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It’s Not What You Put In,
It’s What You Leave Out

John Burchard, Dean, School of Humanities and Social Science (Retired ), Massachusetts Institute of Technology

for the full essay, as published in Aspen no. 2, published by Roaring Fork Press, 1966, click here

selected quotations:

“…It’s a mistake to divorce art from communication. I know of no durable art whatever which hasn’t communicated, and which doesn’t still communicate—and quite explicitly. It doesn’t have to communicate with everybody, of course, but art is a dialogue, not a monologue. The artist says something, and the viewer reacts. Without the reaction, isn’t any art.”

“…artists shouldn’t assume that because they fail to reach an audience they’re misunderstood. They may be all too well understood…Even among the handful who did go unapplauded in their own time, most of them weren’t misunderstood, they were understood very well, but the messages were unpalatable.”

“Innovation is not ipso facto admirable.”

“Failure is not an indication of probable future success, but rather a prediction of future as well as present obscurity. “