Thursday, Sep 10, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ ↗
IsThis

No reliable sources attribute “Art is for the artist, his speech, his way of communication” to Bernhard Smith.

The Claim

The quote "Art is for the artist, his speech, his way of communication" was said or written by Bernhard Smith.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

The attribution is not supported by the available evidence. Reliable biographical, archival, and scholarly sources on Bernard/Bernhard Smith do not contain this quote or credit it to him, and the supporting material relies only on broad similarities to common ideas about art as communication. A specific quotation claim requires direct attribution, which is absent here.

Caveats

  • No authoritative source in the record reproduces the exact quote or attributes it to Bernhard Smith.
  • The claim may conflate different people named Bernard/Bernhard Smith, creating a substantial misattribution risk.
  • General discussion of art as communication is not evidence that this precise wording came from the named person.

The Receipts

  1. Bernhard Smith

    Australian Dictionary of Biography

  2. Papers of Bernard Smith

    National Library of Australia

  3. Bernard Smith (art historian)

    Wikipedia

  4. The legacies of Bernard Smith

    Journal of Art Historiography

  5. Bernard William Smith

    Obituaries Australia (Australian National University)

  6. Bernard Smith 1916-2011

    Henry F. Skerritt

  7. Bernard Smith's Formalesque and the end of the history of art

    Journal of Visual Culture (SAGE)

  8. Bernard Smith: Reluctant Icon

    Artlink Magazine

  9. In Honor of Emeritus History Professor Bernard Smith

    Swarthmore College

  10. Bernard Smith and Robert Hughes: a critical dialogue

    arthistoriography.wordpress.com

+ 11 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Bernhard Smith