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Painters Painting (1973) – Quoting Newman

Painters Painting, a documentary from 1973 is on the Sundance Channel as I write this. It covers painters from 1940 to the present. There are some good lines in it. Barnett Newman gave his ornithology quote, “Aesthetics is for artists what ornithology is for birds.” On this occasion he said, as best I can remember, “even if they [aesthetics] are right and even if they can build an aesthetic analysis on an aesthetic system that can explain art or painting or whatever it is, is of no value, really, because aesthetics for me, must be like ornithology is for the birds.”

When looking online for the standard quote, I found this one which probably applies to me.

“When painters feel the need to make a shift toward self-discovery, they turn to black and white for a time.”