Ad Reinhardt Quotes

• Art is art. Everything else is everything else.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Art, Avant Garde, Simplify

  Ad Reinhardt, Marlborough Gallery (1970). “Ad Reinhardt: black paintings, 1951-1967”

  57 Copy quote

• The more an artist works the more there is to do.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Artist

  Ad Reinhardt, Barbara Rose (1991). “Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt”, p.56, Univ of California Press

  45 Copy quote

• There is a black which is old and a black which is fresh. Lustrous black and dull black, black in sunlight and black in shadow.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Black, Shadow, Dull

  Ad Reinhardt, Barbara Rose (1991). “Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt”, p.86, Univ of California Press

  13 Copy quote

• The one object of fifty years of abstract art is to present art-as-art and as nothing else, to make it into the one thing it is only, separating and defining it more and more, making it purer and emptier, more absolute and more exclusive - non-objective, non-representational, non-figurative, non-imagist, non-expressionist, non-subjective. the only and one way to say what abstract art or art-as-art is, is to say what it is not.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Art, Years, Fifty

  Ad Reinhardt, Barbara Rose (1991). “Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt”, p.53, Univ of California Press

  17 Copy quote

• Art is too serious to be taken seriously.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Art, Taken, Serious

  Ad Reinhardt, Barbara Rose (1991). “Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt”, p.14, Univ of California Press

  19 Copy quote

• The ugliest spectacle is that of artists selling themselves. Art as a commodity is an ugly idea... The artist as businessman is uglier than the businessman as artist.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Art, Business, Ideas

  Ad Reinhardt (1975). “Art-as-art: the selected writings of Ad Reinhardt”, Viking Adult

  23 Copy quote

• As an artist I would like to eliminate the symbolic pretty much, for black is interesting not as a color but as a non-color and as the absence of color.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Artist, Color, Interesting

  Ad Reinhardt, Barbara Rose (1991). “Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt”, p.86, Univ of California Press

  20 Copy quote

• Only a bad artist thinks he has a good idea. A good artist does not need anything.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Artist, Thinking, Ideas

  Ad Reinhardt, Barbara Rose (1991). “Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt”, p.143, Univ of California Press

  17 Copy quote

• The only and one way to say what abstract art or art-as-art is, is to say what it is not.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Way, Abstract, Abstraction

  "Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt".

  18 Copy quote

• An artist who dedicates his life to art, burdens his art with his life, and his life with his art.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Art, Artist, Burden

  Ad Reinhardt, Barbara Rose (1991). “Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt”, p.54, Univ of California Press

  16 Copy quote

• My painting represents the victory of the forces of darkness and peace over the powers of light and evil.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Light, Evil, Darkness

  Ad Reinhardt (1975). “Art-as-art: the selected writings of Ad Reinhardt”, Viking Adult

  7 Copy quote

• As for a picture, if it isn't worth a thousand words, the hell with it.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Design, Hell, Software

  7 Copy quote

• My paintings are the last paintings one can make.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Lasts, Painting

  9 Copy quote

• Painting cannot be the only activity of a mature artist.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Artist, Painting, Mature

  8 Copy quote

• It is not right for painters to think that painting is like prostitution, that 'first you do it for love, then you do it for others, and finally you do it for money.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Thinking, Firsts, Painting

  8 Copy quote

• I want to emphasize the idea of black as intellectuality and conventionality.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Ideas, Black, Want

  7 Copy quote

• Art is not the spiritual side of business.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Spiritual, Art, Business

  Ad Reinhardt, Barbara Rose (1991). “Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt”, p.56, Univ of California Press

  7 Copy quote

• I like the idea of the museum world and the university-academic situation where artists talk to each other or where artists or art students study with artists.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Art, Museums, Ideas

  9 Copy quote

• We all name ourselves. We call ourselves artists. Nobody asks us. Nobody says you are or you aren't.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Artist, Names, Asks

  4 Copy quote

• The artist should once and forever emancipate himself from the bondage of appearance.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Artist, Forever, Appearance

  Ad Reinhardt, Barbara Rose (1991). “Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt”, p.205, Univ of California Press

  9 Copy quote

• The artist as businessman is uglier than the businessman as artist.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Artist, Businessman

  Ad Reinhardt (1975). “Art-as-art: the selected writings of Ad Reinhardt”, Viking Adult

  7 Copy quote

• If some student came up and wanted to know where to study painting, you'd want to suggest someplace, but there's no place. I wouldn't know where to send a student to study.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Want, Students, Study

  Ad Reinhardt (1975). “Art-as-art: the selected writings of Ad Reinhardt”, Viking Adult

  4 Copy quote

• Now almost every artist outside of New York is connected with some school or some museum school, and even in New York the majority are. That's an interesting fact when you take the idea of making money, making a living selling paintings. Only a dozen or two painters do that.

  Ad Reinhardt

  New York, School, Artist

  Ad Reinhardt, Barbara Rose (1991). “Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt”, p.24, Univ of California Press

  9 Copy quote

• I tried to oppose the academic to the marketplace.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Opposites, Academic, Marketplace

  8 Copy quote

• The job at Brooklyn is interesting because Brooklyn reflects what happened to university art departments everywhere. It might be the worst department now, and yet at one point it was the best in the country.

  Ad Reinhardt

  Country, Art, Jobs

  Ad Reinhardt, Barbara Rose (1991). “Art-as-art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt”, p.25, Univ of California Press

  7 Copy quote

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