Medardo Rosso

Visual Arts Italy 1858 – 1928 52 quotes

Impressionist sculptor blurring figure and environment.

Quotes by Medardo Rosso

I model in light, not in marble.

Interview 1895

The impression is everything; the detail is nothing.

Letter 1900

Sculpture should suggest, not describe.

Writing 1910

My work is born from the street, from life as it is.

Correspondence 1885

Light and shadow are the true forms.

Speech 1920

I seek the soul behind the form.

Letter 1890

Art is not imitation, but interpretation of sensation.

Article 1906

The fragment is the whole.

Interview 1915

In sculpture, movement is in the air around it.

Personal note 1880

I paint with wax and bronze to capture fleeting moments.

Reflection 1925

Reality is in the vibration of light on surfaces.

Letter 1898

Do not finish the work; let it breathe.

Advice to student 1902

The street child is more alive than any posed model.

Correspondence 1889

Sculpture dies when it becomes too precise.

Interview 1912

My ecstasies are in the incomplete.

Last words 1928

Light models the form better than the chisel.

Writing 1892

Impressionism in sculpture means capturing the instant.

Speech 1904

The soul of art is in suggestion, not definition.

Letter 1918

I work to evoke emotion, not to copy life.

Personal journal 1887

Bronze weeps when overpolished.

Witty remark 1908