I never said the camera was truth. It is, however, a more accurate and more objective way of seeing.
Chuck CloseRead
You know, the way art history is taught, often there's nothing that tells you why the painting is great. The description of a lousy painting and the description of a great painting will very much sound the same.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art education often fails to explain the intrinsic value of great works, making them seem similar to lesser pieces.
Chuck Close highlights a significant flaw in how art history is often taught, suggesting that the focus on mere description overlooks the deeper qualities that make certain works of art truly exceptional. This critique invites a reevaluation of art education to emphasize understanding and appreciation over simplistic comparison.
Themes
ArtEducationAppreciationHistoryPainting
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on art, a professor might use this quote to illustrate the need for a deeper analysis of artworks.
More from Chuck Close
All quotes →A photograph doesn't gain weight or lose weight, or change from being happy to being sad. It's frozen. You can use it, then recycle it.
Chuck CloseRead
The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work.
Chuck CloseRead
Neurologically, I'm a quadriplegic, so virtually everything about my work has been driven by my learning disabilities, which are quite severe, and my lack of facial recognition, which I'm sure is what drove me to paint portraits in the first place.
Chuck CloseRead
Part of the joy of looking at art is getting in sync in some ways with the decision-making process that the artist used and the record that's embedded in the work.
Chuck CloseRead
Losing my father at a tender age was extremely important in being able to accept what happened to me later when I became a quadriplegic.
Chuck CloseRead
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