"The real study of an art student is more a development of that sensitive nature and appreciative imagination with which he was so fully endowed when a child, and which, unfortunately in almost all cases, the contact with the grown-ups shames out of him before he has passed into what is understood as real life."
—Robert Henri, from an address to the students of the School of Design for Women, Philadelphia. In Barbara Rose, Readings in American Art 1900-75, page 38.
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3 thoughts on “Deep Thought Thursday”
Interesting that this address was to a design school for women yet the quote refers to male art students. Maybe women are less likely to have their sensitivity and imagination shamed out of them by adults. 🙂
Lisa: You probably meant this to be tongue in cheek, but just in case . . . I don’t think you can infer that he is referring only to male students. He’s speaking at the turn of the last century when the masculine pronoun was the standard when referring to unidentified individuals.
However, I do like this! “Maybe women are less likely to have their sensitivity and imagination shamed out of them by adults.”