The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person.

The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person.

You know... that a blank wall is an apalling thing to look at. The wall of a museum - a read more

You know... that a blank wall is an apalling thing to look at. The wall of a museum - a canvas - a piece of film - or a guy sitting in front of a typewriter. Then, you start out to do something - that vague thing called creation. The beginning strikes awe within you.

Giving jazz the Congressional seal of approval is a little like making Huck Finn an honorary Boy Scout.

Giving jazz the Congressional seal of approval is a little like making Huck Finn an honorary Boy Scout.

An artist never really finishes his work, he merely abandons it.

An artist never really finishes his work, he merely abandons it.

Art is permitted to survive only if it renounces the right to be different, and integrates itself into the omnipotent read more

Art is permitted to survive only if it renounces the right to be different, and integrates itself into the omnipotent realm of the profane.

Twentieth-century art may start with nothing, but it flourishes by virtue of its belief in itself, in the possibility of read more

Twentieth-century art may start with nothing, but it flourishes by virtue of its belief in itself, in the possibility of control over what seems essentially uncontrollable, in the coherence of the inchoate, and in its ability to create its own values.

Portraits are supposed to "look within," but in my opinion very few people have an interior significantly different from the read more

Portraits are supposed to "look within," but in my opinion very few people have an interior significantly different from the outside portrait.

What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, read more

What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, and replaced by a new dish.

All that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitates read more

All that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.