# Art critic > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Art_critic > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Art_critic.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_critic > Source revision: 1275497735 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Person who specializes in evaluating art}} [[File:John Ruskin 1863.jpg|thumb|[John Ruskin](/source/John_Ruskin) (1819–1900), who [Leo Tolstoy](/source/Leo_Tolstoy) described as "one of those rare men who think with their heart." A champion of the work of [J. M. W. Turner](/source/J._M._W._Turner), Ruskin detested the work of [James McNeill Whistler](/source/James_McNeill_Whistler).{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/turnerwhistlermonet/wvr.htm|title=Turner Whistler Monet|publisher=[Tate](/source/Tate)|access-date=2009-04-12|archive-date=2012-01-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112211617/http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/turnerwhistlermonet/wvr.htm|url-status=dead}}]] An '''art critic''' is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating [art](/source/art). Their written critiques or reviews contribute to [art criticism](/source/art_criticism) and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogues and on websites. Some of today's art critics use [art blog](/source/art_blog)s and other online platforms in order to connect with a wider audience and expand debate. ==Opinions== Differently from [art history](/source/art_history), there is not commonly an [institutionalized](/source/institutionalisation) training for art critics. Art critics come from different backgrounds and they may or may not be university trained.James Elkins, ''What happened to art criticism'', Prickley Paradigm Press, 2003, p. 8. Professional art critics are expected to have a keen eye for art and a thorough knowledge of [art history](/source/art_history). Typically the art critic views art at [exhibitions](/source/art_exhibition), [galleries](/source/art_gallery), [museum](/source/museum)s or [artist](/source/artist)s' [studio](/source/studio)s and they can be members of the [International Association of Art Critics](/source/International_Association_of_Art_Critics) which has national sections.{{cite web|url=http://www.aica-int.org/spip.php?article3 |title=Organisation Chart 2012–2013 – AICA international |access-date=2013-12-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212152149/http://www.aica-int.org/spip.php?article3 |archive-date=2013-12-12 }} Very rarely art critics earn their living from writing criticism. The opinions of art critics have the potential to stir debate on art-related topics. Due to this the viewpoints of art critics writing for art publications and newspapers adds to public discourse concerning art and culture. [Art collector](/source/Art_collector)s and patrons often rely on the advice of such [critic](/source/critic)s as a way to enhance their appreciation of the art they are viewing. Many now-famous and celebrated artists were not recognized by the art critics of their time, often because their art was in a style not yet understood or favored. Conversely, some critics have become particularly important helping to explain and promote new [art movement](/source/art_movement)s – [Roger Fry](/source/Roger_Fry) with the [Post-Impressionist](/source/Post-Impressionist) movement and [Lawrence Alloway](/source/Lawrence_Alloway) with [pop art](/source/pop_art) as examples. == Controversies == According to James ElkinsJames Elkins, "Introduction" in ''Is Art History Global?'', dir. James Elkins, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2007, pp. 5–15. there is a distinction between art criticism and art history based on institutional, contextual, and commercial criteria; the history of [art criticism](/source/art_criticism) is taught in universities, but the practice of art criticism is excluded institutionally from academia. An experience-related article is Agnieszka Gratza.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2013/oct/17/frieze-art-critic-academia-journalism|title=Frieze or faculty? One art critic's move from academia to journalism|first=Agnieszka|last=Gratza|date=17 October 2013|work=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)}} Always according to James Elkins in smaller and developing countries, newspaper art criticism normally serves as art history. James Elkins's perspective portraits his personal link to [art history](/source/art_history) and [art historians](/source/art_historians) and in ''What happened to art criticism'' he furthermore highlights the gap between art historians and art critics by suggesting that the first rarely cite the second as a source and that the second miss an academic discipline to refer to.James Elkins, ''What Happened to Art Criticism'', Prickley Paradigm Press, 2003, pp. 4–5, 9. ==Gallery== File:Denisdiderot.jpg|[Jean-Honoré Fragonard](/source/Jean-Honor%C3%A9_Fragonard), ''Portrait of [Denis Diderot](/source/Denis_Diderot),'' 1769, [Louvre](/source/Louvre), [Paris](/source/Paris). His [art criticism](/source/art_criticism) was highly influential. His ''Essais sur la peinture'' was described by [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](/source/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe), as "a magnificent work, which speaks even more helpfully to the poet than to the painter, though to the painter too it is as a blazing torch." Diderot's favorite painter was [Jean-Baptiste Greuze](/source/Jean-Baptiste_Greuze).[Edmond](/source/Edmond_de_Goncourt) and [Jules de Goncourt](/source/Jules_de_Goncourt), ''French Eighteenth-Century Painters.'' Cornell Paperbacks, 1981, pp. 222–225. {{ISBN|0-8014-9218-1}} File:John Neal by Sarah Miriam Peale 1823 Portland Museum of Art.jpg|Portrait of [John Neal](/source/John_Neal) by [Sarah Miriam Peale](/source/Sarah_Miriam_Peale), 1823. Neal is regarded as the first American art critic{{Cite book | publisher = Pennsylvania State College | last = Dickson | first = Harold Edward | title = Observations on American Art: Selections from the Writings of John Neal (1793–1876) | location = State College, Pennsylvania | year = 1943 | page = ix}}{{cite book | last = Sears | first = Donald A. | title = John Neal | publisher = Twayne Publishers | location = Boston, Massachusetts | year = 1978 | isbn = 080-5-7723-08 | page = 118}} and was also an influential writer and literary critic. File:Charles Baudelaire 1855 Nadar.jpg|[Charles Baudelaire](/source/Charles_Baudelaire) 1855, Photo by [Nadar](/source/Nadar). Baudelaire is associated with the [Decadent movement](/source/Decadent_movement). His book of poetry ''[Les Fleurs du mal](/source/Les_Fleurs_du_mal)'' is acknowledged as a classic of [French literature](/source/French_literature)Joanna Richardson, ''Baudelaire'', St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994, p. 191, {{ISBN|0-312-11476-1}}. File:Portrait of Zacharie Astruc (1866) - Edouard Manet (Kunsthalle Bremen).jpg|[Édouard Manet](/source/%C3%89douard_Manet), ''Portrait of [Zacharie Astruc](/source/Zacharie_Astruc)'' 1866, [Kunsthalle Bremen](/source/Kunsthalle_Bremen). He was a strong defender of [Gustave Courbet](/source/Gustave_Courbet), and was one of the first to recognize the talent of [Édouard Manet](/source/%C3%89douard_Manet). He also defended [Claude Monet](/source/Claude_Monet), [James McNeill Whistler](/source/James_McNeill_Whistler), [Carolus-Duran](/source/Carolus-Duran), [Fantin-Latour](/source/Fantin-Latour), and [Alphonse Legros](/source/Alphonse_Legros). File:Manet, Edouard - Portrait of Emile Zola.jpg|[Édouard Manet](/source/%C3%89douard_Manet), ''Portrait of [Émile Zola](/source/%C3%89mile_Zola)'', 1868, [Musée d'Orsay](/source/Mus%C3%A9e_d'Orsay). Émile Zola (1840-1902) was an influential French [writer](/source/writer), and art critic. He was a major figure in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer [Alfred Dreyfus](/source/Alfred_Dreyfus).[//fr.wikisource.org/wiki/J’accuse…! J'accuse letter] at French [wikisource](/source/wikisource) File:Aurier, Albert, BNF Gallica.jpg|[Albert Aurier](/source/Albert_Aurier), c. 1890, Wrote about [Vincent van Gogh](/source/Vincent_van_Gogh), and [Paul Gauguin](/source/Paul_Gauguin).{{cite web|url=http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/15544/11504206.pdf?sequence=1|title=G.-Albert Aurier, Critic and Theorist of Symbolist Art|last=Lunn|first=Margaret Rauschenbach|publisher=[Massachusetts Institute of Technology](/source/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology)|date=15 October 1982|type=PhD thesis|format=PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604233631/http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/15544/11504206.pdf?sequence=1|archive-date=4 June 2011|url-status=dead}} File:Signac - Portrait de Félix Fénéon.jpg|[Paul Signac](/source/Paul_Signac), ''[Félix Fénéon](/source/Opus_217._Against_the_Enamel_of_a_Background_Rhythmic_with_Beats_and_Angles%2C_Tones%2C_and_Tints%2C_Portrait_of_M._F%C3%A9lix_F%C3%A9n%C3%A9on_in_1890),'' 1890. A French [anarchist](/source/anarchist) and art critic in Paris during the late 1800s. He [coined](/source/Neologism) the term "[Neo-impressionism](/source/Neo-impressionism)" in 1886. File:Clive Bell.jpg|Portrait of [Clive Bell](/source/Clive_Bell) (1881-1964), by [Roger Fry](/source/Roger_Fry) (1924 c.){{Cite book |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/abstract/10.1093/acref/9780199754694.001.0001/acref-9780199754694-e-179 |title=Bell, Arthur Clive Heward – Oxford Reference |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199754694.001.0001 |access-date=2018-09-17|year=2006 |isbn=9780199754694 |editor-last1=Grayling |editor-last2=Goulder |editor-last3=Pyle |editor-first1=A.C |editor-first2=Naomi |editor-first3=Andrew }} File:Guillaume Apollinaire 1914.jpg|[Guillaume Apollinaire](/source/Guillaume_Apollinaire) (1880–1918), 1914, French poet, writer and art critic he is credited with coining the word [surrealism](/source/surrealism) File:Modigliani, Picasso and André Salmon.jpg|[André Salmon](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Salmon), Modigliani, and [Pablo Picasso](/source/Pablo_Picasso) in Montparnasse (1916), photographed by [Jean Cocteau](/source/Jean_Cocteau) File:Roger Fry self-portrait.jpg|[Roger Fry](/source/Roger_Fry) ''[Self-portrait](/source/Self-portrait),'' 1928. He was described by [Kenneth Clark](/source/Kenneth_Clark) as "incomparably the greatest influence on taste since [Ruskin](/source/John_Ruskin)... In so far as taste can be changed by one man, it was changed by Roger Fry".{{cite encyclopedia|editor=Ian Chilvers|chapter=Fry, Roger|page=169|encyclopedia=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists|location=Oxford and New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/conciseoxforddic00chil/page/168/mode/2up|chapter-url-access=registration}} File:Leo Stein.jpg|[Leo Stein](/source/Leo_Stein) (1872–1947), art collector/critic, elder brother of [Gertrude Stein](/source/Gertrude_Stein). Photo by [Carl Van Vechten](/source/Carl_Van_Vechten), November 9, 1937 File:Frank O'Hara (photo portrait).jpg|[Frank O'Hara](/source/Frank_O'Hara) (1926-1966),[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/arts/design/07rivers.html], Refurbished Reputation for a Nervy Painter. [Larry Rivers](/source/Larry_Rivers), delivered one of the eulogies, along with [Bill Berkson](/source/Bill_Berkson), [Edwin Denby](/source/Edwin_Denby_(poet)), and [René d'Harnoncourt](/source/Ren%C3%A9_d'Harnoncourt).From "A Short Chronology", in Donald Allen: ''The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara''. File:Arthur Danto, 2012.jpg|[Arthur Danto](/source/Arthur_Danto), (1924-2013), Danto laid the groundwork for an institutional definition of artThis theory has been described as an "influential theory about the nature of art", according to [http://philosophynow.org/issues/99/News_November_December_2013 Philosophy Now, November 2013] File:John Berger-2009 (6).jpg|[John Berger](/source/John_Berger), (1926-2017),{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/02/john-berger-obituary |title=John Berger obituary |work=The Guardian |date=2 January 2017 |access-date=3 January 2017}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2015/06/i-think-dead-are-us-john-berger-88 |title=I think the dead are with us": John Berger at 88 |work=The New Statesman |date=11 June 2015 |access-date=3 January 2017}} == Notable art critics == {{main list|List of art critics}}{{Div col|colwidth=18em}} * [Christopher Allen](/source/Christopher_Allen_(critic)) * [Lawrence Alloway](/source/Lawrence_Alloway) * [Guillaume Apollinaire](/source/Guillaume_Apollinaire) * [Henriette Arasse](/source/Henriette_Arasse) * [Zacharie Astruc](/source/Zacharie_Astruc) * [Albert Aurier](/source/Albert_Aurier) * [Charles Baudelaire](/source/Charles_Baudelaire) * [Michael Baxandall](/source/Michael_Baxandall) * [Sister Wendy Beckett](/source/Sister_Wendy_Beckett) * [Clive Bell](/source/Clive_Bell) * [Andrew Berardini](/source/Andrew_Berardini) * [Bernard Berenson](/source/Bernard_Berenson) * [John Berger](/source/John_Berger) * [Vasily Botkin](/source/Vasily_Botkin) * [John Canaday](/source/John_Canaday) * [Champfleury](/source/Champfleury) * [Kenneth Clark](/source/Kenneth_Clark) * [T. J. Clark](/source/T._J._Clark_(art_historian)) * [Robert Coates](/source/Robert_Coates_(critic)) * [Clarence Cook](/source/Clarence_Cook) * [Douglas Cooper](/source/Douglas_Cooper_(art_historian)) * [Royal Cortissoz](/source/Royal_Cortissoz) * [Thomas Craven](/source/Thomas_Craven) * [Arthur Danto](/source/Arthur_Danto) * [G. Roger Denson](/source/G._Roger_Denson) * [Sergei Diaghilev](/source/Sergei_Diaghilev) * [Denis Diderot](/source/Denis_Diderot) * [John Elderfield](/source/John_Elderfield) * [James Elkins](/source/James_Elkins_(art_historian)) * [Ticio Escobar](/source/Ticio_Escobar) * [Félix Fénéon](/source/F%C3%A9lix_F%C3%A9n%C3%A9on) * [Hal Foster](/source/Hal_Foster_(art_critic)) * [Peter Frank](/source/Peter_Frank_(art_critic)) * [Michael Fried](/source/Michael_Fried) * [B. H. Friedman](/source/B._H._Friedman) * [Roger Fry](/source/Roger_Fry) * [Peter Fuller](/source/Peter_Fuller) * [Théophile Gautier](/source/Th%C3%A9ophile_Gautier) * [Stepan Gedeonov](/source/Stepan_Gedeonov) * [Gustave Geffroy](/source/Gustave_Geffroy) * [Clement Greenberg](/source/Clement_Greenberg) * [Dmitry Grigorovich](/source/Dmitry_Grigorovich_(writer)) * [Boris Groys](/source/Boris_Groys) * [Ichirō Hariu](/source/Ichir%C5%8D_Hariu) * [Dave Hickey](/source/Dave_Hickey) * [Robert Hughes](/source/Robert_Hughes_(critic)) * [Édouard Jaguer](/source/%C3%89douard_Jaguer) * [Michael Kimmelman](/source/Michael_Kimmelman) * [Hilton Kramer](/source/Hilton_Kramer) * [Rosalind E. Krauss](/source/Rosalind_E._Krauss) * [R. Siva Kumar](/source/R._Siva_Kumar) * [Donald Kuspit](/source/Donald_Kuspit) * [Julien Leclercq](/source/Julien_Leclercq_(poet)) * [Louis Leroy](/source/Louis_Leroy) * [Lucy R. Lippard](/source/Lucy_R._Lippard) * [Giovanni Lista](/source/Giovanni_Lista) * [George Loukomski](/source/George_Loukomski) * [Sergey Makovsky](/source/Sergey_Makovsky) * [Nancy Marmer](/source/Nancy_Marmer) * [Camille Mauclair](/source/Camille_Mauclair) * [Octave Mirbeau](/source/Octave_Mirbeau) * [Robert C. Morgan](/source/Robert_C._Morgan) * [Suzanne Muchnic](/source/Suzanne_Muchnic) * [John Neal](/source/John_Neal) * [Linda Nochlin](/source/Linda_Nochlin) * [Frank O'Hara](/source/Frank_O'Hara) * [Saul Ostrow](/source/Saul_Ostrow) * [Jed Perl](/source/Jed_Perl) * [Adrian Prakhov](/source/Adrian_Prakhov) * [Griselda Pollock](/source/Griselda_Pollock) * [Nikolay Punin](/source/Nikolay_Punin) * [Arlene Raven](/source/Arlene_Raven) * [Herbert Read](/source/Herbert_Read) * [Pierre Restany](/source/Pierre_Restany) * [John Rewald](/source/John_Rewald) * [Rainer Maria Rilke](/source/Rainer_Maria_Rilke) * [Daniel Robbins](/source/Daniel_Robbins_(art_historian)) * [Barbara Rose](/source/Barbara_Rose) * [Harold Rosenberg](/source/Harold_Rosenberg) * [Robert Rosenblum](/source/Robert_Rosenblum) * [John Ruskin](/source/John_Ruskin) * [John Russell](/source/John_Russell_(art_critic)) * [Frank Rutter](/source/Frank_Rutter) * [André Salmon](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Salmon) * [Jerry Saltz](/source/Jerry_Saltz) * [Irving Sandler](/source/Irving_Sandler) * [Meyer Schapiro](/source/Meyer_Schapiro) * [Peter Schjeldahl](/source/Peter_Schjeldahl) * [Brian Sewell](/source/Brian_Sewell) * [Roberta Smith](/source/Roberta_Smith) * [Rafael Squirru](/source/Rafael_Squirru) * [Vladimir Stasov](/source/Vladimir_Stasov) * [Leo Stein](/source/Leo_Stein) * [Leo Steinberg](/source/Leo_Steinberg) * [Aleksey Suvorin](/source/Aleksey_Suvorin) * [Michel Tapié](/source/Michel_Tapi%C3%A9) * [Théophile Thoré-Bürger](/source/Th%C3%A9ophile_Thor%C3%A9-B%C3%BCrger) * [Éric Troncy](/source/%C3%89ric_Troncy) * [Tristan Tzara](/source/Tristan_Tzara) * [Kirk Varnedoe](/source/Kirk_Varnedoe) * [Louis Vauxcelles](/source/Louis_Vauxcelles) * [Boris Vipper](/source/Boris_Vipper) * [Karen Wilkin](/source/Karen_Wilkin) * [Émile Zola](/source/%C3%89mile_Zola) {{div col end}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Art critics}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110116065925/http://www.friezefoundation.org/talks/detail/empathy_and_criticality/ Good audio version of symposium on contemporary (2007) art criticism entitled "Empathy and Criticality", sponsored by the Frieze Foundation] {{Art world |state=autocollapse}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Art Critic}} Category:Art critics critic --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Art critic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_critic) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_critic?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.