Martin Filler Quotes & Sayings (Page 3)

“We take from the art of the past what we need. The variable posthumous reputations of even the greatest artists and the unpredictable revivals of interest in even the most obscure ones tend to reveal more about those who make revisionist assessments than about those who are being reassessed.”

“After Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, the belief in decent housing as a political right or social obligation was supplanted in the U.S. by the notion that suitable shelter should be an act of charity.”

“The most basic task of any museum must be the protection of works of cultural significance entrusted to its care for the edification and pleasure of future generations.”

“During the nineteenth century, the rapid emergence and proliferation of new manufacturing methods and building technologies led to the establishment of polytechnic schools that concentrated on the practicalities of engineering and construction rather than the niceties of stylistic correctness or adherence to established precedent.”

“The truth be told, the World Trade Center was neither a very good work of architecture nor a very successful piece of urbanism. Its shortcomings were somewhat mitigated by the westward and southward expansion of the World Financial Center and Battery Park City during the 1980s.”

“Truly great architecture always transcends its stated function, sometimes in unanticipated ways.”

“Any set of decisions about design is inevitably influenced by cultural prejudice, no matter how intent an architect might be to avoid it.”

“Architecture is not a profession for the faint-hearted, the weak-willed, or the short-lived.”

“Architecture was the last of the major professions to devise a formal 'cursus honorum' before its practice could be undertaken.”

“High among the unpredictable variables that endanger the survival of worthy buildings are the vagaries of taste.”