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picasso quote: was the voice of the clay or "just a tool" - pat's observation...

updated mon 8 sep 08

 

James F on sun 7 sep 08


Clay folk...

I would very much like to authenticate and locate the source of Lee's Picas=
so quotation=2C but have thus far been unable to do so. I found two web re=
ferences to it=2C but none cite any authority. Has anyone on the list=2C e=
specially the art history types=2C come across this quotation? Can anyone =
provide any authority or proof source? It seems odd that a "charlatan" or =
"mountebank" would publish a Mea Culpa over 20 years before his death and w=
hile still actively engaged in his supposed hoax. If genuine=2C it is the =
map to El Dorado!

Thanks in advance for any insight or direction you might provide. All the =
best.

...James

> Date: Sun=2C 7 Sep 2008 03:14:28 +0000
> From: jsfreeman@HOTMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: The voice of the Clay Or "Just a tool" - Pat's observation..=
.
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>
> Lee...
>
> This is a fascinating quotation=2C if genuine. Can you provide a proper a=
ttribution or proof source? It seems 'too good to be true'. Thanks.
>
> ...James
>
>>
>> 'From the moment that art ceases to be food that feeds the best minds=2C
>> the artist can use his talents to perform all the tricks of the
>> intellectual charlatan. Most people can today no longer expect to
>> receive consolation and exaltation from art. 'The 'refined=2C' the rich=
=2C
>> the professional 'do-nothings'=2C the distillers of quintessence desire
>> only the peculiar=2C the sensational=2C the eccentric=2C the scandalous =
in
>> today's art. I myself=2C since the advent of Cubism=2C have fed these
>> fellows what they wanted and satisfied these critics with all the
>> ridiculous ideas that have passed through my mind. 'The less they
>> understood them=2C the more they admired me. Through amusing myself with
>> all these absurd farces=2C I became celebrated=2C and very rapidly. For =
a
>> painter=2C celebrity means sales and consequent affluence. Today=2C as y=
ou
>> know=2C I am celebrated=2C I am rich. 'But when I am alone=2C I do not h=
ave
>> the effrontery to consider myself an artist at all=2C not in the grand
>> old meaning of the word: Giotto=2C Titian=2C Rembrandt=2C Goya were grea=
t
>> painters. I am only a public clown--a mountebank. 'I have understood
>> my time and have exploited the imbecility=2C the vanity=2C the greed of =
my
>> contemporaries. It is a bitter confession=2C this confession of mine=2C
>> more painful than it may seem. But at least and at last it does have
>> the merit of being honest.'
>>
>> - Pablo Picasso 1952
>>
>
>
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