George Edward Woodberry
“Mankind is the grandest and surest artist of all.”
The Torch, 1905
Documented source
Source
George Edward Woodberry, The Torch (1905)
Date
1905
Wording
Exact
Every quote here is traced to a documented source. How we verify →
About this line
Most people picture art as something made by individuals in studios. Woodberry makes a far bigger claim: civilization itself — language, architecture, music, the whole accumulated record of what humanity has thought and felt — is the artwork. One no single person could have made, and one still being made.
Why we carry this line
The idea that all of us together are making one enormous work of art stopped me — and I’d never even heard of Woodberry. The discovery is half of why it’s here.
