MARIANO MARCOS STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Teacher Education

BCAED 106b Analysis and Critical Understanding of the Visual Arts

Lesson 1- Describing Art Works
Prof. Fe Erlinda D. Ibalio
Art Criticism
 The process of studying, understanding, and judging art works.

What is an Art Critic?

 A person who practices Art Criticism.
 Art Critics learn as much as possible from all kinds of art work.
 They carefully study and examine works of art.
 They search for a meaning or message in the work. Then this information is used to help them
form judgments that can be supported with solid reasons.

History of Art Criticism

 art criticism clearly has a lengthy history. Men and women have been talking and writing about
buildings, sculptures, and paintings with discernment—and so practicing art criticism, in one sense
of the word— for thousands of years.

 Such writings point to the long-standing existence of intelligent discussions regarding art, and they
also imply that one could construct an interesting history of art criticism that incorporates ancient
and medieval examples. Or, we should add, examples from a range of cultures: at about the time
that Procopius recorded his reaction to the Hagia Sofia, the Chinese writer Hsieh Ho (sometimes
spelled Xie He) developed a list of six traditional principles to consider when judging a painting;
these principles, which included “spirit resonance,” or the vitality embodied in the image, soon
became widely influential.

 So, the history of art criticism can be told in various ways, depending on the criteria we employ.
Importantly, though, none of the writers mentioned would have described his work as art criticism
—the term only emerges as a specific and self-conscious category of writing in the early
eighteenth century.

 So, the history of art criticism can be told in various ways, depending on the criteria we employ.
Importantly, though, none of the writers mentioned would have described his work as art criticism
—the term only emerges as a specific and self-conscious category of writing in the early
eighteenth century.

 The earliest use of the term art criticism is often associated with the English painter and writer
Jonathan Richardson the Elder. Between 1715 and 1719, Richardson authored several books,
including An Essay on the Theory of Painting and An Essay on the Whole Art of Criticism.

 In the latter book, he set out seven categories that he felt were integral to the success of a painting
(these included invention, composition, drawing, and coloring); by assigning a score of between 0
and 18 in each category, he claimed to be able to assess the rough worth of any picture.

 Richardson also claimed that such a system could, in theory, be employed by any earnest
observer. “One Man may be,” wrote Richardson, “as Good a Judge as Another if he applies
himself to it.”

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 Due in part to this inclusive spirit, Richardson’s writings appealed to an English middle class that
was beginning to collect pictures and to practice the art of connoisseurship, as it gave them a set
of terms with which to discuss art. And his use of the term criticism, in turn, gave such an activity a
name, which soon began to appear in the titles of other works, as well: in 1719, for example, the
French politician and historian Jean-Baptiste Dubos published Réflexions critiques sur la poésie et
sur la peinture (Critical Reflections on Poetry and Painting).

 For the most part, however, Richardson concentrated on paintings that were already decades, or
even centuries, old; his criticism rarely involved discussions of contemporary art. In that sense, the
development of regular, public exhibitions of contemporary art in Paris and London in the mid-
1700s was a meaningful phenomenon.

 The Salons and Summer Exhibitions stoked public interest in contemporary art and prompted
writers to think, in print, about what they had seen.

 Although each Salon was accompanied by an official livret, or catalog, which was sold inside the
exhibition and included a brief entry on every work, writers unassociated with the Academy soon
began to publish independent responses that were often issued in pamphlets sold outside the
exhibitions, or in newspapers and magazines.

 Such responses both catered to and fostered public interest in the Salons and constituted an
important step in the evolution of criticism.

Relationship between Art Criticism and Aesthetics

 Art Criticism will provide you with method of looking at art works in order to learn as much as
possible from them. Aesthetics will help you identify what to look for when conducting those critical
examinations.

 Identifying and assessing these aesthetic qualities enables art critics to make judgments and to
defend those judgments with intelligent reasons.

The use of aesthetics in the art education curriculum can provide educational opportunities for a greater
understanding of art and a method for teaching critical thinking. The advent of Discipline Based Art
Education (DBAE) in 1983 has reshaped what teachers teach and how they teach it, resulting in a more
complete visual art curriculum.

In many instances, students can see the link between humankind and art. This understanding can
influence how students see beauty and the way they appreciate and understand art. The ability to view
art using aesthetic methods of interpretation allows students to make personal judgments about why
and how they respond to the art in a variety of ways.

The National Standards indicate that students should have the opportunity to visually experience art
throughout history and to use a variety of media through hands-on activities. A variety of media should
be explored; the students 1 should assimilate the knowledge learned. They should analyze art through
looking and exploring its meaning. Finally, students should incorporate this knowledge into their own
work.

Castro Ave., Laoag City, 2900 Ilocos Norte, Philippines

[email protected] (077) 600-2014 www.mmsu.edu.ph

MMSU @45: ACHIEVE-ing more

for the future
 MARIANO MARCOS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education

References:

Gene Mittler, Ph. D. and Rosalind Ragans, Ph. D. Exploring Art, Glencoe Macmillan McGraw-Hill, USA.

http://www.escueladecritica.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/historyartcriticism.pdf - reference of History of Art Criticism

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/art/ose/art_in_focus/2005/docs/Chap04.pdf -reference of Chapter 4 Art Criticism and Aesthetics

https://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1172&context=etd

Prepared by:
FE ERLINDA D. IBALIO

Castro Ave., Laoag City, 2900 Ilocos Norte, Philippines

[email protected] (077) 600-2014 www.mmsu.edu.ph

MMSU @45: ACHIEVE-ing more

for the future