An Artist Says To Like What You Like

"Don't follow the critics too much. Art appreciation, like love, cannot be done by proxy: It is a very personal affair and is necessary to each individual."

Robert Henri (1865-1929) was a painter who studied in Europe and America. He also founded what is known as the 'Ashcan School' --with a showing of great artists he felt that the National Gallery of Art ignored-- and therefore "ash-canned". He was also a teacher. A collection of his sayings from letters, pamphlets, classes, and other places is continually in publication. It's called The Art Spirit. The quote is from page 126.

Portrait of Carl Sprinchorn (1910) 24 x 20 inches. By Robert Henri. You can see he studied the Impressionists, but somehow loved the dark tones of Velasquez and Rembrandt too much to stay in the pastel-colored world. At Cornell University's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.