Recently I have been working in the country, where, carving in the open air, I find sculpture more natural than in a London studio, but it needs bigger dimensions. A large piece of stone or wood placed almost anywhere at random in a field, orchard, or garden, immediately looks right and inspiring.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the natural beauty and inspiration that can be found in working with art outdoors compared to a studio setting.
Henry Moore emphasizes the value of creating art in natural surroundings, suggesting that the outdoor environment enhances the artistic process and the presence of large sculptures in open spaces can evoke a sense of inspiration and harmony with nature. He conveys that the organic interaction between the artwork and its environment leads to an aesthetic that feels 'right' and is deeply connected to the landscape.
In practice
This quote could be shared during an art exhibition to highlight the significance of outdoor art.
I find in all the artists that I admire most a disturbing element, a distortion, giving evidence of a struggle . . . . In great art, this conflict is hidden, it is unresolved. All that is bursting with energy is disturbing - not perfect.
Between beauty of expression and power of expression there is a difference of function. The first aims at pleasing the senses, the second has a spiritual vitality which for me is more moving and goes deeper than the senses.
A work can have in it a pent-up energy, an intense life of its own, independent of the subject it may represent.
I have always liked drawing, when you draw you see things more intensely.
The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do.
All art is an abstraction to some degree.
The poignancy of a photograph comes from looking back to a fleeting moment in a floating world. The transitoriness is what creates the sense of the sacred
A story is a living thing, it moves and shifts.
I like things that go into hidden, mysterious places, places I want to explore that are very disturbing. In that disturbing thing, there is sometimes tremendous poetry and truth.
I am like a caricature of myself, and I like that. It is like a mask. And for me the Carnival of Venice lasts all year long.
As art sinks into paralysis, artists multiply. This anomaly ceases to be one if we realize that art, on its way to exhaustion, has become both impossible and easy.
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st But in his motion like an angel sings.
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