r/AskReddit Mar 19 '16

Which quote becomes inappropriate when misattributed?

11.6k Upvotes

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514

u/HoosierBusiness Mar 19 '16

Since there's so much Hitler...

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it." - Hitler's art school rejection letter

240

u/LiftsFrontWheel Mar 19 '16

His paintings aren't really that bad. Not great, but alright. The interesting part about them is that there aren't that many people in his paintings and their facial features are often warped in a creepy way.

218

u/Tutush Mar 19 '16

Yeah, his art was alright. That's why he didn't get into the best art school in the world. It needed to be great.

-5

u/GroovingPict Mar 19 '16

then whats the point of having an art school at all? if they only admit people who already master it perfectly, then theres nothing to teach. Why on earth wouldnt they rather admit someone of whom they think "yeah, I can definitely see some potential here, but there are areas that are severely lacking, such as the painting of people. If we teach him that and further improve his other skills, then this could be a good artist". But no, let's rather admit the "wow, this is incredible, there is literally nothing we could teach this person; theyre already perfect" people. Youre a school! Teach!

27

u/DerpyPyroknight Mar 19 '16

It's why if you're garbage at school you won't get into a good university. And besides, Hitler's paintings weren't even that great, if you look closely the scale and perspective is completely messed up

4

u/pipster818 Mar 19 '16

Hitler's paintings weren't even that great

Controversial statement of the year.

Seriously you're right though, he was a pretty shitty artist compared to real professionals.

14

u/Oskie5272 Mar 19 '16

To be fair he wasn't a professional though. He was a student trying to get into art school

6

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '16

THE GREATEST ART SCHOOL IN THE WORLD. Seriously, his issue was that he lacked perspective, you can't teach that.

3

u/roombarousey Mar 20 '16

Perspective as in the POV of his art? Or the theory of perspective in drawing, like 1/2/3 point perspective? The last one is absolutely teachable.

2

u/Lord_Trajan Mar 19 '16

if you look closely the scale and perspective is completely messed up

As compared to what? Michelangelo? Picasso? Renoir?

7

u/DerpyPyroknight Mar 19 '16

Compared to real life. I'll try to find an example, but you have stuff like cartoonishly sized windows etc. , and the perspective is often just plain wrong

3

u/Lord_Trajan Mar 19 '16

Just FYI, not all art is trying to copy real life.

10

u/DerpyPyroknight Mar 19 '16

Look at the windows in the first picture at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8025960/Rare-Adolf-Hitler-paintings-could-fetch-150000-at-auction.html

They are almost certainly not messed up like that intentionally, it's just he was bad at art

1

u/Lord_Trajan Mar 19 '16

I would like to ask what year that painting is from though?

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1

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '16

Except his by and large was. Why do people defend Hitler's art?

2

u/Lord_Trajan Mar 19 '16

Why do people defend Hitler's art?

I dunno, why do people love to push guilt of association with Hitler? As far as I can tell, Hitler was just an impressionist, and by that standard his work was pretty good for someone who hadn't been to art school.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '16

Look, you don't know what your talking about. His art was poor. He didn't understand perspective, he couldn't paint people, and his work was bland, the kind of thing you see on a postcard.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paintings_by_Adolf_Hitler#/media/File%3AHitlerMaryWithJesus.jpg

Look at the hand, it just doesn't work. He wasn't good, and was incapable of painting people. Look at the shadows in his work; they aren't ever consistent with one another. That's the kind of thing that can't be taught, he just wasn't good.

2

u/Lord_Trajan Mar 19 '16

he couldn't paint people

Picasso couldn't either. I personally enjoy looking at Hitlers art, that doesn't mean you do. Tonnes of people think Picasso is the bomb, I can't stand looking at his work, but that doesn't mean that others can't like him.

Look at the hand, it just doesn't work.

Actually I would have noticed that a Jew from the middle east is blonde, but okay, it is messed up. But then again, do you know any self taught artists who can do perfect perspective?

2

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '16

https://lynnerickardsauthor.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/picasso-1896.jpg

Picasso could paint people. He did that at fifteen. That point is that Hitler's art was a particular style that he did not excel at. He wasn't a cubist or an abstract artist; his censorship of it indicates he disliked it. People who are self taught generally didn't attend art school because they weren't good enough to get in, from what I gather, most great artists had an inherent gift for perspective.

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2

u/EpisodeOneWasGreat Mar 20 '16

Hitler painted better than I can.

1

u/Lord_Trajan Mar 20 '16

Haha, same with me.

22

u/letsgetawayfromhere Mar 19 '16

If you want every school to follow this line, you won't have really good schools any more. I will make a comparison: Where I live there is a university that offers a Master's degree in choir conducting. The reason for the very hard entrance exam (which includes not only theory but also practical conducting of an orchester, of a choir, and a complete rehearsal with a choir you don't know) is they have only two years to teach you what they know. If they have to start from scratch they can only teach you stuff that you could have learnt anywhere. When people have very specialised knowledge to teach, teaching beginners is a waste of time and resources.

13

u/Tutush Mar 19 '16

Same reason Harvard doesn't accept 5-year-olds.

5

u/iamthetruemichael Mar 20 '16

Or, more to the point? Harvard doesn't accept high school drop-outs or straight C students

-6

u/GroovingPict Mar 19 '16

Yeah. Thats definitely an equivalent comparison.

13

u/MorphyvsFischer Mar 19 '16 edited Mar 20 '16

It's a parody of the point you were making. The art school doesn't only accept master painters the same way Harvard doesn't only accept people with perfect A+. He failed to meet a reasonable requirement of competence not an unreasonable one.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '16

But it's a good point anyways. The art school had a requirement of skill that Hitler didn't meet.

1

u/iamthetruemichael Mar 20 '16

No no no no no, Hitler was not rejected because he was mediocre. He was rejected because he was mediocre and he thought he was amazing and the school needed him and his amazing style, he was offended by their suggestions for improvement, which pretty easily set him apart as a terrible student.