John French Sloan Artist Quotations

Artists are the only people in the world who really live. The others have to hope for heaven.

The purpose of subject matter is to veil technique. The great artist uses the cloak of resemblance to hide the means.

The artist seeks to record his awareness of order in life.

The artist does not see both eyes alike. There is always 'the eye' and the other eye... It adds life and plasticity to the drawing if the eye in the light is darker than the one in the shadow. It gives the head vividness.

The subject may be of first importance to the artist when he starts a picture, but it should be of least importance in the finished product. The subject is of no aesthetic significance.

Study the great brush drawings of the Chinese and Japanese... When we try to imitate their conventions for perspective, form and texture we lose the content, because those artists were part of an ancient tradition. Our tradition changes rapidly, our schools of thought come to fruition quickly and decay again. We see differently.