Why go back to the primitive peoples for models to copy or to be inspired by when they were either the deteriorated remnants of earlier Atlantean-Lemurian races or the beginnings of our own later ones--both living in Nature like half-animals or semi-savages? Why ignore all the creditable history of art, culture, aesthetic taste, refined perceptions, and intellectual quality which has been our glorious possession and memorial through the work of seven thousand years? If some of this new art led to a higher degree or a further improvement of what we now have, it would justify its existence. But instead we see only a horrible deterioration. Its fruits are ugly monstrosities which can have only a bad influence on its beholders. Let us welcome the less advertised but more sincere work of those among the moderns who, while remaining faithful to art's lofty mission as illustrated in so many classics, yet have not hesitated to let the spirit of the times touch their hand, throw out the unsuitable debris of the past, and open their eyes to fresh visions which shall guide their creations.
-- Notebooks Category 14: The Arts in Culture > Chapter 1 : Appreciation > # 197
