Aphorisms for Artists by Walter Darby Bannard

Aphorism #4

Good art does not break with the past.

It breaks with the present by emulating the best of the past. Good art looks new because the artist has recombined something old to make something better.

Modernism seems to tell us that art has to be new to be any good, but artists who strain to make art that looks new usually make art that looks like other artists who are trying to make art that looks new. This is why most of the art of any time looks dated.

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