Rubens Quotes

• If I had been around when Rubens was painting, I would have been revered as a fabulous model. Kate Moss? Well, she would have been the paintbrush.

  Dawn French

  Moss, Fabulous, Painting

  "The Myth of Universal Beauty" by David Robson, www.bbc.com. June 23, 2015.

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• A Gustave Courbet portrait of a trout has more death in it than Rubens could get in a whole Crucifixion.

  Robert Hughes

  Portraits, Trout, Crucifixion

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• We know from Talmadge Hayer, one of the men who carried out the assassination, who was shot by Ruben X as he tried to flee the Audubon after shooting Malcolm X, we know that Hayer confessed years later to his Imam in prison that there had been a walk-through a week prior to February 21st [1965] at the Audubon Ballroom.

  Manning Marable

  Men, Years, Shooting

  Source: historynewsnetwork.org

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• My studio practice is a - I suppose a bit more like [Thomas] Gainsborough or [Peter Paul] Rubens in the sense that any artist who wants to create a grand narrative on a grand scale has to sort of parse out some of the smaller aspects of painting or the more mundane aspects of painting to others.

  Kehinde Wiley

  Artist, Practice, Want

  Source: www.aaa.si.edu

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• I work with a trainer called Ruben Tabares. He's a nutritionist, strength and conditioning coach, and an athlete. So I literally just train like an athlete.

  Tinie Tempah

  Athlete, Conditioning, Trainers

  Source: www.harpersbazaar.com

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• Whether you think you like Rubens or not, his influence runs through the pathways of painting. Like Warhol, he changed the game of art.

  Jenny Saville

  Running, Art, Thinking

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• But why I cry out against Rubens is because he painted undressed people instead of naked ones.

  E. M. Forster

  Art, People, Naked

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• If I were alive in Rubens's time, I'd be celebrated as a model. Kate Moss would be used as a paint brush.

  Dawn French

  Moss, Would Be, Alive

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• I read somewhere that Rubens said students should not draw from life, but draw from all the great classic casts. Then you really get the measure of them, you really know what to do. And then, put in your own dimples. Isn't that marvelous!

  Willem de Kooning

  Dimples, Classic, Students

  Willem De Kooning (1979). “Willem de Kooning: Pittsburgh International Series, October 26, 1979-January 6, 1980, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute”

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• For popular purposes, at least, the aim of literary artists should be similar to that of Rubens in his landscapes, of which, without neglecting the minor traits or finishing, he was chiefly solicitous to present the leading effect, or what we may call the inspiration.

  William Benton Clulow

  Inspiration, Artist, Finishing

  William Benton Clulow (1843). “Aphorisms and Reflections: A Miscellany of Thought and Opinion”, p.47

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• I just want everyone to know I'm suing Ruben Studdard. He had his hand on my ass and he wouldn't let go.

  Shaquille O'Neal

  Basketball, Letting Go, Hands

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• For - to say a few words on technique - whereas the curved line was used predominantly for reasons of beauty, (Phidias, Michelangelo, Raphael, Rubens) it has been used more and more economically for reasons of truth (Millet, Monet, Paul Cézanne) until it will end as the straight line for reasons of Love. This will enable the art of the future to create an international form; a form understandable to all and vital enough to the expression of a general feeling of love in a monumental way. Such is the future.

  Theo van Doesburg

  Art, Expression, Feelings

  "Onafhankelijke bespiegelingen over de kunst" by Theo van Doesburg, De Avondpost Journal, January 23, 1916.

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• On the left is the realist tradition of the 19th century, with its impulse to social description, radical criticism and meditation on things as they are... culminating in Courbet at his mightiest (The Studio, The Funeral at Ornans and a portrait of a trout that has more death in it than Rubens could get in a whole Crucifixion).

  Gustave Courbet

  Funeral, Meditation, Criticism

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• I recommend that you should work actively... and study the artistic structures of Rubens, Rembrandt, Titian, Watteau, Poussin, and other painters, even Chardin, where he is an artist. Study very closely their dabbing manner of execution and try to copy a small piece of canvas, just one square inch.

  Kazimir Malevich

  Artist, Squares, Trying

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• It's no easy matter to paint a background. I venture to say that the old painters had more difficulty with their grounds than with their figures. You know the story of Vandyke brought to Rubens with this recommendation: 'He already knows how to paint a background.' 'That is more than I can do!' was the reply.

  William Morris Hunt

  Venture, Matter, Stories

  William Morris Hunt (1976). “William Morris Hunt on painting and drawing”, Dover Pubns

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• To my eye Rubens' colouring is most contemptible. His shadows are a filthy brown somewhat the colour of excrement.

  William Blake

  Eye, Criticism, Shadow

  William Blake, David V. Erdman, Harold Bloom (1982). “The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake”, p.655, Univ of California Press

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• I don't disagree with seeing a Rubens of a nude body, but I don't believe in a nude body in action. With Rubens, thank goodness, they aren't in action.

  Ginger Rogers

  Believe, Body, Action

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• Ruben V is the keeper of the flame of the San Antonio vibe

  Joe King

  Flames, San Antonio, Keepers

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• I've never had any health problems and I'm Ruben, man, all the way through.

  Ruben Studdard

  Men, Way, Problem

  "Ruben's debut". Interview with Ann Curry, www.nbcnews.com. January 2, 2004.

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• Now ballads, I can mess around and get up on somebody on a ballad. People ain't seen it yet, but I can mess around and get up in there. I've had Ruben Studdard up in my house, Brian McKnight, Tank. Every once in a while I throw down with them.

  Jamie Foxx

  People, House, Tanks

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