Judging and Evaluating Art
Jan 03, 2016
Judging and Evaluating Art
Liking versus Evaluating
• Liking is the domain of the casual or serious consumer of visual art
• Evaluating is the domain of art critics, art historians, scientists
• Some consider art appreciation to be like learning a language
• Gets back to the question of “What is Art?”• Furthermore, “What is Good Art?”• Is art totally subjective, or is there a general
consensus on what is good art or bad art?• Liking for an artwork may be orthogonal to
knowing that’s it’s good or bad art
What can you Appreciate?
• Artistic period• The School of Art• Historical/cultural context• Subject of the painting• Technical aspects of creating the art• Allegorical value• Symbolism• Political value
Three Approaches to Judging Art
Is Good Art Subjective?
• If you like it, it’s good art?
• Implies that an objective evaluation of art is invalid
Or is Good Art Objective?
• Rely on expert opinion and art criticism?• Assume there are objective ways to
differentiate good art from bad art?
Is Good Art Synonymous with Technical Skill?
• Any work of art that has taken much time, precision, meticulous attention, or painstaking detail is good art?
Art Appreciation and Taste
• Kant argued that a genuine good taste exists and that it is universal
• Kant said that beauty is an aesthetic judgment based on personal feeling
• Others argue that good taste is socially and culturally determined
• Can good taste be cultivated?• Preference and judgment can be two different
things
Factors Influencing Aesthetic Appreciation
• Social context• Cultural context• Lived experience• Education• Affective quality• Conceptual content• Information content and load
Social Context
• Artistic excellence is a shared standard applied by social actors
• The meaning of a work of art is learned, not discovered
• We learn what people consider to be of value
Cultural Context
• Expectations from a culture may bias judgments of art
• However, there is more agreement across cultures in the value of art pieces than what is explainable by cultural biases alone
Lived Experience
• The accumulated life experience and wisdom of the viewer
• Encompasses both the intensity of the moment and the journey of a lifetime
• Degree to which an art work is matched to the viewer’s experience of the world
Education
• Aesthetic reasoning begins with stimulation and education of senses in early childhood
• Aesthetic education programs cause increases in aesthetic awareness
• “To study the history and dynamics of art is to immerse ourselves in revelations of human life and perception, which exist nowhere else.” – Xavier John Seubert
Affective Quality
• Potential for an art work to change our emotional state
• Affective Dimensions– Valence
(Pleasant/Unpleasant)– Arousal (Calm/Tense)
Conceptual Content
• How easy or difficult it is to ascertain the meaning of an art work
Information Content and Load
• Sensory/Cognitive demand on the viewer
Judging an Art Work is a Complex Equation
• Some art that is highly valued is not pleasant, e.g. Dali
• Some art that is soothing is not valued much, e.g., mall muzak
• Some art that creates sentiment is superficial, e.g. photos of kittens
Formal Evaluation of Art (Art Criticism)
• Analysis and evaluation of works of art
• Attempting to understand a work of art from a theoretical perspective
• Establishing its significance in the history of art
Four Steps in Art Criticism
• Description• Analysis• Interpretation• Judgment
Description
• Historical information• Defining objects in the
painting• Noting colors, shapes,
lines, textures, day/night/illumination
• First impression of overall mood
Analysis
• Mentally separate the parts or elements
• How did the artist use colors, shapes, lines, texture to create a certain effect?
• What are the most significant artistic techniques used?
• How are the elements organized?
Interpretation
• Decoding the meaning of the work; What is the artist trying to say?
• What does it mean to you?• What feelings are evoked?• Are any elements of the
work symbolic, and if so, what does that mean?
• Why did the artist create this work?
Judgment
• The critic’s own personal evaluation of the worth of the work
• What value does the work have? (technical proficiency, beauty, conveys an important social message, reaffirms a religious belief, etc.)
• Does the work lack value? Is the subject unappealing, unimaginative, or offensive?
• How does the work fit into the history of art?
Example: Hopper’s “Nighthawks”
Example: Van Gogh’s “Self Portrait”
Example: Miro “Dawn Perfumed by a Shower of Gold”
Conclusions
• I don’t care if it’s good, I know what I like?• Many believe that good taste is valuable,
should be respected, and can be cultivated• There does seem to be a consensus about what
is good art and bad art• As in science, there is always argument about
degrees of certainty in assertions about the value and quality of art