Monday, April 22, 2013

Criticism Of Criticism: What has art criticism changed?


One thing that someone new to art exploration and criticism might ask is if art criticism has actually changed anything to the world at large?

The answer to this question is that if you look within the fields of that particular art, criticism has changed their worlds very much. 

In particular, film criticism has set the bad films apart from the good ones. If it weren’t for critics like Leonard Martin, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, we wouldn’t hold films like “Citizen Kane,” “Vertigo” and “Casablanca” in such high regards. There would be no guidelines that set films like “Jaws” apart from other films like “Freddy Got Fingered.”

It is because of the words and passions of critics that make classic works of art what they are. If there was no one praising the work of the Mona Lisa, would the painting be nearly as influential and famous as it is today? Would the painting even be in a museum in the first place? 

Hell, would there even be art museums at all if it weren’t for critics to point out which ones are good and bad?

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