Art Criticism

Critical Thinking and Art Appreciation

• Art is produced by hard work, and critical thinking that involves
questioning, exploration, trial and error, revision and discovery
• In order to achieve critical thinking, one must put his mind in a
questioning frame of mind
• Art are generally silent or muted object and there are hidden meaning
that may be decoded.. It must be interpreted by your own personal
views from your experience accumulated from your life and social
interaction
Art Criticism
• It is an organized approached in studying work of Art
• Criticism may be personal
• The interpretation and criticism may improve your aesthetic
experience or with your personal interaction with the art
• Art criticism helps us understand the full meaning of the artwork
Art Criticism
• Three types of people who write
critical about arts
1. Art Critics – they describe art and
assess their significance
2. Art Historian – they research
about the past of the art and the
culture behind it
3. Curators – they write catalog
essays, wall texts, and educational
material for museum and gallery
exhibition
Philosophical Positions in Art Criticism
1. Formalist Criticism

• It is based on the aesthetics

assessment of art that gives
priority to such formal elements
such as line, shapes, colors, at
the expense of representational
elements that involves the
narrative, subject matter and
symbols
Philosophical Position in Art Criticism
2. Ideological Criticism

• Originate from the writing of

Karl Marx and deals with the
political implication of Art.
• In this view, art support a
particular agenda, cultural
structure, economic hierarchy or
class struggle. Even artwork that
is neutral is considered politcal
Philosophical Position in Art Criticism
3. Psychoanalytic Criticism

• Studies art believing that it is a

product of individual’s past,
unconscious urges, and their
social history.
• It is appropriate for works that
deals with strong emotional
content, intuition, dream
imagery, hallucination, or fantasy
Philosophical Position in Art Criticism
3. Psychoanalytic Criticism

• Sigmund Freud was the first who

uses Psychoanalytic criticism. He
examine it by the light of
Leonardo’s homosexual tendencies
and early childhood experiences
• Portrait of an Unknown Woman, La
Belle Ferronnierre, 1496 by
Leonardo Da Vinci
Philosophical Position in Art Criticism
4. Structuralism

Criticism by analysis of the

structures of the art and its complex
interrelationships of all its part that
produced the whole, like a sentence
determines the meaning of
individual words within
Originally applied on the study of
language, as well as Semiotics, the
study of signs in verbal or written
communication
Philosophical Position in Art Criticism
5. Post-Structuralism

A reaction against structuralism

and Post structuralism believes
that it will result in a multiple
meaning because every viewer
approaches the work with a
varying perspective
Philosophical Position in Art Criticism
5. Post-Structuralism

To understand an object or art, it

is necessary to study both itself
and the system of knowledge that
produced the object
Philosophical Position in Art Criticism
6. Feminist Criticism

Concern with the oppression of the

groups esp. women along with the
oppression of their belief system
Feminist point out that there are large
number of art made by men that features
nude women while practically no male
nude painted by women.
Also, they work for breaking the barrier
that women encounter in the field of art
and fine art
Philosophical Position in Art Criticism
7. Post Colonial Criticism

Assumes a unique perspective on the

art and politics of colonialism, the art
produced by the colonial and the
ones under colonial power.
It looks at the issues of social,
political, religion and culture. How
these elements work in the relation
to colonial hegemony(colonizer
controlling the colonized)
Philosophical Position in Art Criticism
8. Phenomenological Criticism

• The engagement of the perceiver and

the subject creates an intellectual and
emotional response based on the
perceivers ideas, personal experiences,
and history. Some of these are conscious
and some lurks away from consciousness
• In the study of art, you may learn about
yourself
• And interpretation may differ from
other’s
4 step process of Art Criticism
• Learning art criticism helps you
discover the meaning of the
work of art
• This 4 step will help you process
and organize your thoughts and
build your confidence in sharing
your thoughts about arts
• 4 steps are: Description,
Analysis, Interpretation, and
Judgement
Steps in Art Criticism: Description
• What do I see?
• What is the subject of this work?
• What do I perceived?
• What am I looking at?

Collect the information about the

subject without the value of
judgement.
Know the Credit Line
Steps in Art Criticism: Description
• Credit Line
List of important facts on the art
C or Circa that appears on date
abbreviates for “about” or “around” the
date it was created

Mix media means a combination of

medium or material was used

Location is the information where the

art is housed or stored
Steps in Art Criticism: Analysis
• How is the work organized?
• How are the shapes was used
and organized?
• What is being emphasized?
• How the color was used?
• How did the artist do it?

Study the detail how the elements

and principles were used
Steps in Art Criticism: Analysis
• Analyze the elements, it includes
a. Determining of subject by
naming iconographic elements
e.g. historical events, allegory,
myths and other
b. Selection of most distinct
features
c. How elements contribute to
the appearance and function
Steps in Art Criticism: Analysis
• Analyze the elements, it includes
d. Analyze the principle of design
or composition e.g. stable,
repetition, rhythms, symmetric,
harmony, geometrics and
orientation
e. The use of light. Or shades of
color
f. The use of space and
perspective
Steps in Art Criticism: Analysis
• Analyze the elements, it includes
g. The movement and how it is
achieved
h. Effects of particular matter or
techniques used
i. balance, proportion and scale
j. Emotional reaction to object or
the artwork
Steps in Art Criticism: Interpretation
• What is the artist trying to
communicate?
• What is the message of the art?
Identify the meaning. What are the
symbols and the purpose of the art
• Can I express idea of what the art
probably means in one sentence?
• What is the evidence that may
support my claim inside and
outside the art context
Steps in Art Criticism: Judgement
• What do you think of the work? • Criteria: what criteria do I think
Determine if the art achieve its are the most appropriate for
success. Why it does and why it judging the art?
doesn’t achieve success? • Evidence: what is the evidence
Answer the question inside the art and outside that
relate for each criterion
• Is it a good art?
• Note: you must be able to back
Describe the relevance of the art up your opinion using the
in the art community and the language of art
society as a whole
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
• Elements in film that should be
considered in Analyzing Film
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
1. Plot

What was the movie about?

Was it interesting? Thought
provoking? Believable?
How was the climax revealed?
How did the setting affect the
story?
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
2. Themes and Tone

What was the main objective of

the story?
Was it for entertainment? To
educate? To shock? Or bring
awareness or issue?
If there is a symbolism in the
movie? Does it clearly shown or
did it somehow comes into play?
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
3. Acting and Character

Are they believable?

Did the character come to life by
the acting? Does the character
somehow shown some archetypes
and does it ruined or enhance the
film?
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
4. Direction

Did you like how the director

chose to tell the story?
Is the pace too fast or slow
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
5. Musical Score

Does the music supports the film?

Is it distracting or appropriate
Does it help build the mood of a
scene
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
6. Cinematography

Were the shots framed in a unique

way to tell the story?
How does the camera move?
How does the lighting and
coloring affects the narrative and
film?
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
7. Production Design

Is the set feel lived in and

believable to the story?
Is too artificial or too theatrical?
Is the props appropriate to the
setting?
Did the props depicted the right
era of the story
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
8. Special Effects

Is it believable?
Is it too overboard or too subtle?
Is it align with the era and tone of
the movie?
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
9. Editing

Was the editing clean or choppy

How was the transition of every
scene?
Is the flow consistent?
Is there a unique way of how the
story was told?
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
10. Pace

Is the film too fast or too slow?

Was it clear and organized?
Was there a certain scene that
drags the film?
Steps in Art Criticism: Film
11. Dialogue

Was the conversation believable?

Does the language match the era of
the setting?
Does the conversation bring context
to the development of the plot
Does the characters personality
match his/her dialogue?
Elements of Film
1. Plot
2. Theme
3. Acting
4. Editing
5. Pace
6. Directing
7. Score
8. Cinematography
9. Production design
10. Special effects
11. dialogue