List of William Morris Hunt Quotes

When An Artist Leaves His Work To Amuse People, He Loses His Time And Their Respect. If People Are To Be Amused By Artists, It Must Be By Employing Them In Their Legitimate Occupation.

There Is Force And Vitality In A First Sketch From Life Which The After-work Rarely Has... In Your Sketches Keep The First Vivid Impression! Add No Details That Shall Weaken It! Look First For The Big Things! 1st. Proportions! 2nd. Values - Or Masses Of Light And Shade. 3rd. Details That Will Not Spoil The Beginnings!

It Gives A Fellow An Awful Shiver To Hear The First Shovelful Of Dirt And Gravel Rattle Down Upon The Coffin; But After It Is Covered, It Falls Gently And Makes No Sound. The Feeling Of Rest Is Perfect. There's No More Nagging, No More Pain!

I Tell You It's No Joke To Paint A Portrait. I Wonder That I Am Not More Timid When I Begin. I Feel Almost Certain That I Can Do It. It Seems Very Simple. I Don't Think Of The Time That Is Sure To Come When I Almost Despair, When The Whole Thing Seems Hopeless.

How Are We Going To Make Painters By Lecturing To Them? We Are Going To Make Questioners, Doubters, And Talkers. We Are Going To Make Painters By Painting Ourselves, And By Showing The Paintings Of Others. By Working Frankly From Our Convictions, We Are Going To Make Them Work Frankly From Theirs.

It's Impossible To Make A Picture Without Values. Values Are The Basis. If They Are Not, Tell Me What Is The Basis.

There's Lots Of Fun In This World, After All. And If There Isn't, There Is In The Next. And We're Going There, Sure.

Nature Is Economical. She Puts Her Lights And Darks Only Where She Needs Them.

Most Of Us Live For The Critic, And He Lives On Us. He Doesn't Sacrifice Himself. He Gets So Much A Line For Writing A Criticism. If The Birds Should Read The Newspapers, They Would All Take To Changing Their Notes. The Parrots Would Exchange With The Nightingales, And What A Farce It Would Be!

I Don't Like Persuaded Sitters. I Never Could Paint A Cat If The Cat Had Any Scruples, Religious, Superstitious, Or Otherwise, About Sitting.

The Mission Of Art Is To Represent Nature Not To Imitate Her.

You Can Always Draw As Well As You Know How To. I Flatter Myself That I Feel More Than I Express On Canvas; But I Know That Is Not So.