Quote

Art has arrived at the paradox that tradition itself requires the occurrence of radical attacks on tradition.

Harold Rosenberg

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Harold Rosenberg
Age: 72 †
Born: 1906
Born: February 2
Died: 1978
Died: July 11
Art Critic
Art Historian
Journalist
Philosopher
Teacher
Writer
New York City
New York
Requires
Tradition
Art
Occurrence
Arrived
Attacks
Paradox
Radical

More quotes by Harold Rosenberg

Image
Both art and the artist lack identity and define themselves only through their encounter with each other.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
For the artist, fulfillment of self consists not in marching in the ranks of the liberators but in being entered in the roll of the Masters. The artist tends to find himself in the position of a deserter from his social group or, at best, one who collaborates, with secret reservations.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
Only conservatives believe that subversion is still being carried on in the arts and that society is being shaken by it.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
Only conservatives believe that subversion is still being carried on in the arts and that society is being shaken by it. Advanced art today is no longer a cause -it contains no moral imperative. There is no virtue in clinging to principles and standards, no vice in selling or in selling out.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
The story of Americans is the story of arrested metamorphoses. Those who achieve success come to a halt and accept themselves as they are. Those who fail become resigned and accept themselves as they are.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
In reality, however, an artist is a product of art
Harold Rosenberg
Image
The big moment came when it was decided to paint...Just To Paint. The gesture on the canvas was a gesture of liberation, from Value- political, aesthetic, moral.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
Kitsch is the daily art of our time, as the vase or the hymn was for earlier generations. For the sensibility it has that arbitrariness and importance which works take on when they are no longer noticeable elements of the environment. In America kitsch is Nature. The Rocky Mountains have resembled fake art for a century.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
What better way to prove that you understand a subject than to make money out of it?
Harold Rosenberg
Image
Loiter in the neighborhood of a problem. After a while a solution strolls by.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
The artist does not exist except as a personification, a figure of speech that represents the sum total of art itself. It is painting that is the genius of the painter, poetry of the poet, and a person is a creative artist to the extent that he participates in that genius.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
The aim of every authentic artist is not to conform to the history of art, but to release himself from it in order to replace it with his own history.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
Not only were the minds of artists formed by the university in the same mold were formed those of the art historians, the critics, the curators, and the collectors by whom their work was evaluated. With the rise of Conceptual art, the classroom announced its final triumph over the studio.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
In the United States, revolts tends to be directed against specific situations, rarely against the social structure as a whole.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
Imitation of the art of earlier centuries, as that done by Picasso and Modigliani , is carried on not to perpetuate ancient values but to demonstrate that new aesthetic orders now prevail.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
American time has stretched around the world. It has become the dominant tempo of modern history, especially of the history of Europe.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
Whoever undertakes to create soon finds himself engaged in creating himself.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
A painter with prestige among painters is bound to be discovered sooner or later.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
No dealer, curator, buyer or critic, or any existing combination of these, can be depended on to produce a reputation that is more than a momentary flurry.
Harold Rosenberg
Image
Abstract art as it is conceived at present is a game bequeathed to painting and sculpture by art history. One who accepts its premises must consent to limit his imagination to a depressing casuistry regarding the formal requirements of modernism.
Harold Rosenberg