TRTR(I.2) Portrait of the Artist as a Criminal

[Mark Kohut]

Great Find!....

Look: 
Degas did a series of Criminal Physiognomies, I learn and this
from a 2010 book: 
 
'a familiar trope in art writing": 
The Dark Side of Creativity - Page 159
  David H. Cropley, Arthur J. Cropley, James C. Kaufman- 2010 - 394 pages - 
Preview

The artist is as resourceful and amoral in his or her pursuit of the project as 
the criminal. The likeness of the artist to the criminal was celebrated by Degas 
and is a familiar trope in art writing. “A painting calls for as much ...  







----- Original Message ----
From: Jed Kelestron <jedkelestron at gmail.com>
To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sat, April 23, 2011 7:23:41 PM
Subject: TRTR(I.2) Portrait of the Artist as a Criminal

I can find no source for Cremer's Degas quote, but Thomas Mann cites
it in his introduction ('Dostoevsky — in Moderation') to The Short
Novels of Dostoevsky:

[Regarding Nietzsche] "his personal feelings initiate him into those
of the criminal ... in general all creative originality, all artist
nature in the broadest sense of the word, does the same. It was the
French painter and sculptor Degas who said that an artist must
approach his work in the spirit of the criminal about to commit a
crime."