I have always said that you do not see a thing until you look away from it. In other words, an object or a fact in nature has not become itself until it has been projected in the realm of the imagination. Therefore what has been retained in the mind's eye is what lives. I have seldom or never worked from nature for this reason and so what I see is what I believe to be true, and that becomes the truism of the creative artist.


Is Art necessary?, unpublished essay, 1942, Hartley Archive, Yale University; as quoted in Marsden Hartley, by Gail R. Scott, Abbeville Publishers, Cross River Press, 1988, New York p. 151

Marsden Hartley Quotes

I have always said that you do not see a thing until you look away from it. In other words, an object or a fact in nature has not become itself until ...

I have always said that you do not see a thing until you look away from it. In other words, an object or a fact in nature has not become itself until ...

I have always said that you do not see a thing until you look away from it. In other words, an object or a fact in nature has not become itself until ...

I have always said that you do not see a thing until you look away from it. In other words, an object or a fact in nature has not become itself until ...