“Your everyday surroundings should be studied best and most thoroughly. Those are the lines on which Art in former times proceeded to glory. Our old masters were narrowed down to the home circle a good deal more closely than we.”
--Adolph von Menzel (1815-1905), quote from The Drawings of Adolph Von Menzel, available from Archiv.org
Menzel's oil study, "Sister Emily Sleeping" is from Wikimedia Commons.
Ah, what a wise thought. Really nails down that the most original ideas we have are the closest our personal understandings. Thanks for posting it!
ReplyDeleteA thought-provoking quote. I'm not sure exactly why, but it makes me think about the advice to: "Draw (paint) what you see, know what you know." Like every other art instruction that I can think of, there are situations when the "rule" should be broken. There's also a point at which what you "know" affects and even can change what you "see". I guess that's what this post is making me ponder.
ReplyDeleteOf course I mis-typed that war horse art advice. I should have typed "Draw what you see, not what you know." (instead of "know what you know")
ReplyDeleteThanks for these comments. Another interesting thought from the artist “I early cultivated the habit of drawing things as though I were never to see them again.”More artworks from him can be found here: WahooArt.com
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