Today is the deed.

A few wise words of inspiration for today.

He who is busy today with the morrow is busy doing nothing.
And he who tomorrow will bring us nothing of what he has done
today is of no use for the future.
Today is the deed.
We will account for it tomorrow.
The past we are leaving behind as carrion.
The future we leave to the fortune-tellers.
We take the present day.

The brothers Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner, wrote those resounding words in 1920 in “The Realistic Manifesto,” which accompanied an open-air exhibition of paintings and sculptures on Tverskoy Boulevard, Moscow. With this text, they announced the arrival of Constructivist art.

Today we proclaim our words to you people. In the squares and on the streets we are placing our work convinced that art must not remain a sanctuary for the idle, a consolation for the weary, and a justification for the lazy. Art should attend as everywhere that life flows and acts … at the beach, at the table, at work, at rest, at play; on working days and holidays … at home and on the road … in order that the flame to live should not extinguish in mankind.

Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner

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