"Every work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, the mother of our emotions. It follows that each period of culture produces an art of its own which can never be repeated. Efforts to revive the art-principles of the past will at best produce an art that is still-born. It is impossible for us to live and feel, as did the ancient Greeks. In the same way those who strive to follow the Greek methods in sculpture achieve only a similarity of form, the work remaining soulless for all time. Such imitation is mere aping. Externally the monkey completely resembles a human being; he will sit holding a book in front of his nose, and turn over the pages with a thoughtful aspect, but his actions have for him no real meaning."
React to this quote
More by Wassily Kandinsky
See allResonant Thoughts
"Upon the low value of "constructive" criticism I can offer testimony out of my own experience. My books have been commonly reviewed at length, and many critics have devoted themselves to pointing out …"
"These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or in the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are fo…"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"Tomorrow, Napoleon will be under our ramparts."
— Napoleon I of France"The more injuries you get, the smarter you get."
— Mikhail Baryshnikov"The left claims that the guilty party in a conflict is not the one who covets another’s goods but the one w…"
— Nicolás Gómez Dávila"In tetrad form, the artefact is seen to be not netural or passive, but an active logos or utterance of the …"
— Marshall McLuhan"The days .... come and go like muffled and veiled figures, sent from a distant friendly party; but they say…"
— Ralph Waldo Emerson"When it comes to upsetting apple tarts, Bertie's definitely our man Sunday Independent, 2001-10-14"
— Bertie Ahern

