"Criticizing Art" Chapter 3: pg. 63-86

This chapter discusses how critics describe art and how their descriptions, interpretations, and evaluations of each piece influence each other.  There are three aspects to describing works of art: subject matter, medium, and form.  "Subject matter" means the physical things, people, and places depicted in a work of art.  This is distinct from "subject," which is the theme or main idea of the piece.  "Medium" (plural: media) is meant to refer to a certain way of creating art (painting, sculpture, etc) or the actual materials that are used to create that art.  "Form" is in reference to how the artist presents their subject, specifically, composition and arrangement of a particular medium.  A list of possible "formal elements" is given: "dot, line, shape, light and value, color, texture, mass, space, and volume" (66).  

The rest of the chapter is devoted to looking at six different artists and different critic descriptions/interpretations of these artists' works.  Each of these sections show how in describing artwork, critics often include a mixture of biographical/historical context, pure emotional description of the pieces, an interpretation of the artists' subject, and a tone of approval/disapproval.  An emphasis is placed upon the fact that most critics' descriptions are done in a positive, lively manner.     

Deborah Butterfield, Palomino

Above is pictured a work of art by one of the artists mentioned in the chapter.