in there just to brighten it up. I feel the same way about old golf courses. When you have a masterpiece, I sure wouldn't tinker with it.

Before you throw it away, let Mighty Mendit save the day.

In places where this beauty has already disappeared, we will reconstruct it.

Since 1972, I've been going around making speeches on the Everglades.

I'm not a builder of buildings, I'm a builder of collections.

Every animal leaves traces of what it was; man alone leaves traces of what he created.

There is tragic evidence to show that the paintings at the French prehistoric art sites are deteriorating.

I have a wonderful make-up crew. They're the same people restoring the Statue of Liberty.

We were totally unprepared for such a large quantity of visitors, and in view of the preservation of the antiquities they being very crowded and in poor preservation, we were obliged to refuse admission until some preparation was made to safeguard the objects.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is unsurpassed at presenting more than 50 centuries of work. I go there constantly, seeing things over and over, better than I've ever seen them before.

Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old.

I'd like more of the world go back to being wild.

Like surgeons trying to save a life, the conservators and preservers at New York City museums dedicate themselves to ensuring the longevity of works of art for public view.

You don't let a historic site rot.