"I have difficulty with all sorts of things on the craft level that I feel I should not have difficulty with. I make the broad assumption that I can do anything even though very often I can't."
Looking at this diverse selection of work by this tremendously talented artist, one can't help but be impressed by the humility of such a statement. After all, Briggs was not a founding faculty member of the Famous Artists School for no reason.
Briggs' friend, the artist Howard Munce, said of the artist: "As I look back... I'm re-impressed by his special ability to say things that stuck and to cause his listener to reach beyond the banalities of shop talk and glib appraisals. Articulate, intelligent people do that to you. He was both."
"Beyond that of course, was a walloping talent."
We'll spend a whole week looking at more of Austin Briggs' work later on this year, but I thought this brief glimpse might be just the tonic to inspire us as we begin our new year.
My thanks to the five TI list members who provided the scans above and the articles from which I took today's quotes: Drazen Kozjan, Michael Lark, Brian Postman, Josh Sheppard, and Tom Watson.
My Austin Briggs Flickr set.
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