1. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.
2. Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Criticism project? If yes, explain how. If no, explain why not.
3. What is your opinion of the films? Do they add depth to understanding of art criticism?
Greenberg on Art Criticism: An Interview by T.J. Clark
1. This interview from 1981 is by T.J. Clark asking Clement Greenberg, "The great critics aren't just people who put judgements taste into print, are they?" Greenberg responds with, "You know, I happen to think writing about visual arts is much tougher than writing about literature or music. Some of the best criticism I have ever read is music criticism." He goes on to explain, "When you write about music, you're a formalist. You have no choice unless you want to do one of these program guy things where you emote, you know, the only thing is traditional writing. Music, you're pinned down to the damn score. And visual art doesn't have a score." Greenberg explains that overtime he learned that "we don't ask anything of art, except to be good." Clark argues that the art in which Greenberg admired, often didn't fit what you took ought to be the kind of art that issued from a serious engagement with Matisse and Miro. Greenberg replies that it didn't fit with the prejudices he'd acquired. He says that it is great to have your prejudices knocked around.
2. This video does relate to the art criticism project because we get to meet an art critic and hear his thoughts and opinions. Greenberg explains that good art can come from anywhere and anything. He also talks about ignoring his prejudices and accepting all types of art. I thought this was important because like all aspects of art, you really have to keep an open mind. Especially when you are criticizing it, because like he says there is no score on the visual arts.
3. This film was worth watching. It added depth to my understanding of art criticism by hearing first hand knowledge from an art critic himself.
Jackson Pollock: Michael Fried and T.J. Clark in Conversation
1. Michael Fried and T.J. Clark talk about the work of artist, Jackson Pollock in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Michael Fried is an art critic, while T.J. Clark is an art historian. They both agree that Jackson Pollock is a major modern master. For this conversation the men are standing in front of Pollock's work Lavender Mist of 1950. Their past disagreement about Pollock was significant became clear at the time when a new social history of art, with which Clark was identified, began to challenge the prevailing modernist account in which Fried had been a leading figure. Clark's view was that the most important feature of avant-garde art was its oppositional character, the way it refused the assumptions of the Bourgeois culture since the 19th century. But for Michael Fried, this was to get modernism upside down. For him, modern art mattered because of it's positive qualities, especially the way it kept on renewing itself. So whereas Clark's emphasis was on the historical role of modern art, Fried stressed the independence of its aesthetic.
2. This video relates to the creation of the Art Criticism project because it is interesting to see the two sides of this conversation. While both men make great, strongly presented points, they are seeing the work from different perspectives. There is the historical view and the aesthetic view.
3. This was an interesting film. I was happy there was a narrator between scenes of Clark and Fried talking because he definitely helped to summarize the overall ideas of the conversation. I was sometimes confused just listening to the men talk and it was a little bit over my head, so I was thankful for the breaks with the narrator.
1. This interview from 1981 is by T.J. Clark asking Clement Greenberg, "The great critics aren't just people who put judgements taste into print, are they?" Greenberg responds with, "You know, I happen to think writing about visual arts is much tougher than writing about literature or music. Some of the best criticism I have ever read is music criticism." He goes on to explain, "When you write about music, you're a formalist. You have no choice unless you want to do one of these program guy things where you emote, you know, the only thing is traditional writing. Music, you're pinned down to the damn score. And visual art doesn't have a score." Greenberg explains that overtime he learned that "we don't ask anything of art, except to be good." Clark argues that the art in which Greenberg admired, often didn't fit what you took ought to be the kind of art that issued from a serious engagement with Matisse and Miro. Greenberg replies that it didn't fit with the prejudices he'd acquired. He says that it is great to have your prejudices knocked around.
2. This video does relate to the art criticism project because we get to meet an art critic and hear his thoughts and opinions. Greenberg explains that good art can come from anywhere and anything. He also talks about ignoring his prejudices and accepting all types of art. I thought this was important because like all aspects of art, you really have to keep an open mind. Especially when you are criticizing it, because like he says there is no score on the visual arts.
3. This film was worth watching. It added depth to my understanding of art criticism by hearing first hand knowledge from an art critic himself.
Jackson Pollock: Michael Fried and T.J. Clark in Conversation
1. Michael Fried and T.J. Clark talk about the work of artist, Jackson Pollock in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Michael Fried is an art critic, while T.J. Clark is an art historian. They both agree that Jackson Pollock is a major modern master. For this conversation the men are standing in front of Pollock's work Lavender Mist of 1950. Their past disagreement about Pollock was significant became clear at the time when a new social history of art, with which Clark was identified, began to challenge the prevailing modernist account in which Fried had been a leading figure. Clark's view was that the most important feature of avant-garde art was its oppositional character, the way it refused the assumptions of the Bourgeois culture since the 19th century. But for Michael Fried, this was to get modernism upside down. For him, modern art mattered because of it's positive qualities, especially the way it kept on renewing itself. So whereas Clark's emphasis was on the historical role of modern art, Fried stressed the independence of its aesthetic.
2. This video relates to the creation of the Art Criticism project because it is interesting to see the two sides of this conversation. While both men make great, strongly presented points, they are seeing the work from different perspectives. There is the historical view and the aesthetic view.
3. This was an interesting film. I was happy there was a narrator between scenes of Clark and Fried talking because he definitely helped to summarize the overall ideas of the conversation. I was sometimes confused just listening to the men talk and it was a little bit over my head, so I was thankful for the breaks with the narrator.
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