John Updike Quotes

The best of any artist is in their art.

Many have genius, but, wanting art, are forever dumb. The two must go together to form the great poet, painter, or sculptor.

The art gods cooked up something special for James Ensor.

It is not your paintings I like, it is your painting.

Imagination without skill gives us contemporary art.

A great artist is a great man in a great child.

Picasso is still influencing me. Of course, I haven't got that kind of energy, or skill.

A proof of really great art is that it is generally true - it seldom falls into the misapprehensions to which minor art is liable.

I think that an artist should be a skilled craftsman.

I'm not saying I'm the best. There are many painters in the world. But there is only one Picasso.

Clare Henderson creates the most beautiful delicate prints and paintings.

If Picasso walked into Disney looking for a job, they would throw him out on the street. Couldn't draw good enough.

Not all art is great; most of it's rubbish.

Great art is the contempt of a great man for small art.

The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.

I wish I was better at art. I love some of the great artists of the 19th century and, compared to them, I just feel I lack this technique that they had. They have so much skill.

My paintings are rubbish.

Technique! The very word is like a shriek of outraged Art. It is the idiot name given to effort by those who are too weak, too weary, or too dull to play the game. The mighty have no theory of technique.

Unfortunately, the Egyptians weren't the greatest artists in the world.

I don't think there's any formula for what makes great art.

The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.

Unless the work of art has wholly exhausted its maker's attention, it fails. This is why works of great significance are demanding and why they are infinitely rewarding.

There are forms of art that I might not like to do myself, but I still have respect for the artists who create it.

The only thing they can't teach you at art school is art.

Who's going to ask a painter to see a diploma? They'd say, 'Can I see your paintings?', wouldn't they?