"For what Ruskin said of the difference between a great painter, like Tintoretto, and a low painter, like Teniers, holds for every manifestation of life: the inferior painter, not recognizing the difference between high and low, between what is inten

[joseph berg]

*"For what Ruskin said of the difference* between a great painter, like
Tintoretto, and a low painter, like Teniers, holds for every manifestation
of life: the inferior painter, not recognizing the difference between high
and low, *between what is intensely moving and what is emotionally inert,
gives every part of his painting the same refinement of finish, the same
care of detail.  The great painter, on the other hand, knows that life is
too short to treat every part of it with equal care: so he concentrates on
the passages of maximum significane and treats hastily, even
contemptuously, the minor passages: his shortcuts and simplifications are
an effort to give a better account of what matters.  This reduction of
essentials is the main art of life."*

"Conduct of Life" (1951,Mumford)

http://books.google.com/books?id=YQmxAAAAIAAJ&q=%22essentials+is+the+main+art+of+life%22&dq=%22essentials+is+the+main+art+of+life%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nXbdT4_ZH6fN6QGkiaWrCw&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAA