Kaleidoscope - Toss Woollaston

... the mind of a monkey expressing itself through a human.

– A 1936 review of Toss Woollaston's work, indicating attitudes towards modern art at the time

What diplomas are for, except for being able to impose the same on others, I can’t imagine. They’re the death blow to artists.

– Toss Woollaston on art education

I am not going to feel good if I try to explain to anybody why I paint. I talk a lot of nonsense. They can find out for themselves, if they want to, by looking at the painting. But I will not tell them ... or analyse.

– Toss Woollaston on art criticism

... you’re friends with people to whom painting has no meaning, or is an ornament for the sitting room, or a souvenir of a pretty scene ... That conception of painting won’t do anything for you. But you don’t want to be unfriends with those people, so you just ignore painting as much as you can in your intercourse with them.

– Toss Woollaston on art and friendship in New Zealand