“ Good artists copy, great artists steal.” Who said that?

I talk a lot about my attitude to artists who copy other Artists paintings and Art works. Of course for those out there who do copy they really have only two choices when I speak, ignore me or try and get a significant voice to contradict me and silence me, most time I get this quote said to me , “ Picasso said good artist copy and great artists steal.”

This always concerned me as I admire Picasso and what he contributed to the Art world. When you read the many biographies about him I have never seen that quote so I thought, did he really say it?

It was Steve Jobs who attributed this quote to Picasso but there is no evidence that Picasso said it, Jobs was badly quoting T S Eliot  (1888-1965)  a poet.

What Eliot said was, “ Immature poets imitate, mature poets plagiarize.[ steal]”

Jobs was wrong he quoted T S Eliot a poet but Eliot was not as inspirational as Picasso, everyone knows Picasso but few know T S Eliot and Jobs used the face of Picasso in his promotional material for Apple.

A better quote from Picasso may give us a little more insight into his mindset, because it always concerned me as Picasso was very jealous of his Art and deeply concerned at all the fakes and copies out there being produced.

Maybe this quote from Picasso will shed some light on the subject,

“ Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others.”

[Quoted from “ The Artist” Vol 93[1978]Pg 5.]

He addresses the two subjects I warn Artists about, do not repeat your sold work and do not copy others, both are dangerous to your career.