True Artists Are Almost The Only Men

In Front Of The Model I Work With The Same Will To Reproduce Truth As If I Were Making A Portrait. I Do Not Correct Nature, I Incorporate Myself Into It; It Directs Me. I Can Only Work With A Model. The Sight Of Human Forms Nourishes And Comforts Me.

If The Artist Only Reproduces Superficial Features As Photography Does, If He Copies The Lineaments Of A Face Exactly, Without Reference To Character, He Deserves No Admiration. The Resemblance Which He Ought To Obtain Is That Of The Soul.

Sculpture Is The Art Of The Hole And The Lump.

How Painful It Is To Find That My Figure Can Be Of No Help To My Future... How Painful To See It Rejected On Account Of A Slanderous Suspicion!

Where Did I Learn To Understand Sculpture? In The Woods By Looking At The Trees, Along Roads By Observing The Formation Of Clouds, In The Studio By Studying The Model, Everywhere Except In The Schools.