Past and present

“Only those generations who have lost faith in themselves and in the future prefer the past to the present; and the school or doctrine which evokes past principles to the exclusion of experimentation and innovation must inevitably stifle initiative. The new or unusual must not be suspect merely because of its ‘newness’. But since new experiences are often difficult to assess, we must be prepared to make the necessary effort – often a very considerable one – to comprehend the unfamiliar in our own times or in other cultures.”

Helen Gardner, Art Through the Ages