Art criticism

The description, analysis, evaluation, interpretation, and judgment of works of art. It is a common assumption that criticism is necessarily negative, when actually it can vary in degrees of positive as well as negative remarks. Critical methods vary considerably in their approaches to considering the forms, contents, and contexts of works of art.There are several stages to critical analysis: initial reaction (involving initial identification) to a work. description (involving further identification) ? identifying subject matter and / or elements of art in a work. analysis (open to even further identification) ? identifying order (organization) in a work ? how principles of art have been used to arrange the elements of art in a work. interpretation (identifying meaning) ? the artist's expression / communication of feelings, moods, and ideas in a work. evaluation (judgment) ? assessing the meaning and artistic merit in a work. See aesthetics.Art about art criticism:Quotes: "The true work of a critic is not to make his hearer believe him, but agree with him." John Ruskin (1819-1900), English critic. "It seems to me that with the development of the critical spirit we shall be able to realize, not merely our own selves, but the collective life of the race, and so to make ourselves absolutely modern, in the true meaning of the word modernity. For he to whom the present is the only thing that is present, knows nothing of the age in which he lives. . . . To know anything about oneself one must know all about others. There must be no mood with which one cannot sympathize, no dead mode of life that one cannot make alive." See aestheticism, art for art's sake, fin de si?cle, and modernism. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish-born writer of plays, novels, and criticism. "I don't know anything about art, but I know what I like." Gelett Burgess (1866-1951). "Then we went to Matisse's studio. He's one of the neo, neo Impressionists, quite interesting and lots of talent but very queer. He does things very much like Pamela's [Fry's 7-year-old daughter]." Roger Fry (1866-1934), British art critic. Letter to his wife, 1909. "I am now completely Matissiste . . . after studying all of his paintings I am quite convinced of his genius." Roger Fry. Letter to Simon Bussy, 1911. "What distinguishes modern art from the art of other ages is criticism." Octavio Paz (1914-), Mexican poet. "The more minimal the art, the more maximum the explanation." Hilton Kramer (1928-), The New York Times art critic, in the late 1960s, referring to minimalist art, which was in vogue at the time. See art critic and text. "Without the meditative background that is criticism, works become isolated gestures, ahistorical accidents, soon forgotten." Milan Kundera (1929-), Czech author, critic. "On Criticism, Aesthetics, and Europe," in Review of Contemporary Fiction (Summer 1989; originally from Kundera's introduction to Fran?ois Ricard, La Litt?rature Contre Elle-M?me). "Art criticism everywhere is now at a low ebb, intellectually corrupt, swamped in meaningless jargon, distorted by political correctitudes, anxiously addressed only to other critics and their ilk." Brian Sewell (contemporary), British writer, Evening Standard, November 10, 1994. Related resources: X-Tra is an artist-run journal of contemporary art published in Los Angeles. Its mission is to provoke and encourage critical discourse about the visual arts in Los Angeles and beyond. X-Tra is published quarterly by Project X Foundation for Art and Criticism. Also see aesthetics, antiquarianism, argument, art appreciation, art careers, art conservation, art history, art theory, bias, connoisseur, deconstruction, description, design qualities, feminism and feminist art, formalism, gender issues, hermeneutics, iconography, interesting, Marxism, meaning, motivation, museology, patronage, periodicity, political correctness (PC), posthumous, praise, quotations, semiotics, structuralism, taxonomy, and theory.