--- title: "5 Composition Quotes By Robert Genn" description: "5 Composition quotes by Robert Genn. Plus more from Robert Genn and more Composition sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e7/robert-genn-2179_composition_watch-the-greater-image-materialize-you_486619.png" --- > [Watch the greater image materialize. You need that thing over there to tell you what to do about that thing over here.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/watch-the-greater-image-materialize-you-need-that-thing-over-there-to/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e7/robert-genn-2179_composition_watch-the-greater-image-materialize-you_486619.png) > [One compositional element suggests and asks for another. This is what makes the activity interesting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/one-compositional-element-suggests-and-asks-for-another-this-is-what/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/robert-genn-2179_activity_one-compositional-element-suggests-and-a_643784.png) > [With cropping, a new integrity appears and winning abstractions flutter up like butterflies. You can afford to be critical, discriminating, innocent, open-minded,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/with-cropping-a-new-integrity-appears-and-winning-abstractions/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/548/robert-genn-2179_abstraction_with-cropping-a-new-integrity-appears-an_680001.png) > [Start with the foreground. Compositions fail when the foreground is treated as an afterthought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/start-with-the-foreground-compositions-fail-when-the-foreground-is/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/833/robert-genn-2179_afterthought_start-with-the-foreground-compositions-f_2710714.png) > [A curiosity prompt heightens the senses and hones compositional ability...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/a-curiosity-prompt-heightens-the-senses-and-hones-compositional/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/747/robert-genn-2179_ability_a-curiosity-prompt-heightens-the-senses_3049003.png) ## Other authors on Composition ## More by Robert Genn > [We artists give daily thanks for the miracle of our planet and for the inclination and the capability to honour it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/we-artists-give-daily-thanks-for-the-miracle-of-our-planet-and-for/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [Most of my contemporary grant-getters are now doing something other than painting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/most-of-my-contemporary-grant-getters-are-now-doing-something-other/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [Pushing yourself to extremes blows out the cobwebs of trusted habit. It shakes up what you know to be reliably safe and substitutes the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/pushing-yourself-to-extremes-blows-out-the-cobwebs-of-trusted-habit/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [Keep busy while you are waiting for something to happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/keep-busy-while-you-are-waiting-for-something-to-happen/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [Art is a course in personal development that has no reliable diploma and no known end. The pursuit of art instructs in beauty as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/art-is-a-course-in-personal-development-that-has-no-reliable-diploma/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [Great paintings have gradations, large and small... They serve to lift the subject off the two-dimensionality of the canvas. Gradations are an essential abstract…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/great-paintings-have-gradations-large-and-small-they-serve-to-lift/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [Take your brush here and there like a bee in an alpine meadow. In other words, don't laboriously work on or try to finish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/take-your-brush-here-and-there-like-a-bee-in-an-alpine-meadow-in/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [Evolved creators are just as curious about their failures as they are of their successes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/evolved-creators-are-just-as-curious-about-their-failures-as-they-are/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [Art is a path on which we honour our world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/art-is-a-path-on-which-we-honour-our-world/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [With repetition, the alternate approaches become clear, options open.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/with-repetition-the-alternate-approaches-become-clear-options-open/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [When shucked and released from its edges, the windowless subject stands alone as its own thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/when-shucked-and-released-from-its-edges-the-windowless-subject/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [Mountains in all their moods are symbols of something greater, something worth aspiring to. Mountains are powerful, dangerous, beautiful, noble and mysterious. Mountains get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/mountains-in-all-their-moods-are-symbols-of-something-greater/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [Our bodies, apart from their brilliant role as drawing exercises, are the temples of our being. Like the bodies of all fauna, they deserve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/our-bodies-apart-from-their-brilliant-role-as-drawing-exercises-are/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [When I'm in the studio I often hunger for the road. And when away I long for the efficiency of the studio.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/when-i-m-in-the-studio-i-often-hunger-for-the-road-and-when-away-i/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [In life and art it's better to be an enthusiastic amateur than a jaded professional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/in-life-and-art-it-s-better-to-be-an-enthusiastic-amateur-than-a/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/robert-genn/#itemlist", "name": "5 Composition Quotes By Robert Genn", "numberOfItems": 5, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Watch the greater image materialize. 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