Janice Mills
In 1942 William Schack wrote A critique of art criticism, in which he lamented the lack of astute critics. As he states, ‘The lyrical critic may provide a cue to the spirit of a painting; the rationalist critic, a cue to its grammar. But in the end, as in the beginning, one must experience art. That is the only understanding of art which has any meaning. Consequently, a question, that may be asked is what it is that makes good art criticism?
One study by Philipp Strobl (2018) uses a case study of critic Gertrude Langer. An important aspect that Strobl points out in regard to Langer, was her PhD in Art History and Ethnology, achieved prior to fleeing NAZI controlled Austria, for Australia in 1939. Evidence suggests that Langer was able to use her education to build a respected reputation in the local arts world by directly informing the public and acerbically critiquing artworks, which was something that was often hotly criticised due to Australia’s slow uptake of Modernism.
Langer critiqued more than skill in handling a brush, as she brought creativity and critical thinking into the process of painting and its criticism. As Hamilton points out, more than artistic skills were necessary to professionally critique exhibitions and artworks. Statements, Langer proved, must be based on and supported by evidence of expertise in the field, which helped her to inform and entertain readers, and it was this credibility, according to Hamilton, that sustained her career until her death.
Looking at Australian art and art journalism from a global perspective as Langer did, also adds to the debate about current trends as well as historical development. Plus, an understanding of overseas studies aids in forecasting the direction of art journalism in this country.
Maarit Jaakola (2015) states that the important difference between general journalism and art journalism (or critiquing) lies in the journalist having “accumulated cultural capital and aesthetic legitimacy, and demonstrated by a sufficient amount of cumulated experience (2015, p.385). Thus, whether it be via aesthetic or journalistic positioning, meaning is assigned to art and culture, based on an in-depth understanding of where art lies culturally.
Additionally, according to Jenifer Fulton (2005), the elimination of the ‘neutral’ positioning of critics to make aesthetic judgements as relevant and important to the ‘qualitative concepts’ in art discourse has left them without anything to add to the debate. Beginning in the 1960s as Postmodernist practice of appropriation and ‘commodity art’ and ‘personality
artists’ by the likes of Andy Warhol peaked, with the line between artist and critic blurred to the point where unless the critic was prepared to use the language of a new Postmodernist framework, they would not be considered as relevant to current discussion. This move was later endorsed in the 1970s by Rosalind Krauss, who rejects traditional critical methods in favour of an expanded set of values in amongst others included linguistics and psychoanalytics and Postmodernist social, political and gender-based criteria. Such developments began outside of Australia, but were quickly adopted by academia, artists and critics wishing to appear ahead, or aware of worldwide trends in the arts.
In Australia these issues have since been compounded by the reduction in print-based newspapers, in particular in regional and rural areas outside city and suburban boundaries.
How this impacts what it is that makes quality art journalism and criticism, is whether news based publications are meeting the need for recognition and inclusion of art outside urban centres, as not necessarily ‘high art’, but importantly, a significant segment of activity in the arts. While larger arts events and higher profile artists may be covered briefly in city-centric newspapers, evidence indicates that artists living outside major ‘cultural centres’ are missing out on representation and an opportunity to thrive and make a successful arts practice.
How this relates to the quality of art journalism, is its neglect of an inclusive and forward thinking method of reporting the arts, which should not only tell readers about the top end of the arts market, but also emerging and local artists of interest to readers, so that they don’t have to move to Sydney, for example, to get noticed. Lawrie Zion, et al., (2016) are of the opinion that regional and rural newspapers have faced ‘a bleak future’ since cuts began as early as 2012. Despite the growth of digitally-based news publication, rather than taking rural papers online, major news providers have chosen to close them down and centralise their papers in cities and inner suburban areas. They add that support from local, state, and federal governments has been lacking to keep rural and regional papers going. The role of the arts to act in reconciliation and social cohesion in rural areas is also supported by Jennifer Bott, who states ‘If the arts are to impact all Australians, it needs to enter communities of interests – and draw government, media and corporate support. For that to happen, we need to put culture not at the end of the value chain, tacked on if and when funds are available, but right at the start – and the heart – of community building and engagement’. Indications from interviews held by Zion et al., (2016) in addition to lack of funding and competition with the growth of the internet, also highlighted ‘pre-packaged’ stories replacing locally generated stories and advocacy. The lack of such local and relevant news has put off people from reading or advertising, adding to the downward spiral. This is pertinent to rurally-based artists and arts practices, because as business and cultural members of the community producing all levels of art, when the local papers and informed specialist journalists go, so does their ability to be seen and heard, and hence financially prosper.
In addition to basing arts criticism on promoting all levels of the arts, from emerging to historical ‘high’ art, city or rurally-based as discussed, is the need to value ‘analytical subjectivity’ as a sound form of engaging readers. As a separate branch of journalism to those of general reporting of news events, Phillipa Chong (2019) explains that arts journalism, as a complementary form, can offer a different approach to both genres. She states that the total objectivity that journalism has placed as its ideal is largely unattainable, and the need to recognise and use subjectivity as a complementary tool. This review process of information gathering, is applicable to ‘news’, literature, and art, and according to her, is an important part of reader engagement. Janssen (1997) states that, literature reviews serve the purpose of serving the divergent interests of the public about what is being published and what new ideas are being circulated as part of the cultural conversation. This type of journalistic practice and reviewing, irrespective of the subject, (literature or art) according to Chong (2019), requires balancing the needs of the audience and the reporter/critic/reviewer, without overly emphasizing self-promotion or biases. When specifically applied to critiquing, the very personal emotional connection and engagement experienced by a critic can be an important aspect of furthering that engagement with their readers. As Chong states, ‘Critics emphasize that their emotional responses while reading books [or looking at paintings] operated as tool for gauging the success of the writing’. Indicating that this process is an important addition to specialized understanding of the topic for critiquing creative output.
How this is finally read by the public, in the case of news publishers, is often up to the editor, and how much the original critic’s opinion is moderated before it is released. The difference between print and digital news, in this case is very little, as the process of editing is still the same. However, blogs, which are now alternative outlets for some freelance critics and art journalists, are self-edited, and are likely to reflect the personal interests and tastes of the critic. One aspect that remains the same in either form of critiquing, according to Chong, is balancing the needs of the critic with those of their audience, by offering balanced and informed analysis that engages readers by ‘their level of engagement’ with the object of their criticism.
The balancing of needs and informed analysis can be introduced as an early part of the process of researching a story. The use of traditionally arts-based research methods and methodologies by art critics or journalists, for data collection and analysis, according to Hölsgens, de Wildt & Witschge (2020), in addition to traditional journalistic methods, would help to improve the level of understanding for readers. However, current trends of combining a variety of arts journalism genres under the umbrella of cultural journalism, or ‘entertainment journalism’ is becoming dominant, as divergent journalism is adopted by news organisations. In the face of these issues, it is questionable if there will be a return to more informed and specialised art critiquing and reporting within larger news publishers, which leaves the general public largely in the dark unless new avenues, such as independent publications that include critics and art journalists, are able to draw their attention.
First published in Academia Letters August 2021 with citations. Janice Mills, artist@janicemills.net.
