Suggest in a Painting, Don't Show

Some quotes from a Whistler exhibition catalog, with an eye towards next month's painting project.

"Paint should not be applied thick. It should be like breath on the surface of a pane of glass."

"The painting inspires experience rather than transcribes the natural scene that was its impetus."

"...seemingly thin paintings, being receptive to more of what viewers carry in their memories, paradoxically yield a fuller experience of reality's thickness than more detailed canvases.

"You must suggest to me reality -- you can never show me reality."

Paintings must "seem to be representations of the sensations within the painter that the natural scenes evoked."

_{Quote sources: p3, p11, p14, p18 Exhibition Catalog: Like Breath on Glass}

See Also:
• Top Picks: Painting Exhibition Catalogs
• Recommended Artist Biographies

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