List of Robert Henri Quotes

Perhaps Whatever There Is In My Work That May Be Really Interesting To Others And Surely What Is Interesting To Me, Is The Result Of A Sometimes Successful Effort To Free Myself From Any Idea That What I Produce Must Be Art.

Each Sensation Is Precious, Protect It, Cherish It, Keep It. Never Give It Away. You Must Develop That Balance Which Allows All Of The World To Come In To You, And Only That Which You Have Expressed In Your Art To Move Back Out Again Into The World.

If You Think Of A School Drawing While You Work, Your Drawing Will Look Like One.

All Is As Beautiful As We Think It.

There Are People Who Buy Pictures Because They Were Difficult To Do, And Are Done. Such Pictures Are Often Only A Record Of Pain And Dull Perseverance. Great Works Of Art Should Look As Though They Were Made In Joy. Real Joy Is A Tremendous Activity, Dull Drudgery Is Nothing To It.

Finished Persons Are Very Common - People Who Are Closed Up, Quite Satisfied That There Is Little More To Learn

Art Is Certainly Not A Pursuit For Anyone Who Wants To Make Money.

You Form A Society: That Limits You. Adopt A Name, And You've Limited Yourself Again; Draw Up A Constitution And Bylaws And You've Made A Groove, A Rut, That Hampers Your Growth. You Think You Can Fix Your Course And Move Straight Along It. But Sometimes The Important Thing Is To Strike Out Sidewise.

Because We Are Saturated With Life, Because We Are Human, Our Strongest Motive Is Life, Humanity; And The Stronger The Motive Back Of The Line The Stronger, And Therefore More Beautiful, The Line Will Be.

It Is Harder To See Than It Is To Express. The Whole Value Of Art Rests In The Artist's Ability To See Well Into What Is Before Him. ... The Model Will Serve Equally For A Rembrandt Drawing Or For Anybody's Magazine Cover. A Genius Is One Who Can See. The Others Can Often 'draw' Remarkably Well. ... Those Who Get Their Technique First, Expecting Sight To Come To Them Later, Get A Technique Of A Very Ready-made Order.

Work Always As If You Were A Master, Expect From Yourself A Masterpiece.

Do Not Expect Pictures To Say The Expected; Some Of The Best Will Have Surprises For You, Which Will, At First, Shock You.

If You Work From Memory, You Are Most Likely To Put In Your Real Feeling.

By My Teaching I Hope To Inspire You To Personal Activity And To Present Your Vision.

Has Your Drawing The Meaning You Saw In The Model At First?

There Is Nothing In All The World More Beautiful Or Significant Of The Laws Of The Universe Than The Nude Human Body.

Things Should All Be Moving Toward The Expression Of A Great Idea.

All Manifestations Of Art Are But Landmarks In The Progress Of The Human Spirit Toward A Thing But As Yet Sensed And Far From Being Possessed.

The Model Is Not To Be Copied, But To Be Realized.

Concentrate On A Single Feature - As, Build All Toward One Eye - Make All Lines Lead Toward That Eye.

All The Past Up To A Moment Ago Is Your Legacy. You Have A Right To It.

The Real Artist's Work Is A Surprise To Himself.

Beauty Is An Intangible Thing; Can Not Be Fixed On The Surface, And The Wear And Tear Of Old Age On The Body Cannot Defeat It. Nor Will A "pretty" Face Make It, For "pretty" Faces Are Often Dull And Empty, And Beauty Is Never Dull And It Fills All Spaces.

I Am Interested In The Size Of Your Intention. It Is Better To Overstate The Important Than To Understate It.