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Not only the artist but everyone "becomes someone else" in becoming someone. One is thought about, thus invented. Or as Steinberg put it with memorable succinctness in his Cogito drawings, "I think, therefore Descartes is." One creates not oneself but another. Being is in the act.

— Harold Rosenberg Art & Other Serious Matters (1985)

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More quotes by Harold Rosenberg

Belonging to a generation is one of the lowest forms of solidarity.

The Tradition of the New (1959)

The current demoralization of the art world is attributable at least in part to museum interference, ideological and practical, with ongoing creation in art.

Art on the Edge (1975)

Greatness in art is always a by-product.

Art on the Edge (1975)

Both art and the artist lack identity and define themselves only through their encounter with each other.

Art & Other Serious Matters (1985)

Art has arrived at the paradox that tradition itself requires the occurrence of radical attacks on tradition.

Art on the Edge (1975)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Harold Rosenberg (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.