The emphasis on original, individual work in the past years has done a great deal to produce a crop of eccentric fakes and has carried art away from the stream of tradition. Tradition is our heritage of knowledge and experience.… — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
Painting is drawing, with the additional means of color. Painting without drawing is just 'coloriness,' color excitement. To think of color for color's sake… — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
The purpose of subject matter is to veil technique. The great artist uses the cloak of resemblance to hide the means. — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
You can be a giant among artists without ever attaining any great skill. Facility is a dangerous thing. When there is too much technical… — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
Be sensitive to the qualities inherent in the medium. Paint honestly and avoid tricks. — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
Assimilate all you can from tradition and then say things in your own way. — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
Don't be afraid to borrow. The great men, the most original, borrowed from everybody. — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
When painting a landscape it is desirable to walk through the clumps and around the bushes, around the trees, the houses and the rocks.… — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
...in the habit of watching every bit of human life I can see about my windows, but I do it so that I am… — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
The subject may be of first importance to the artist when he starts a picture, but it should be of least importance in the… — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
When you draw a crowd of people in a street or room or landscape, decide whether you want to say that the people dominate… — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
To play your colors by eye is worse than playing the piano by ear. — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
The important thing is to keep on drawing when you start to paint. Never graduate from drawing. — John French Sloan Copy Share Image
