Ngaio Marsh Quotes

Artists are free to push boundaries to make art. But when pushing boundaries is their only aim, the result is usually bad art.

...if I can do it, it's not art.

The fact that cartoons are reproduced doesn't mean anything to me as far as whether they are "real art" or not.

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.

The greatness of art is not to find what is common but what is unique.

People understand what art is supposed to look like, and so it's easy to make something that looks like art but isn't - especially in an abstract form.

I'd rather have people really be able to step back and get their money's worth and look at me as a true artist than somebody who is just regurgitating other material.

You can't just take an image and randomly distort it and call it art - although many people in La Jolla where I come from do precisely that.

There's a great difference between being popular and being an artist.

To do a dull thing with style-now that's what I call art.

Professionalism in art has this difficulty: To be professional is to be dependable, to be dependable is to be predictable, and predictability is esthetically boring - an anti-virtue in a field where we hope to be astonished and startled and at some deep level refreshed.

The concept of commercialism in the fashion and art world is looked down upon. You know, just to think, 'What amount of creativity does it take to make something that masses of people like?' And, 'How does creativity apply across the board?'

As soon as any art is pursued with a view of money, then farewell, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, all hope of genuine good work.

Didacticism is the death of art.

A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. Its beauty comes from the fact that the author is what he is. It has nothing to do with the fact that other people want what they want.

The problem with art is, it's not like the game of golf where you put the ball in the hole. There's no umpire; there's no judge. There are no rules. It's one of its problems. But it's also one of the great things about art. It becomes a question of what lasts.

Art should never try to be popular.

When art becomes merely shock value, our sense of humanity is slowly degraded.

Originality is another criterion of aesthetic value. We may formulate an originality principle, according to which highly valuable works of art provide hitherto unavailable insights.... Notice that, although originality is a necessary condition of high aesthetic value, it is far from a sufficient condition. Many original works have little or no aesthetic value. An artwork may present a novel but uninteresting perspective, or one that is original but wrong.

Art is not a pleasure, a solace, or an amusement; art is great matter.

Fine art is something wonderful that's left long into the future ... eternal beauty.

You must neither completely nor partially copy the art of others. If so, you will be producing kitsch.

Shall I tell you what I think are the two qualities of a work of art? First, it must be indescribable, and second, it must be inimitable.

Is it the obligation of great art to be continually interesting? I think not.