A Quote by Sol LeWitt

Artists teach critics what to think. Critics repeat what the artists teach them.

Sol LeWitt

Quote Topics

Artists Critics Repeat Teach Them Think

Quote Author

Sol LeWitt
American - Artist
September 9, 1928 - April 8, 2007

I relied mainly on other artists, who I think are smarter than critics, any critics or curators or anybody like that. They really know.

Robert Barry

It's not curators, it's not critics, it's not the public, it's not collectors who find great artists - it's other artists.

David Galenson

Artists... do not need the applause or condemnation of the critics, the ideas of other artists, or the demands of the collectors.

Robert Genn

New artists will be discovered and trained. Moreover, when the artists who've gone abroad return home, they can share and pass on skills and knowledge to their peers here. I am certain their stints abroad will make them better artists and mentors. It will teach them discipline and independence. It will broaden their horizons.

Ryan Cayabyab

I think at one point, a whole new younger generation of critics come in and they're really aware of zeitgeist in their group, and the older artists tend to get forgotten as their critics retire and do other things or stop paying attention. So there's a factor of aging that I think is to be considered, too. As a middle-aged artist, you kind of get put on a shelf for the young ones.

Michael C. McMillen

I don't want to be the cranky old guy, but a lot of critics are too forgiving of mediocre artists. When you see these 'American Idol' people on the cover of 'Rolling Stone' being written about as serious artists, there's something wrong with that. You can erase them from the history of rock n' roll, and you wouldn't notice.

Robert Hilburn

You can't teach talent. You can't teach inspiration. You can teach people critical facilities. You can give them techniques. You can teach discipline. And you can teach them about the business.

Anna Deavere Smith

Immortality is a by-product of good work. Masterpieces are not for artists, they're for critics. Critics can't even make music by rubbing their back legs together. My message to the world is 'Let's swing, sing, shout, make noise! Let's not mimic death before our time comes! Let's be wet and noisy!'

Mel Brooks

I'd teach them to read and to dream and to look at the stars and wonder. I'd teach them the value of imagination. I'd teach them to play every bit as hard as they worked. And I'd teach them that all the brains in the world can't compensate for love.

Karen Marie Moning

The thing about living in New York is that there are other artists; that is the most difficult, I think they are the hardest critics.

Julian Schnabel

There are television critics, movie critics, and theater critics too who I like and who I follow and I get genuinely bummed when they don't like something that I've written because I usually agree with them.

Aaron Sorkin

When critics ask you if you feel vindicated by other critics - I didn't like critics then, and I don't like them now. There you go. I've always been outside the mainstream, and it stayed that way.

Lou Reed

I get a great laugh from artists who ridicule the critics as parasites and artists manqués — sucha horrible joke. I can’t imagine a more perfect art form, a moreperfect career than criticism. I can’t imagine anything more valuableto do.

Manny Farber

You know, I didn't write my books for critics and scholars. I wrote them for students and artists. When I hear how much my work has meant to them--well, I can't tell you how happy that makes me. That means that this great stuff of myth, which I have been so privileged to work with, will be kept alive for a whole new generation. That's the function of the artists, you know, to reinterpret the old stories and make them come alive again, in poetry, painting, and now in movies.

Joseph Campbell

When we teach a child to sing or play the flute, we teach her how to listen. When we teach her to draw, we teach her to see. When we teach a child to dance, we teach him about his body and about space, and when he acts on a stage, he learns about character and motivation. When we teach a child design, we reveal the geometry of the world. When we teach children about the folk and traditional arts and the great masterpieces of the world, we teach them to celebrate their roots and find their own place in history.