For self-discovery . . .

Today is the birthday of Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956), painter. Jackson Pollock was a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement.

The Key
Jackson Pollock
1946
Oil on canvas
59 x 84 in.
The Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

"Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn't have any beginning or any end. He didn't mean it as a compliment, but it was." - Jackson Pollock


"Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is." - Jackson Pollock

Pollock image source (1)

For an experience . . .

Today is the birthday of Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991), abstract expressionist painter and printmaker.


"Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it." - Robert Motherwell

"Art is an experience, not an object." - Robert Motherwell

To make things concrete . . .

Today is the birthday of Paul Cézanne (January 19, 1839 – October 22, 1906), artist and Post-Impressionist painter. He is oft referred to as one of the founders of modern painting. Paul Cézanne formed the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and the early 20th century's new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism.

La Montagne Sainte-Victoire
Paul Cézanne
1885-1895
Oil on canvas
28 5/8 x 38 1/8 in. (72.8 x 91.7 cm)
The Barnes Foundation
Merion, Pennsylvania

"I could paint for a hundred years, a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing." - Paul Cézanne

"The truth is in nature, and I shall prove it." - Paul Cézanne

"A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art." - Paul Cézanne

"We live in a rainbow of chaos." - Paul Cézanne


"Painting from nature is not copying the object, it is realizing one's sensations." - Paul Cézanne

"The artist makes things concrete and gives them individuality." - Paul Cézanne

To step in the Known toward the unknown. . . .

Today is the birthday of Gibran Khalil Gibran bin Mikhā'īl bin Sa'ad (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), artist, poet, and writer. He is better known as Kahlil Gibran, author of the 1923 book The Prophet.

He was tutored in art and literature by the photographer, F. Holland Day and in 1904, Kahlil Gibran had his first art exhibition in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1908 he studied with the artist Auguste Rodin in Paris, France for two years.

The Divine World
Kahlil Gibran
Gibran Museum

"Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you." - Kahlil Gibran

"Art is a step in the Known toward the unknown." - Kahlil Gibran



"Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed." - Kahlil Gibran

Gibran image source (1)
Gibran painting image source (1)

For the vital expression of self . . .

Today is the birthday of Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946), photographer and modern art promoter. In his over fifty-year career, he was instrumental in making photography an accepted art form.

Alfred Stieglitz, in addition to his photography, is known for the New York art galleries where he introduced many avant-garde European artists to the United States. He was married to painter Georgia O'Keeffe.

"In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality." - Alfred Stieglitz

"The arts equally have distinct departments, and unless photography has its own possibilities of expression, separate from those of the other arts, it is merely a process, not an art." - Alfred Stieglitz


"Photography is my Passion. The Search for Truth is my Obsession." - Alfred Stieglitz

"The goal of art was the vital expression of self." - Alfred Stieglitz

Stieglitz image source (1)