Module 5: Theories and Approaches in Art Criticism

What is art criticism?

• Art criticism is the analysis and evaluation of works of art.
• Art criticism is believed to commenced with the origins of art itself, as evidenced by texts found
in the works of Plato, Aristotle, Vitruvius, or St. Augustine among others.
• Art criticism requires knowledge of the art history because the work of art is an object as well
as a historical event

What is its purpose and

significance?
• Art criticism is important because it creates a place for a work of art to mean, irrelevant of
market forces.
• It helps artists to improve their work and art practice.
• For observers, it helps them better understand, appreciate, and interpret the artist‟s intentions
and art in general.
• Art criticism provides support in writing about art history

FORMALIST CRITICISM
• It centers on evaluating a given artwork in aesthetic terms alone.
• Primarily focuses on the elements and principles of art and how they are used in
creating a work of art.
• It doesn‟t care about what goes on outside the actual space of the work, but finds
meaning in its use of materials. The idea is to look at each work in relation to its „craft‟
alone, rather than evaluate its message.
•Some of the notable writers and philosophers who championed this approach are Clive
Bell, Clement Greenberg, Edward Bullough, and Heinrich Wolfflin

Feldman‟s Model of Art Criticism

The steps in critiquing works of art are based from the work of Irish philosopher Edmund Burke
Feldman. Originally, it can be used in critiquing the work of art using formalist approach.

•Description- Identifying what can be seen: Includes medium, technique, style,

elements, and principles of art.
•Analysis- Refers to how is this put together physically and compositionally
and identifying style or subject matter.
•Interpretation- Tells what the artist is trying to communicate
•Judgement- Is the artwork successful? Did the artist masterfully use the media? Did the artist
convey the message that was intended across? Personal opinion.

NON-FORMALIST AND CONTEXTUAL CRITICISM

•Criticism based on the context of the art production as well as the artist‟s expression and
experience

Structural Criticism
• It is based on the notion that our concept of reality is expressed through language and related
systems of communication.
• Deals with semiotics and iconography
• On a larger scale, it visualize artwork as a structure whose foundation is language, speech and
other
forms of communication. When this approach is applied to the visual arts, the world of art
becomes a
collective human construction, where a single work needs to be judged within the framework
supported by the whole structure of art. This structure is still based in language and knowledge
and
how we communicate ideas.
• Some of the notable writers and philosophers who championed this approach are Ferdinand
de Saussure, Roland Barthes, and Charles Sanders Pierce.

Semiotics
• The study of signs and sign-using behavior
• Pertains to how certain symbols acquired their meaning, how they have come to
represent information, and how the relationship between the meaning and the image
affects the reception of this information
• Semiotics consist of the signifier and the signified, and together they create a sign; the
signifier being the image, and the signified is the information received by the viewer in
communication

Iconography
• It is a particular range or system of types of image used by an artist or artists to
convey particular meanings.
• The traditional or conventional images or symbols associated with a subject and
especially a religious or legendary subject

Deconstructive Criticism
• It posits that any work of art can have many meanings attached to it, none of which is limited
by a particular language or experience outside the work itself. In other words, the critic must
reveal (deconstruct) the structured world in order to knock out any underpinnings of stereotypes,
preconceptions, or myths that get in the way of true meaning.
• For example, the portrait of Marilyn Monroe by pop artist Andy Warhol as an imaginary
construct of what is real. As a popular culture icon, Marilyn Monroe the movie star was very
known in film, magazines, television and photographs. But Marilyn Monroe the person
committed suicide in 1962 at the height of her stardom. In truth, the bright lights and celebrity of
her Hollywood persona eclipsed the real Marilyn, someone who was troubled, confused and
alone. Warhol‟s many portraits of her – each one made from the same publicity photograph –
perpetuate the myth and cult of celebrity.
•Some of the notable writers and philosophers who championed this approach are Rosalind
Krauss and Jacques Derrida.

Psychoanalytic Criticism
• Psychoanalysis is from the Greek meaning “to investigate the soul,” is the theory that human
behavior is largely determined by often-forgotten childhood events and deeply rooted instinctual
drives, and most major actions stem from these sources
• It seeks understanding of visual culture in terms of the unconscious and unintended meaning
• It is the way we should look at artwork if we feel it is only about personal expression. The
purest form of this criticism ranks the work of untrained and mentally ill artists as being just as
important as any other art. It is in this way that the artist “inside” is more important than any
other reason the art happens or the effect the art has.
• For example, when discussing Vincent van Gogh, people allude to his mental state more than
his actual artwork, experience, or career.
• Some of the notable writers and philosophers who championed this approach is Sigmund
Freud.

• Psychobiography is the study of the artist‟s life as specifically influential to their work
• Psycho-iconography, which is evident in the use of conventional symbolism but also
interpreted with the artist‟s motivations in mind; and the origin of creativity, having to do
with the artistic process and how the artist arrived at the choices they made through
various influences

Ideological Criticism
• It is most concerned with the relationship between art and structures of power.
• It infers that art is embedded in a social, economic, and political structure that determines its
final
meaning.
• Ideological criticism translates art and artifacts as symbols that reflect political ideals and
reinforce
one version of reality over another.
• Some of the notable writers and philosophers who championed this approach Karl Marx and
Louis Althusser