James Abbott McNeill Whistler

“A picture is finished when all trace of the means used to bring about the end has disappeared.”

“The masterpiece should appear as the flower to the painter—perfect in its bud as in its bloom.”

“It is for the artist to pick and choose, and group with science, these elements, that the result may be beautiful.”

“Listen! There never was an artistic period. There never was an Art-loving nation.”

“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.”

“Art should be independent of all clap-trap.”

“Nature is usually wrong.”

“Industry in art is a necessity—not a virtue—and any evidence of the same, in the production, is a blemish, not a quality.”

“To say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, that it is 'as good as a photograph,' is to praise it for a quality of no art value whatsoever.”

“I am not arguing with you — I am telling you.”

“Two and two continue to make four, in spite of the whine of the amateur for three, or the cry of the critic for five.”

“The imitator is a poor kind of creature.”

“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.”

“Nature is usually wrong.”

“To say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, that it is 'just like nature' is to pay it an insufficient compliment.”

“Industry in art is a necessity - not a virtue - and any evidence of the same, in the production, is a blemish, not a quality.”

“I am not arguing with you — I am telling you.”

“Music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight and the subject-matter has nothing to do with harmony of sound or of color.”

“The masterpiece should appear as the flower to the painter—perfect in its bud as in its bloom—with no reason to explain its presence—no mission to fulfill.”

“Two and two continue to make four, in spite of the whine of the amateur for three, or the cry of the critic for five.”