Japanese Art Quotes

• In Japanese art, space assumed a dominant role and its position was strengthened by Zen concepts.

  Stephen Gardiner

  Art, Space, Roles

  Stephen Gardiner (2002). “The House: Its Origins and Evolution”, Ivan R Dee

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• On my first days here I did not start work immediately but, as planned, I took it easy for a few days - flicked through books, studied Japanese art a little.

  Gustav Klimt

  Art, Book, Littles

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• If you study Japanese art you see a man who is undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent, who spends his time how? In studying the distance between the earth and the moon? No. In studying the policy of Bismarck? No. He studies a single blade of grass. But this blade of grass leads him to draw every plant and then the seasons, the wide aspects of the countryside, then animals, then the human figure. So he passes his life, and life is too short to do the whole.

  Vincent Van Gogh

  Wise, Art, Distance

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• ... life is too short to do the whole.

  Vincent Van Gogh

  Time, Life Is Too Short, Whole

  Vincent van Gogh, Mark Roskill (1997). “The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh”, p.295, Simon and Schuster

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• If we study Japanese art, we see a man who is undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent, who spends his time doing what? He studies a single blade of grass.

  Vincent Van Gogh

  Wise, Art, Intelligent

  Vincent van Gogh, Mark Roskill (1997). “The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh”, p.295, Simon and Schuster

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• If you had a large vase with a big crack down the middle of it, a Japanese art museum would put the vase on a pedestal and shine a spotlight on the crack!

  Arielle Ford

  Art, Museums, Shining

  "Nobody's Perfect: How to Reclaim the Joy in Your Relationship". Interview with Laurie Sue Brockway, www.everydayhealth.com. February 16, 2012.

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• I draw manga, therefore I am!

  Hiromu Arakawa

  Art, Drawing, Painter

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• Beautiful and minimalist, the traditional Japanese art of ikebana - arranging bouquets of cut flowers and leaves using very few elements - ideally corresponded to a form of expression I could transpose in a perfume. The smell of a rose early in the morning, damp, sprinkled with dew, delicate and light.

  Jean-Claude Ellena

  Beautiful, Art, Morning

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• Did not the artists of the great age of Japanese art change names many times during their careers? I like that; they wanted to safeguard their freedom.

  Henri Matisse

  Change, Art, Names

  Henri Matisse (1992). “Jazz”, George Braziller

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• The Winter Woman is as wild as a blizzard, as fresh as new snow. While some see her as cold, she has a fiery heart under that ice-queen exterior. She likes the stark simplicity of Japanese art and the daring complexity of Russian literature. She prefers sharp to flowing lines, brooding to pouting, and rock and roll to country and western. Her drink is vodka, her car is German, her analgesic is Advil. The Winter Woman likes her men weak and her coffee strong. She is prone to anemia, hysteria, and suicide.

  Christopher Moore

  Suicide, Country, Art

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• Traditional Chinese art looked at the Earth from a Confucian mountain top; Japanese art looked closely around screens; Italian Renaissance art surveyed conquered nature through the window or door-frame of a palace. For the Cro-Magnons, space is a metaphysical arena of continually intermittent appearances and disappearances.

  John Berger

  Art, Italian, Space

  "Past present" by John Berger, www.theguardian.com. October 12, 2002.

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• Every three or four years I pick a new subject. It may be Japanese art; it may be economics. Three years of study are by no means enough to master a subject but they are enough to understand it. SO for more than 60 years I have kept studying one subject at a time.

  Peter Drucker

  Art, Mean, Years

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• I have mastered many things in my life. Navigating the streets of London, speaking French without an accent, dancing the quadrille, the Japanese art of flower arranging, lying at charades, concealing a highly intoxicated state, delighting young women with my charms..." Tessa stared. "Alas," he went on, "no one has ever actually referred to me as 'the master,' or 'the magister,' either. More's the pity.

  Cassandra Clare

  Art, Lying, Flower

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• Before I started LimoLand, I mainly bought my clothes in Harlem, where I found clothing my size in fun colors. I still like to go there and see the vibrancy and colors of the neighborhood. I am also very influenced by the colors of my contemporary African and Japanese art collections.

  Jean Pigozzi

  Art, Fun, Color

  "Parking in the Meatpacking: Johnny Pigozzi". Interview with Colleen Nika, www.interviewmagazine.com. August 3, 2010.

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