Same Old Question | karen cooper

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« Two-Oh, Yes | Main | Omaha Summer Arts Festival »

Same Old Question
by Cooper on 6/14/2009 12:22:32 PM

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio.

I mentioned in a previous post a pair of library books that I am in the midst of. One is simply titled "Renoir", written by a gentleman named Walter Pach. Mr. Pach lived during the years of 1883-1958. I love connecting the dots. Pach lived 36 of the same years as Renoir, and 4 of the same years I have. Sometimes I think we consider some of the famous ones to be so remote time-wise, that they become an "inaccessible" of sorts. I love that I can read Pach's writing, words that were spoken to him by the person he was interviewing!

But. Back to the aforementioned purpose of this post. Same old question. And here it is: What is art? I wish I had a dollar for every person who knew, pretended they knew, or formulated an idea of a possibility of what the heck a good definition would be. Maybe I'd even share some of it with you :)

Walter Pach talked to Pierre Auguste Renoir about that same old question. Would you like to hear what he said?

"Nowadays they want to explain everything. But if they could explain a picture, it wouldn't be art. Shall I tell you what I think are the two qualities of art? It must be indescribable and it must be inimitable.... The work of art must seize upon you, wrap you up in itself, carry you away. It is the means by which the artist converys his passions: it is the current which he puts forth which sweeps you along in his passion."

Kind of gives you goosebumps, doesn't it?

Also kind of throws "painting to match the sofa" out the window, doesn't it? And those reproductions that are "more affordable and kind of remind you of the original"----nah-uh, I don't think they cut it either.

Ok, time to say "I'm outta' here".

Later, Cooper

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