Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

problems. Those seasons when you seem to be, are the result of a strong spiritual courage – the troubles are there just the same, but you have forgotten them in the ecstasy of faith and creative effort.; And it is so, now. You think your worries have multiplied to an unusual extent, and you go about with an inner fear or apprehension. It inhibits your work, and destroys in you the power to enjoy life, and to be a joy to others. You have let yourself be cast down because you realize all at once, that there is little demands for your work. But it has always been so, and those periods when it seemed otherwise, are merely the outcome of a fierce joy in creating – creating because you have to, and not because it is going to please someone else.; The true mark of greatness is the power to create under the most distressing material conditions; to produce work superior to the current or common taste; to express one’s inner spiritual life without regard to its ultimate value, or whether it has a market. You should always hold before you the example of Mozart and his last three (and greatest) symphonies.; There never has been a time in the history of the world when conditions have been right for the productions of great art.