Realizing that a young and gifted artist has no worse enemy than excessive technical skill, Dufy decided to paint with his left hand. Not that he made a system out of this symbolic gesture--for systems are also an easy way out--but he realized that charm, skill, facility in resolving all technical problems, and even infallible taste all have their dangers. A great artist must be at the same time the best armed and the least armed of men.
From the introduction to
Raoul Dufy by Claude Roger-Marx, as translated from the French by F.A. Mc Farland.
This is the best opening to a book I've encountered in a long time.
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