--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Conventional nudes based on classical…" description: "\"Conventional nudes based on classical originals could bear no burden of thought or inner life without losing their formal completeness.\" — Kenneth Clark" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/kenneth-clark-9681_bears_conventional-nudes-based-on-classical-or_2309500.png" --- # Conventional nudes based on classical originals could bear… ![“Conventional nudes based on classical originals could bear no burden of thought or inner life without losing their formal completeness.” quote by Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/kenneth-clark-9681_bears_conventional-nudes-based-on-classical-or_2309500.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/kenneth-clark-9681_bears_conventional-nudes-based-on-classical-or_2309500.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/kenneth-clark-9681_bears_conventional-nudes-based-on-classical-or_2309500.png) > “Conventional nudes based on classical originals could bear no burden of thought or inner life without losing their formal completeness.” [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Classical-inspired nudes must stay purely aesthetic; adding psychological depth would compromise their formal perfection. **In simple terms:** Nudes should stay visual, not narrative. Key Takeaway Preserve form, avoid over‑interpretation. Themes art aesthetics form classicism Mood contemplative analytical Type critical theoretical When to use this quote - museum curation - art criticism - educational lectures - gallery design Key Concepts visual purity formal integrity psychological depth Questions to Reflect On - Should art always prioritize form over narrative? - Can a nude convey inner life without losing beauty? A Different Perspective Some viewers seek meaning, so strict form may feel limiting. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) [Burden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/burden/) [Classical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/classical/) [Classical Originals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/classical-originals-5480293/) [Completeness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/completeness/) [Conventional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conventional/) [Conventional Nudes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conventional-nudes-5480291/) [Creativity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creativity/) [Formal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/formal/) [Inner life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inner-life/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Losing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/losing/) [Nudes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nudes-1320498/) [Nudes Based](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nudes-based-5480292/) [Originals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/originals/) ## Related quotes > [A visual experience is vitalizing. Whereas to write great poetry, to draw continuously on one's inner life, is not merely exhausting, it is to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/a-visual-experience-is-vitalizing-whereas-to-write-great-poetry-to/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [I've done a lot of nudes and there's always a sexual charge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judy-dater/i-ve-done-a-lot-of-nudes-and-there-s-always-a-sexual-charge/) [Judy Dater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judy-dater/) > [I've always found paintings of nudes depressing because they can't compete with photographs. The grainiest photograph of some girl, a blurry Polaroid - you'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-currin/i-ve-always-found-paintings-of-nudes-depressing-because-they-can-t/) [John Currin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-currin/) > [Get nudes or die trying...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/get-nudes-or-die-trying/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The whole point of art school is that you're going to be able to have nudes all day long and a teacher who is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lou-doillon/the-whole-point-of-art-school-is-that-you-re-going-to-be-able-to-have-2/) [Lou Doillon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lou-doillon/) > [I grew up studying classic painters. They certainly didn't shy away from nudes. I don't find anything morally reprehensible about it. I think it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-hathaway/i-grew-up-studying-classic-painters-they-certainly-didn-t-shy-away/) [Anne Hathaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-hathaway/) > [The whole point of art school is that you're going to be able to have nudes all day long and a teacher who is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lou-doillon/the-whole-point-of-art-school-is-that-you-re-going-to-be-able-to-have/) [Lou Doillon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lou-doillon/) > [Nudes are the greatest to paint. Everything you can find in a landscape or a still life or anything else is there: darkness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hurt/nudes-are-the-greatest-to-paint-everything-you-can-find-in-a/) [John Hurt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hurt/) > [I like to paint nudes mostly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cleo-moore/i-like-to-paint-nudes-mostly/) [Cleo Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cleo-moore/) > [“Art books are filled with interesting images. And that’s cool and all, but I look more for the nudes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/art-books-are-filled-with-interesting-images-and-that-s-cool-and-all/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [My concern has always been to paint nudes as if they were some splendid fruit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-auguste-renoir/my-concern-has-always-been-to-paint-nudes-as-if-they-were-some/) [Pierre-Auguste Renoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-auguste-renoir/) > [Speaking of nudes, I have always had a great fondness for this subject, both in my paintings and in my photos, and I must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/man-ray/speaking-of-nudes-i-have-always-had-a-great-fondness-for-this-subject/) [Man Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/man-ray/) > [Photography is not cute cats, nor nudes, motherhood or arrangements of manufactured products. Under no circumstances it is anything ever anywhere near a beach.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-evans/photography-is-not-cute-cats-nor-nudes-motherhood-or-arrangements-of/) [Walker Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-evans/) > [I was shocked when I looked at art schools in France. There's only one left that does anatomy. Now they do video. They do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lou-doillon/i-was-shocked-when-i-looked-at-art-schools-in-france-there-s-only-one/) [Lou Doillon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lou-doillon/) > [The nudes of art are not so distant from pornography as prudish pedants pretend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-nudes-of-art-are-not-so-distant-from-pornography-as-prudish/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) ## More by Kenneth Clark > [To hurry through the rise and fall of a fine, full sentence is like defying the role of time in human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/to-hurry-through-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-fine-full-sentence-is-like/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [All color is no color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/all-color-is-no-color/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [The nude does not simply represent the body, but relates it, by analogy, to all structures that have become part of our imaginative experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/the-nude-does-not-simply-represent-the-body-but-relates-it-by-analogy/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Ruthless, greedy, tyrannical, disreputable they have had one principle worth all the rest, the principle of delight!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/ruthless-greedy-tyrannical-disreputable-they-have-had-one-principle/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Those who wish, in the interest of morality, to reduce Leonardo, that inexhaustible source of creative power, to a neutral or sexless agency, have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/those-who-wish-in-the-interest-of-morality-to-reduce-leonardo-that/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [It is often said that Leonardo drew so well because he knew about things; it is truer to say that he knew about things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/it-is-often-said-that-leonardo-drew-so-well-because-he-knew-about/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [A lot of people you think you know you don't know until you find out you don't know then it may be too late…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/a-lot-of-people-you-think-you-know-you-don-t-know-until-you-find-out/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [The dark ghettos are social, political, educational and-above all-economic colonies. Their inhabitants are subject peoples, victims of the greed, cruelty, insensitivity, guilt, and fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/the-dark-ghettos-are-social-political-educational-and-above-all/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Devotion to the facts will always give the pleasures of recognition; adherence to the rules of design, the pleasures of order and certainty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/devotion-to-the-facts-will-always-give-the-pleasures-of-recognition/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Over and above the political, economic, sociological, and international implications of racial prejudices, their major significance is that they place unnecessary burdens upon human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/over-and-above-the-political-economic-sociological-and-international/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Racial prejudices are indication of a disturbed and potentially unstable society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/racial-prejudices-are-indication-of-a-disturbed-and-potentially/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Fine colour implies a unified relationship, in which each part is subordinate to the whole, and the transitions between them are felt to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/fine-colour-implies-a-unified-relationship-in-which-each-part-is/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Energy is eternal delight; and from the earliest times human beings have tried to imprison it in some durable hieroglyphic. It is perhaps the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/energy-is-eternal-delight-and-from-the-earliest-times-human-beings/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [All great civilizations, in their early stages, are based on success in war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/all-great-civilizations-in-their-early-stages-are-based-on-success-in/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [This became Delacroix 's theme: that the achievements of the spirit all that a great library contained were the result of a state of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/this-became-delacroix-s-theme-that-the-achievements-of-the-spirit-all/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) [Explore all 71 Kenneth Clark quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) ## More Bears quotes > [For not only every democracy, but certainly every republic, bears within itself the seeds of its own destruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-not-only-every-democracy-but-certainly-every-republic-bears/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [She'd read once that if you ran into a bear in the woods you should avoid eye contact and you shouldn't run away, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-ursu/she-d-read-once-that-if-you-ran-into-a-bear-in-the-woods-you-should/) [Anne Ursu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-ursu/) > [In the movie, the stars above the ship bear no correspondence to any constellations in a real sky. Worse yet, while the heroine bobs...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/in-the-movie-the-stars-above-the-ship-bear-no-correspondence-to-any/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [Television series are like the stock market. There's room for bears and bulls but no room for pigs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-newhart/television-series-are-like-the-stock-market-there-s-room-for-bears/) [Bob Newhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-newhart/) > [The Germans are the most philosophic people in the world, and the greatest smokers: now I trace their philosophy to their smoking. Smoking has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-henry-borrow/the-germans-are-the-most-philosophic-people-in-the-world-and-the/) [George Henry Borrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-henry-borrow/) > [...Gratitude transforms the torment of memory of good things now gone into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/gratitude-transforms-the-torment-of-memory-of-good-things-now-gone/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [You've had a whole lot of experience, but everything is also radically new at each moment, and you have to bring a kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-houston/you-ve-had-a-whole-lot-of-experience-but-everything-is-also-radically/) [Jean Houston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-houston/) > [The rationale which accompanies that imposition of male authority euphemistically referred to as 'the battle of the sexes' bears a certain resemblance to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-millett/the-rationale-which-accompanies-that-imposition-of-male-authority/) [Kate Millett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-millett/) > [Pay no heed to the passing religious vogue. Go back to the grass roots. Open your hearts and search the Scriptures. Bear your cross,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/pay-no-heed-to-the-passing-religious-vogue-go-back-to-the-grass-roots/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [I want you to take a red-hot bath as hot as you can bear it, and just relax your nerves. You can read in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/i-want-you-to-take-a-red-hot-bath-as-hot-as-you-can-bear-it-and-just/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [He sank into the rocking chair, the same one in which Rebecca had sat during the early days of the house to give embroidery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/he-sank-into-the-rocking-chair-the-same-one-in-which-rebecca-had-sat/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [Some things in this world just ain't meant to be, not in the times we want 'em to, and the heart has to hold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-mcbride/some-things-in-this-world-just-ain-t-meant-to-be-not-in-the-times-we/) [James McBride](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-mcbride/) > [And if anyone knows anything about anything," said Bear to himself, "it's Owl who knows something about something," he said, "or my name's not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/and-if-anyone-knows-anything-about-anything-said-bear-to-himself-it-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm totally independent. I don't bear any responsibility to any system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/i-m-totally-independent-i-don-t-bear-any-responsibility-to-any-system/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [I'm supportive of women, absolutely, and it's so gratifying to have girls come up and say, 'I'm really inspired by your guitar playing.' I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-vincent/i-m-supportive-of-women-absolutely-and-it-s-so-gratifying-to-have/) [St. Vincent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-vincent/) [Browse all 4,111 Bears quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Conventional nudes based on classical originals could bear no burden of thought or inner life without losing their formal completeness.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kenneth Clark" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/conventional-nudes-based-on-classical-originals-could-bear-no-burden/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bears" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/conventional-nudes-based-on-classical-originals-could-bear-no-burden/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/kenneth-clark-9681_bears_conventional-nudes-based-on-classical-or_2309500.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/kenneth-clark-9681_bears_conventional-nudes-based-on-classical-or_2309500.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/kenneth-clark-9681_bears_conventional-nudes-based-on-classical-or_2309500.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Conventional nudes based on classical originals could bear no burden of thought or inner life without losing…” — Kenneth Clark", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Kenneth Clark", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Conventional nudes based on classical originals...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/conventional-nudes-based-on-classical-originals-could-bear-no-burden/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/conventional-nudes-based-on-classical-originals-could-bear-no-burden/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```