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October 24, 2007
a sense of culture
Cartier-Bresson, who as a young man hunted boar and antelope in Africa before picking up a camera, intuitively noted the invasive aspect inherent in the relationship between any artist and his model when he said, “There is something appalling about photographing people. It is certainly some sort of violation; so if sensitivity is lacking, there can be something barbaric about it.”
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"I call myself an artisan," he explains. "Technoscience has destroyed artisanship. Anyone with sensitivity is potentially an artist. But then you must have concentration besides sensitivity. Degas was right when he said something like 'You must copy, copy, before you are entitled to pain a radish from nature.' He meant you have to learn from others, from the past. Art for people today starts with Duchamp. But Conceptual thinking is like walking with your head instead of your legs. You need a sense of culture to cultivate yourself. It's the difference between writing a tract and literature."
Michael Kimmelman
Posted by amin at October 24, 2007 5:15 PM