Art criticism

Art
The variety of artistic movements has resulted in a division of art criticism into different disciplines which may each use different criteria for their judgements.[3][5] The most common division in the field of criticism is between historical criticism and evaluation, a form of art history, and contemporary criticism of work by living artists.[1][2][3]
Despite perceptions that art criticism is a much lower risk activity than making art, opinions of current art are always liable to drastic corrections with the passage of time.
Artists have often had an uneasy relationship with their critics. Artists usually need positive opinions from critics for their work to be viewed and purchased; unfortunately for the artists, only later generations may understand it.[2][9]
There are many different variables that determine judgment of art such as aesthetics, cognition or perception. Art is a human instinct with a diverse range of form and expression. Art can stand alone with an instantaneous judgment, or be viewed with a deeper knowledge. Aesthetic, pragmatic, expressive, formalist, relativist, processional, imitation, ritual, cognition, mimetic and postmodern theories, are some of many theories to criticize and appreciate art. Art criticism and appreciation can be subjective based on personal preference toward aesthetics and form, or it can be based on the elements and principle of design and by social and cultural acceptance.[citation needed]
Definition
Art criticism has many and often numerous subjective viewpoints which are nearly as varied as there are people practising it.[2][3] It is difficult to come by a more stable definition than the activity being related to the discussion and interpretation of art and its value.[3] Depending on who is writing on the subject, "art criticism" itself may be obviated as a direct goal or it may include art history within its framework.[3] Regardless of definitional problems, art criticism can refer to the history of the craft in its essays and art history itself may use critical methods implicitly.[2][3][7] According to art historian R. Siva Kumar, "The borders between art history and art criticism... are no more as firmly drawn as they once used to be. It perhaps began with art historians taking interest in modern art."[10]
Methodology
Art criticism includes a descriptive aspect,
History
Critiques of art likely originated with the origins of art itself, as evidenced by texts found in the works of
Origins
Art criticism as a genre of writing, obtained its modern form in the 18th century.
In France and England in the mid-1700s, public interest in art began to become widespread, and art was regularly exhibited at the Salons in Paris and the
The 18th-century French writer Denis Diderot greatly advanced the medium of art criticism. Diderot's "The Salon of 1765"[21] was one of the first real attempts to capture art in words.[22] According to art historian Thomas E. Crow, "When Diderot took up art criticism it was on the heels of the first generation of professional writers who made it their business to offer descriptions and judgments of contemporary painting and sculpture. The demand for such commentary was a product of the similarly novel institution of regular, free, public exhibitions of the latest art".[23]
Meanwhile, in England an exhibition of the
19th century

From the 19th century onwards, art criticism became a more common vocation and even a profession,
One of the prominent critics in England at the time was William Hazlitt, a painter and essayist. He wrote about his deep pleasure in art and his belief that the arts could be used to improve mankind's generosity of spirit and knowledge of the world around it. He was one of a rising tide of English critics that began to grow uneasy with the increasingly abstract direction J. M. W. Turner's landscape art was moving in.[15]
One of the great critics of the 19th century was

Another dominating figure in 19th-century art criticism, was the French poet
In 1877,
Turn of the twentieth century
Towards the end of the 19th century a movement towards abstraction, as opposed to specific content, began to gain ground in England, notably championed by the playwright Oscar Wilde. By the early twentieth century these attitudes formally coalesced into a coherent philosophy, through the work of Bloomsbury Group members Roger Fry and Clive Bell.[39][40] As an art historian in the 1890s, Fry became intrigued with the new modernist art and its shift away from traditional depiction. His 1910 exhibition of what he called post-Impressionist art attracted much criticism for its iconoclasm. He vigorously defended himself in a lecture, in which he argued that art had moved to attempt to discover the language of pure imagination, rather than the staid and, to his mind, dishonest scientific capturing of landscape.[41][42] Fry's argument proved to be very influential at the time, especially among the progressive elite. Virginia Woolf remarked that: "in or about December 1910 [the date Fry gave his lecture] human character changed."[15]

Independently, and at the same time, Clive Bell argued in his 1914 book Art that all art work has its particular 'significant form', while the conventional subject matter was essentially irrelevant. This work laid the foundations for the formalist approach to art.[5] In 1920, Fry argued that "it's all the same to me if I represent a Christ or a saucepan since it's the form, and not the object itself, that interests me." As well as being a proponent of formalism, he argued that the value of art lies in its ability to produce a distinctive aesthetic experience in the viewer. an experience he called "aesthetic emotion". He defined it as that experience which is aroused by significant form. He also suggested that the reason we experience aesthetic emotion in response to the significant form of a work of art was that we perceive that form as an expression of an experience the artist has. The artist's experience in turn, he suggested, was the experience of seeing ordinary objects in the world as pure form: the experience one has when one sees something not as a means to something else, but as an end in itself.[citation needed]
Herbert Read was a champion of modern British artists such as Paul Nash, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth and became associated with Nash's contemporary arts group Unit One. He focused on the modernism of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, and published an influential 1929 essay on the meaning of art in The Listener.[43][44][45][46] He also edited the trend-setting Burlington Magazine (1933–38) and helped organise the London International Surrealist Exhibition in 1936.[47]
Since 1945
As in the case of Baudelaire in the 19th century, the poet-as-critic phenomenon appeared once again in the 20th, when French poet
In the 1940s there were not only few galleries (
Although New York and the world were unfamiliar with the New York avant-garde,[53] by the late 1940s most of the artists who have become household names today had their well established patron critics.[57] Clement Greenberg advocated Abstract Expressionist and color field painters like Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Adolph Gottlieb and Hans Hofmann.[58][59][60][61][62][63][64] Harold Rosenberg seemed to prefer the action painters such as Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline.[65][66] Thomas B. Hess, the managing editor of ARTnews, championed Willem de Kooning.[67]
The new critics elevated their protégés by casting other artists as "followers" or ignoring those who did not serve their promotional goal.[5][68] As an example, in 1958, Mark Tobey "became the first American painter since Whistler (1895) to win top prize at the Biennale of Venice. New York's two leading art magazines were not interested. Arts mentioned the historic event only in a news column and Art News (Managing editor: Thomas B. Hess) ignored it completely. The New York Times and Life printed feature articles".[69]
It is true that Rothko talks the fighter. He fights, however, to submit to the philistine world. My struggle against bourgeois society has involved the total rejection of it.[71]
The person thought to have had most to do with the promotion of this style was a New York
Clement Greenberg proclaimed
Jackson Pollock's work has always polarised critics. Harold Rosenberg spoke of the transformation of painting into an existential drama in Pollock's work, in which "what was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event". "The big moment came when it was decided to paint 'just to paint'. The gesture on the canvas was a gesture of liberation from value—political, aesthetic, moral."[74]
One of the most vocal critics of Abstract Expressionism at the time was New York Times art critic
Feminist art criticism
Feminist art criticism emerged in the 1970s from the wider feminist movement as the critical examination of both visual representations of women in art and art produced by women.[81]
Today
Art critics today work not only in print media and in specialist art magazines as well as newspapers. Art critics appear also on the internet, TV, and radio, as well as in museums and galleries.[1][82] Many are also employed in universities or as art educators for museums. Art critics curate exhibitions and are frequently employed to write exhibition catalogues.[1][2] Art critics have their own organisation, the International Association of Art Critics, which is affiliated with UNESCO and has around 76 national sections and a politically non-aligned section for refugees and exiles.[83]
Art blogs
Since the early 21st century, online art critical websites and art blogs have cropped up around the world to add their voices to the art world.[84][85] Many of these writers use social media resources like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Google+ to introduce readers to their opinions about art criticism.
See also
- Art history
- Art critic
- Documenta 12 magazines (contemporary examples of art criticism)
References
- ^ a b c d e "Art Criticism". Comprehensive Art Education. North Texas Institute For Educators on the Visual Arts. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ . Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Elkins, James (1996). "Art Criticism". In Jane Turner (ed.). Grove Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press.
- Jewish Journal. 23 January 2014.
- ^ JSTOR 29768369.
- ^ ISBN 0-87070-360-9
- ^ JSTOR 20026565.
- ^ a b Fishman, Solomon (1963). The Interpretation of Art: Essays on the Art Criticism of John Ruskin, Walter Pater, Clive Bell, Robert Fry, and Herbert Read. University of California Press. p. 6.
- ^ Seenan, Gerard (20 April 2004). "Painting by ridiculed but popular artist sells for £744,800". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ "Humanities underground » All the Shared Experiences of the Lived World".
- ^ Fishman, Solomon (1963). The Interpretation of Art: Essays on the Art Criticism of John Ruskin, Walter Pater, Clive Bell, Robert Fry, and Herbert Read. University of California Press. p. 3.
- ^ a b Fishman, Solomon (1963). The Interpretation of Art: Essays on the Art Criticism of John Ruskin, Walter Pater, Clive Bell, Robert Fry, and Herbert Read. University of California Press. p. 5.
- S2CID 192025173. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
- ^ Nagel, Alexander (2003). "Art as Gift: Liberal Art and Religious Reform in the Renaissance" (PDF). Negotiating the Gift: Pre-Modern Figurations of Exchange. pp. 319–360. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "A History of Art Criticism" (PDF). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Dubos, Jean-Baptiste (1732). Réflexions critiques sur la poésie et sur la peinture (in French) (3rd ed.). Utrecht: E. Neaulme.
- ^ Voltaire (1874). Charles Louandre (ed.). Le Siècle de Louis XIV (in French). Paris: Charpentier et Cie, Libraires-Éditeurs. p. 581. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- ^ La Font de Saint-Yenne, Étienne (1747). Reflexions sur quelques causes de l'état présent de la peinture en France : avec un examen des principaux ouvrages exposés au Louvre le mois d'août 1746 (in French). The Hague: Jean Neaulme.
- ^ Saisselin, Rémy G. (1992). The Enlightenment Against the Baroque: Economics and Aesthetics in the Eighteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 49–50. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- ^ Walter, Nancy Paige Ryan (1995). From Armida to Cornelia: Women and Representation in Prerevolutionary France (MA). Texas Tech University. p. 11. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- ^ Diderot, Denis (1795). François Buisson (ed.). Essais sur la peinture (in French). Paris: François Buisson. pp. 118–407. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- Morley, John (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 205. . In
- ^ Crow, Thomas E. (1995). "Introduction". In Denis Diderot (ed.). Diderot on Art, Volume I: The Salon of 1765 and Notes on Painting. Yale University Press. p. x.
- OCLC 775870.
- ISBN 978-1-61148-420-5.
- ^ Baudelaire, Charles (1868). "Salon de 1845". Curiosités esthétiques: Salon 1845–1859. M. Lévy. pp. 5–76. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 537.
- OCLC 30736784.
- ^ "Édouard Manet's Olympia by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker". Smarthistory. Khan Academy. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ISBN 0-300-02513-0.
- ^ Merrill, Linda, After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting. City: Publisher, 2003. p. 112
- ^ Ronald Anderson and Anne Koval, James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth, Carroll & Graf, New York, 1994, p. 215
- ^ Stuttaford, Genevieve. "Nonfiction – the Aesthetic Movement by Lionel Lambourne." Vol. 243. (1996).
- ^ Ronald Anderson and Anne Koval, James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth, Carroll & Graf, New York, 1994, p. 216
- ^ Whistler, James Abbott McNeill. WebMuseumn, Paris
- ^ Prideaux, Tom. The World of Whistler. New York: Time-Life Books, 1970. p. 123
- ISBN 1-880908-70-0.
- ^ IAN CHILVERS. "Fry, Roger." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 9 March 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.Retrieved[permanent dead link ] 9 March 2009
- ^ "Archive Journeys: Bloomsbury Biographies: Roger Fry, as art critic | Tate". Archive Journeys. Tate. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- ^ "Archive Journeys: Bloomsbury Group Profiles | Tate". Archive Journeys. Tate. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- ^ "Archive Journeys: Bloomsbury Biographies: Roger Fry, ideas | Tate". Archive Journeys. Tate. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- ^ "Archive Journeys: Bloomsbury Biographies: Roger Fry, modern art | Tate". Archive Journeys. Tate. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- ^ Overton, Tom (2009). "Paul Nash (1889–1946)". Venice Biennale. British Council. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
- ^ Overton, Tom (2009). "Ben Nicholson (1894–1982)". Venice Biennale. British Council. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
- ^ Overton, Tom (2009). "Henry Moore (1898–1986)". Venice Biennale. British Council. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
- ^ Overton, Tom (2009). "Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975)". Venice Biennale. British Council. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
- ^ "A History of Art Criticism" (PDF). Retrieved 17 December 2012.
- S2CID 191632519.
- ^ Mathews, Timothy (Summer 1988). "Apollinaire and Cubism?" (PDF). Style. 22 (2): 275–298. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
- ^ Allan, Derek (2009). Art and the Human Adventure, André Malraux's Theory of Art. Rodopi.
- .
- ^ Levin, Gail (1998). Edward Hopper : an intimate biography. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- ^ a b Wolf, Justin. "The Art Story: Gallery – The Art of This Century Gallery". The Art Story. The Art Story Foundation. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Archives of American Art. "Oral history interview with Robert Motherwell, 1971 Nov. 24-1974 May 1 – Oral Histories | Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution". Aaa.si.edu. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
- ^ "Robert Motherwell". Tate. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ "Chronology - The Barnett Newman Foundation". www.barnettnewman.org.
- ^ a b "Painters in Postwar New York City". Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Wolf, Justin. "Abstract Expressionism". The Art Story. The Art Story Foundation. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City.
- ^ Greenberg, Clement (1955). "American-Type Painting". Partisan Review: 58.
- ^ "American Abstract Expressionism: Painting Action and Colorfields". Color Vision & Art. webexhibits.org. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ "Chronology". The Barnett Newman Foundation. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ "Special Exhibitions – Adolph Gottlieb". The Jewish Museum. Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ "Hans Hofmann: Biography". The Estate of Hans Hofmann. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Stevens, Mark; Annalyn Swan (8 November 2004). "When de Kooning Was King". New York.
- ^ Wolf, Justin. "Harold Rosenberg". The Art Story. The Art Story Foundation. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Wolf, Justin. "Thomas B. Hess". The Art Story. The Art Story Foundation. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Thomas B. Hess, "Willem de Kooning", George Braziller, Inc. New York, 1959 p.:13
- ISBN 9780405128936.
- ^ Barnett Newman Selected Writings and Interviews, (ed.) by John P. O'Neill, pgs.: 240–241, University of California Press, 1990
- ^ Barnett Newman Selected Writings Interviews, (ed.) by John P. O'Neill, p.: 201, University of California Press, 1990.
- ^ Glueck, Grace (18 July 1991). "Robert Motherwell, Master of Abstract, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Clement Greenberg, Art and Culture Critical essays, ("The Crisis of the Easel Picture"), Beacon Press, 1961 pp.:154–157
- ^ Harold Rosenberg, The Tradition of the New, Chapter 2, "The American Action Painter", Da Capo Press, 1959 pp.:23–39
- ^ Wolf, Justin. "John Canaday". The Art Story. The Art Story Foundation. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Solomon, Deborah (14 August 1994). "A Critic Turns 90; Meyer Schapiro". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ McGuire, Kristi (15 March 2011). "Remembering Leo Steinberg (1920–2011)". The Chicago Blog. University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Wolf, Justin. "Michael Fried". The Art Story. The Art Story Foundation. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Wolf, Justin. "Rosalind Krauss". The Art Story. The Art Story Foundation. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Wolf, Justin. "Robert Hughes". The Art Story. The Art Story Foundation. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Deepwell, Katie (September 2012). "12 Step Guide to Feminist Art, Art History and Criticism" (PDF). N.paradoxa. online (21): 8.
- ^ Gratza, Agnieszka (17 October 2013). "Frieze or faculty? One art critic's move from academia to journalism". Guardian Professional. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ "International Association of Art Critics". UNESCO NGO – db. UNESCO. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Green, Tyler. "Tyler Green". In Their Own Words. New York Foundation for the Arts. Archived from the original on 25 November 2005. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ Kaiser, Michael (14 November 2011). "The Death of Criticism or Everyone Is a Critic". HuffPost. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
External links
- "AICA – International Association of Art Critics". Archived from the original on 22 September 2017.
- "Our critics' advice". Arts. Guardian News and Media Limited. 8 July 2008.
- In this article Adrian Searle, among others, gives advice to ambitious, young, would-be art critics.
- "Judgment and Contemporary Art Criticism". Archived from the original on 19 August 2011. – conference, reading room, and bibliography
- Singerman, Howard. "The Myth of Criticism in the 1980s". X-TRA : Contemporary Art Quarterly. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2013.