Recently I found this quote in a book about the modern artists of New Mexico, Voices in New Mexico Art published by the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe. Famous photographer Paul Strand is quoted in a letter to Sam Kootz in 1931.
"Artists tend either to think out loud about their technical problems…or…frequently erect some romantic philosophy – some elaborate and misleading rationalization. Possibly one reason for this is that the creative process involves a balance between conscious and intuitive elements, and a critical analysis of the artist’s own spirit of himself upsets the balance."
He also says,
"It seems to be the business of the critic, not of the artist, to get through…the artist’s essential attitude, not towards his medium but towards his world—life itself. When I look at a painting, a photograph, hear music, read a book, that is all that interests me—what living meant or means to the person who made the thing—not so much how, but why, they made it."
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