Art Criticism - The State University of New York
Art Criticism - The State University of New York Art Criticism - The State University of New York
thesis of such descriptions into an interpretation; and (3) modifying an interpretation through historical contexualization. We start by practicing basic description according to the general contours of Schapiro's essay. Fairly quickly the students get a sense that three moments of the investigation are not so neatly divisible but are conjoined in the hermeneutic circle of understanding; that }Vhat seems like a simple description is not neutral and unbiased; but presupposes an interpretive direction as well as unexamined assumptions about the work's context. After two or three sessions, when the class has developed rudimentary proficiency at description, I have the students section off into small groups. The task of each group is to come up with interpretations ofthe artwork under study. I leave the room during the discussions, which are very lively. After 20 to 30 minutes I return and sit off to the side and do my best to "hide." The groups then present their findings to each other by sending a representative up in front of the class and next to the projected slide. The students listen to each other, taking notes on what the other groups have come up with. After each representative has gone there opens a general discussion amongst the students so -to evaluate the various descriptions and interpretations. I continue to remain off to the side, staying as silent and neutral as possible, interjecting only when discussion gets completely stuck, usually by asking a question. When the student exchanges exhaust, I am left with a number of options: using the student's own language to summarize the results of the discussion (without smoothing over divergences in viewpoints); adding information that supplements or complements what has already been said; raising additional issues based upon what directions the students have been going; pointing out relative strengths and weaknesses in approaches; or saying nothing at all (and thereby divesting my authority). A variant of this procedure is to have students prepare their interpretations as a homework assignment; this allows the class to leap more rapidly into discussion. Fewer artworks are shown during class meetings than with the standard lecture format; but students achieve a far greater depth and complexity of understanding. Moreover, students are held responsible for all works reproduced in the art-history textbook; during exams they are expected to apply their skills and knowledge to artworks not discussed in class. Paper assignments further exercise skills in description and interpretation. After a number of successive class sessions of students doing most of the interpretive work, their sense of community grows, but what happens from time to time is that they lapse into older, less rigorous habits of thought. Feelings of empowerment and solidarity tend to displace the rigors of thought and analysis. It becomes necessary on such occasions for the instructor to interject more strongly than usual, reminding the students about the tasks of description and interpretation, which has the inevitable consequence of re- 110 Art Criticism
iterating the teacher's authority and disrupting the communal spirit. This is an instance of the abiding tension between facilitating the formation of student community and guiding rigorous approaches to the study of works of art. Art History as Critical Hermeneutic of Modernity 1. Spectacular Conditions Let us say that a particular art history survey class is working well, that the students have formed a community of interpreters, and that they have forged considerable skill at visual analysis. What then is the critical social significance of a course in art history as opposed to literature, philosophy, or general cultural studies? It is a truism of contemporary thought that we live in a society bombarded with images; in the extreme Baudrillardian version, the world has become an imagistic simulacrum. Because of its longstanding investigation of images, art history would seem to be the established academic discipline best prepared to reflect historically on the emergence and shape of the spectacle. Refigured more broadly as the study of visual culture, courses in art history would empower students to cope with the mediascape in which they live. And yet this laudable project of reform, which many people are developing in their classrooms, commonly fails to advance an actual critical engagement with images. When art history is pressed into service as an intervention into cultural politics, the images shown in the classroon are typically deployed as foils for introducing a prior discursive agenda about identity, gender, sexuality, postcolonialism, multiculturalism, and so on - hence without regard for an image's historical specificity qua image. The "logocentricity" of traditional art-historical methods, like iconography, has been maintained in postmodern approaches, sometimes with the stated intent of advancing the linguistic turn proper to the human sciences. 21 This is not to say that study of the differing historical modes of pictorial signification is not an important topic. On the contrary. For exemplary studies in this regard - which are sensitive to (I) the non-linguistic character of pictorial semiosis; (2) the figurative mechanisms of pictorial sense; and (3) the historical institutions of signification - see Mark Roskill's recent work on landscape and portraiture. These new interpretive frameworks are most welcome for the revitalization and renewal of the discipline; for they have broadened the kinds of questions we ask of the visual past. But such frameworks regularly do not take into account the ontological specificity of images. It remains therefore to be seen how art history, even when broadened into a history of images, might singularly contribute to and extend a critical hermeneutics of modernity. vol. 17, no. 1 111
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iterating the teacher's authority and disrupting the communal spirit. This is an<br />
instance <strong>of</strong> the abiding tension between facilitating the formation <strong>of</strong> student<br />
community and guiding rigorous approaches to the study <strong>of</strong> works <strong>of</strong> art.<br />
<strong>Art</strong> History as Critical Hermeneutic <strong>of</strong> Modernity<br />
1. Spectacular Conditions<br />
Let us say that a particular art history survey class is working well,<br />
that the students have formed a community <strong>of</strong> interpreters, and that they have<br />
forged considerable skill at visual analysis. What then is the critical social<br />
significance <strong>of</strong> a course in art history as opposed to literature, philosophy, or<br />
general cultural studies?<br />
It is a truism <strong>of</strong> contemporary thought that we live in a society bombarded<br />
with images; in the extreme Baudrillardian version, the world has become<br />
an imagistic simulacrum. Because <strong>of</strong> its longstanding investigation <strong>of</strong><br />
images, art history would seem to be the established academic discipline best<br />
prepared to reflect historically on the emergence and shape <strong>of</strong> the spectacle.<br />
Refigured more broadly as the study <strong>of</strong> visual culture, courses in art history<br />
would empower students to cope with the mediascape in which they live. And<br />
yet this laudable project <strong>of</strong> reform, which many people are developing in their<br />
classrooms, commonly fails to advance an actual critical engagement with<br />
images.<br />
When art history is pressed into service as an intervention into cultural<br />
politics, the images shown in the classroon are typically deployed as foils<br />
for introducing a prior discursive agenda about identity, gender, sexuality,<br />
postcolonialism, multiculturalism, and so on - hence without regard for an<br />
image's historical specificity qua image. <strong>The</strong> "logocentricity" <strong>of</strong> traditional<br />
art-historical methods, like iconography, has been maintained in postmodern<br />
approaches, sometimes with the stated intent <strong>of</strong> advancing the linguistic turn<br />
proper to the human sciences. 21 This is not to say that study <strong>of</strong> the differing<br />
historical modes <strong>of</strong> pictorial signification is not an important topic. On the<br />
contrary. For exemplary studies in this regard - which are sensitive to (I) the<br />
non-linguistic character <strong>of</strong> pictorial semiosis; (2) the figurative mechanisms <strong>of</strong><br />
pictorial sense; and (3) the historical institutions <strong>of</strong> signification - see Mark<br />
Roskill's recent work on landscape and portraiture. <strong>The</strong>se new interpretive<br />
frameworks are most welcome for the revitalization and renewal <strong>of</strong> the discipline;<br />
for they have broadened the kinds <strong>of</strong> questions we ask <strong>of</strong> the visual<br />
past. But such frameworks regularly do not take into account the ontological<br />
specificity <strong>of</strong> images. It remains therefore to be seen how art history, even<br />
when broadened into a history <strong>of</strong> images, might singularly contribute to and<br />
extend a critical hermeneutics <strong>of</strong> modernity.<br />
vol. 17, no. 1 111
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