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Writing 112 (Pravin)

Writing in the Arts

Scholarly Art Criticism / Journalistic Criticism

Scholarly Art Criticism

Journalistic Criticism

Audience: specialized arts audiences, other scholars

Content: describing, interesting, evaluating, and theorizing about art; may produce meaning about culture

Published: in art journals (scholarly journals), books

Authors: scholars/professors, museum curators, those with advanced degrees with knowledge of a style, period, medium or artist

Audience: general public

Content: reviews of art exhibitions in galleries & museums

Published: newspapers, web sites, magazines, sometimes in journals

Authors: journalists, artists, scholars, curators

Art criticism. (1996). In S. West (Ed.), The Bloomsbury Guide to Art. London, UK: Bloomsbury.

*In Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary, author Terry Barrett states that art criticism neither denotes nor connotes a negative activity" (2). "Good criticism is careful and engaging argumentation that furthers dialogue about art and life" (vi).

What to Look for in a Scholarly Article

Examples:

Scholarly Article - journal article

Fairey, Tiffany. “Whose Photo? Whose Voice? Who Listens? ‘Giving,’ Silencing and Listening to Voice in Participatory Visual Projects.” Visual Studies 33, no. 2 (April 3, 2018): 111–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2017.1389301.

Art Review

Gilbert, Sophie. “The Irrepressible Emotion of Lee Krasner.” The Atlantic, June 13, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/06/lee-krasner-living-colour-barbican-retrospective-review/591499/.

Peer Review in 3 Minutes