Subject Matter Quotes

• Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.

  Edward Weston

  Photography, Matter, Photographer

  Brett Abbott, Edward Weston, J. Paul Getty Museum (2005). “Edward Weston: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum”, p.60, Getty Publications

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• The subject matter is so much more important than the photographer.

  Gordon Parks

  Photography, Important, Matter

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• What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.

  Henri Matisse

  Dream, Depressing, Art

  Notes d'un peintre (Notes of a Painter, 1908) in Dominique Fourcade crits et propos sur l'art (1972) p. 30

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• A teacher enlarges people in all sorts of ways besides just his subject matter.

  Wallace Stegner

  Teacher, Teaching, People

  Wallace Stegner (2007). “Crossing to Safety”, p.86, Modern Library

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• Most painting in the European tradition was painting the mask. Modern art rejected all that. Our subject matter was the person behind the mask.

  Robert Motherwell

  Art, Matter, Painting

  "The Times", November 17, 1985.

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• Today painters do not have to go to a subject matter outside of themselves. Most modern painters work from a different source. They work from within.

  Jackson Pollock

  Art, Different, Matter

  Elizabeth Frank, Jackson Pollock (1983). “Jackson Pollock”, Abbeville Pr

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• I can think of films that I'm producing right now that are extremely hard-hitting, graphic films, that nobody necessarily wants to see, graphic in terms of violence, of adult content and racial and historical subject matter.

  Aaron Eckhart

  Thinking, Historical, Violence

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• I do love to eavesdrop. It's inspirational, not only for subject matter but for actual dialogue, the way people talk.

  Lynda Barry

  People, Matter, Way

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• Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference.

  Robert Frank

  Photography, Matter, Photographer

  "New York to Nova Scotia".

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• Anthropology never has had a distinct subject matter, and because it doesn't have a real method, there's a great deal of anxiety over what it is

  Clifford Geertz

  Real, Anxiety, Matter

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• I'm lucky that my real-life Mom has both a great sense of humor about herself and an amazing ability to slip into complete denial if the subject matter gets a little too close to home.

  Cathy Guisewite

  Mom, Real, Home

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• The development of the meaning attaching to the personal self, the conscious being, is the subject matter of the history of psychology.

  James Mark Baldwin

  Self, Psychology, Development

  James Mark Baldwin (1913). “History of Psychology: A Sketch and an Interpretation”

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• It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academicism.

  Mark Rothko

  Artist, Essence, Long

  Mark Rothko, Miguel López-Remiro (2006). “Writings on Art”, p.36, Yale University Press

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• I wanted to portray very, very dark subject matter and a deceptively complex story in the brightest colours and simplest lines possible to leave the readers reeling.

  Mark Millar

  Dark, Stories, Lines

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• The success of my comedy has been not being afraid to touch on subject matters or issues that everyone else is politically scared of.

  Bernie Mac

  Issues, Matter, Comedy

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• Economics is uncertain because its fundamental subject matter is not money but human action. That's why economics is not the dismal science, it's no science at all.

  Julian Baggini

  Fundamentals, Matter, Action

  "The science of ignorance" by Julian Baggini, www.theguardian.com. November 25, 2008.

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• And I'm the biggest country fan there is, but I'm always a little cautious of a slower song or just a song with subject matter.

  Dierks Bentley

  Country, Song, Fans

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• I like dark subject matter. I'm not sure what that means about me!

  Tea Obreht

  Mean, Dark, Matter

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• Experiences in order to be educative must lead out into an expanding world of subject matter, a subject matter of facts or information and of ideas. This condition is satisfied only as the educator views teaching and learning as a continuous process of reconstruction of experience.

  John Dewey

  Education, Teaching, Views

  John Dewey (1998). “Experience and Education, 60th Anniversary Edition”, p.111, Kappa Delta Pi

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• We can program ourselves to be the person we want to be, whatever the subject matter is, live in it by a mental physical program - a system of learning and doing. Studying all the greats in that field and becoming greater. I believe we are powerful, but we don't use our minds to full capacity. Your mind is powerful enough to help you attain whatever you want.

  Michael Jackson

  Powerful, Believe, Mind

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• Everything that makes diversity of kinds, of species, differences, properties... everything that consists in generation, decay, alteration and change is not an entity, but a condition and circumstance of entity and being, which is one, infinite, immobile, subject, matter, life, death, truth, lies, good and evil.

  Giordano Bruno

  Lying, Differences, Evil

  "Cause, Principle, and Unity". Book by Giordano Bruno, 1584.

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• A few of my books, over the years, have been optioned for film. The subject matter of my books, however, is not exactly conducive to Hollywood film treatment. If and when a 'big-budget' film is ever made based on one of my books, my fans and I will more than likely loathe it because it won't be true to its source. That's almost a given.

  Richard Laymon

  Book, Years, Ifs And

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• The word 'abstract' comes from the light tower of the philosophers. One of their spotlights that they have particularly focused on 'Art'. [Abstraction was] not so much what you could paint but rather what you could not paint. You could not paint a house or a tree or a mountain. It was then that subject matter came into existence as something you ought not have.

  Willem de Kooning

  Art, Light, House

  "Abstract Expressionist Painting in America". Book by William C. Seitz, p. 104, 1983.

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• As for the subject matter in my painting.. ..it is very often an incidental thing in the background, elusive and unclear, that really stirred me.

  William Baziotes

  Matter, Painting, Backgrounds

  William Baziotes (1978). “William Baziotes: A Retrospective Exhibition : an Exhibition”

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• Dramatic use of color, harmonious design, the interplay of light and shadow across a variety of textures, the portrayal of the figure and other subject matter that reflects the sophistication and beauty I find in nature - all presented from a unique point of view - can only be successfully achieved with a sound command of the painter's craft... history will determine how successful I have been.

  Nelson Shanks

  Successful, Unique, Light

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