“I keep using the word expression” Haraguchi went on, “but an artist doesn’t paint what’s inside, he doesn’t paint the heart. He paints what the heart puts on display. As long as he observes everything in the display case, he can tell what’s locked up in the safe. Or we can assume that much, I suppose. A painter has to resign himself to the fact that anything he can’t see on display is beyond the scope of his responsibility. That’s why we only paint the flesh. Whatever flesh the artist paints, if it hasn’t got the spirit in it, it’s dead, it simply has no validity as a painting.”
Sōseki Natsume, “Sanshirō”, 1908-9.
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