To abstract is to draw out the essence of a matter. To abstract in art is to separate certain fundamentals from irrelevant material which surrounds them. Ben Shahn More Quotes by Ben Shahn More Quotes From Ben Shahn I believe that if it were left to artists to choose their own labels, most would choose none. Ben Shahn labels artist believe An ametuer is an artist who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint. A professional is someone whose wife works to enable him to paint. Ben Shahn wife artist jobs The artist is likely to be looked upon with some uneasiness by the more conservative members of society. Ben Shahn members conservative artist Of course I realize that photography is not the technical facility as much as it is the eye, and this decision that one makes for the moment at which you are going to snap, you know. Ben Shahn eye photography decision It may be a point of great pride to have a Van Gogh on the living room wall, but the prospects of having Van Gogh himself in the living room would put a great many devoted art lovers to rout. Ben Shahn wall pride art Art almost always has its ingredient of impudence, its flouting of established authority, so that it may substitute its own authority and its own enlightenment. Ben Shahn enlightenment may art I became interested in photography when I was sharing a studio with Walker Evans, and found my own sketching was inadequate. Ben Shahn sketching photography found To abstract is to draw out the essence of a matter. Ben Shahn abstract essence matter The natural reaction of the artist will be strongly towards bringing man back into focus as the center of importance. Ben Shahn focus artist men Every great historic change has been based on nonconformity, has been bought either with the blood or with the reputation of nonconformists. Ben Shahn reputation war blood It is the mission of art to remind man from time to time that he is human, and the time is ripe, just now, today, for such a reminder. Ben Shahn today men art The popular eye is not untrained; it is only wrongly trained - trained by inferior and insincere visual representations. Ben Shahn visuals vision eye I love chaos.... It's the poetic element in a dull and ordered world. Ben Shahn elements dull world The apprehension of... values is intuitive; but it is not a built-in intuition, not something with which one is born. Intuition in art is actually the result of... prolonged tuition. Ben Shahn intuition born art The artist must operate on the assumption that the public consists in the highest order of individual; that he is civilized, cultured, and highly sensitive both to emotional and intellectual contexts. And while the whole public most certainly does not consist in that sort of individual, still the tendency of art is to create such a public - to lift the level of perceptivity, to increase and enrich the average individual's store of values... I believe that it is in a certain devotion to concepts of truth that we discover values. Ben Shahn emotional believe art If one has set for himself the position that his painting shall not misconstrue his personal mode of thinking, then he must be rather alert to just what he does think. Ben Shahn painting doe thinking Being an artist is not only what you do, but how you live your life. Ben Shahn being-an-artist live-your-life artist I was primarily interested in people, and people in action, so that I did nothing photographically in the sense of doing buildings for their own sake or a still life or anything like that. Ben Shahn sake action people I was brought in, not in the photographic department at all, I was brought in on a thing called Special Skills. I was to do posters, pamphlets, murals, propaganda in general, you know. Ben Shahn propaganda skills special Now, when I came on to Washington to begin my job, I was so interested in photography at that time that I really would have preferred to work with Stryker than with my department, which was more artistic if you wish. Ben Shahn photography wish jobs
