T 1/17 What is Art Criticism and Writing?
Course Overview
Shared Classroom Expectations
I. Art Criticism: A Critical Overview
Th 1/19 Everybody’s a Critic
A.O. Scott, “Everybody’s a Critic. And That’s How It Should Be,” New York Times, 30 January 2016.
Barack Obama’s best of list for 2022
>>>Assignment #1 due on Canvas
T 1/24 Practicum: Art Critics
Research and presentation on art critics
>>>Assignment #2 due on Canvas
Th 1/26 Taste
Pierre Bourdieu, introduction to A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste (London: Routledge, 1984), 1-7.
Richard A. Peterson and Roger M. Kern, “Changing Highbrow Taste: From Snob to Omnivore,” American Sociological Review, 61, no. 5. (October 1996), 900-907.
Recommended: How to Write About Contemporary Art, 31-39.
>>>Assignment #3 due on Canvas
T 1/31 Connoisseurship and Critique
Bernard Berenson, “Rudiments of Connoisseurship,” in The Study and Criticism of Italian Art (London: G. Bell & Sons, 1914), 57-75.
Ben Davis, “Connoisseurship and Critique,” Art in the After-Culture: Capitalist Crisis & Cultural Strategy (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2022), 9-27.
>>>Assignment #4 due on Canvas
Th 2/2 Art Criticism in Crisis
James Elkins, Excerpt from What Happened to Art Criticism? (2003), reprinted in Kerr Houston, An Introduction to Art Criticism, 302-309.
JJ Charlesworth, “The Dysfunction of Art Criticism,” Art Monthly (September 2003), 1-4.
Raphael Rubinstein, “The Ghosts of Art Criticism,” Art in America (October 2019), 26-30.
Nikos Papastergiadis and Hou Hanru, “Zooming In and Zooming Out: Life and After in Post-pandemic Publics,” in Art Writing in Crisis, ed. Brad Haylock and Megan Patty (London: Sternberg Press, 2021), 263-274.
>>>Assignment #5 due on Canvas
T 2/7 Practicum: Art Criticism Platforms
Research and presentation on platforms for art criticism
>>>Assignment #6 due on Canvas
Th 2/9 Why Criticism Matters
Hannah Black, Ciarán Finlayson, and Tobi Haslett, “The Tear Gas Biennial,” Artforum, 17 July 2019.
Verónica Tello and Sebastián Valenzuela-Valdivia, “A Partial History of South–South Art Criticism,” Third Text 35, no. 6 (2021): 709-731.
Taylor Renee Aldridge and Jessica Lynne, “This is How You Tell the Truth,” in Art Writing in Crisis, ed. Brad Haylock and Megan Patty (London: Sternberg Press, 2021), 87-93.
Recommended: Kerr Houston, An Introduction to Art Criticism, 23-81 and How to Write About Contemporary Art, 40-41.
>>>Assignment #7 due on Canvas
II. Writing Art Criticism
T 2/14 Practicum: What is an Exhibition Review?
Research and presentations on local exhibitions
Discussion of Exhibition review assignment
>>>Assignment #8 due on Canvas
Th 2/16 No class: Visit local exhibitions
T 2/21 Description
How to Write About Contemporary Art, 57-62.
John Ruskin, “Turner’s Slave Ship,” 1843, in Modern Painters, vol. 1 (New York: National Library Association, n.d.), 382-383.
Kerr Houston, An Introduction to Art Criticism, 82-85 and 103-110.
>>>Assignment #9 due on Canvas
Th 2/23 Practicum: Description
Meet in Texas State Galleries for presentations on description
>>>Assignment #10 due on Canvas
T 2/28 No class due to field trip
Th 3/2 Museum/Gallery Visit: San Antonio, TX
Meet at 5pm
The Contemporary at Blue Star
116 Blue Star
San Antonio, TX 78204
T 3/7 Analysis and Interpretation
Kerr Houston, An Introduction to Art Criticism, 85-103.
Allan Sekula, Photography Against the Grain: Essays and Photo Works, 1973-1983 (Halifax: Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 1984), 168-174.
>>>Assignment #11 due on Canvas
Th 3/9 Practicum: Analysis and Interpretation
Meet in Wittliff Collections for presentations on analysis and interpretation
>>>Assignment #12 due on Canvas
T 3/14 No Class: Spring Break
Th 3/16 No Class: Spring Break
T 3/21 Judgment
Kerr Houston, An Introduction to Art Criticism, 160-174.
Immanuel Kant, Extracts from Critique of Judgment (1790); in Clive Cazeaux, ed., The Continental Aesthetics Reader (New York: Routledge, 2000).
Clement Greenberg, “Modernist Painting,” 1960; in John O’Brian, Clement Greenberg: The Collected Essays and Criticism, vol. 4 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 85-93.
>>>Assignment #13 due on Canvas
Th 3/23 Criteria
Lucy Lippard, “The Women’s Artists Movement—What’s Next?” (1975), reprinted in Kerr Houston, An Introduction to Art Criticism, 290-292.
Peter Schjeldahl, “The Polymorphous Genius of Wolfgang Tillmans,” The New Yorker, October 2, 2022.
Christina Rees, “Glasstire and Negative Criticism in Texas,” Glasstire, 26 October 2016.
Recommended: How to Write About Contemporary Art, 20-23 and 126-209.
>>>Assignment #14 due on Canvas
T 3/28 Practicum: Judgment and Criteria
Research and presentations on judgment and criteria
>>>Assignment #15 due on Canvas
Th 3/30 Museum/Gallery Visits: Austin, TX
Meet at 4:30pm
The Contemporary Austin – Laguna Gloria
3809 West 35th Street
Austin, Texas 78703
T 4/5 No class due to field trip
Th 4/6 Voice and Tone
Kerr Houston, An Introduction to Art Criticism, 200-217.
Guillaume Apollinaire, Two Articles on Picasso (1905), reprinted in An Introduction to Art Criticism, 253-255.
Jerry Saltz, “Seeing Out Loud,” The Village Voice, 13 December 2005.
Okwui Enwezor, “The Inverted Sign,” NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art (Spring/Summer 1995): 44-49.
Eileen Myles, “Mother’s Day,” in Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty, Gregory R. Miller & Co. for CAMH and MCA Denver, 2015.
Recommended: How to Write About Contemporary Art, 220-233.
>>>Assignment #16 due on Canvas
T 4/11 Practicum: Voice and Tone
Research and presentations on voice and tone
Discussion of Artist interview assignment
>>>Assignment #17 due on Canvas
Th 4/13 Practicum: Peer Review of Exhibition Review Draft
Bring 3 hard copies of peer review draft to class
>> Exhibition Review Draft DUE on Canvas
III. The Art of Interviewing
T 4/18 What is an Artist Interview?
Phyllis Tuchman, “Two or Three Things I Know about Artist Interviews,” Art Journal, 67, no. 4 (Winter 2008): 33-37.
Richard Meyer, “Artists Sometimes Have Feelings,” Art Journal 67, no. 4 (Winter 2008), 38-55.
>>>Assignment #18 due on Canvas
Th 4/20 The Art of Interviewing
Hans Ulrich Obrist, “Interviewing the Interviewer,” interview by Clo’e Floirat, Frieze, December 6, 2011.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist in Hans Ulrich Obrist Interviews, ed. Thomas Boutoux, vol. 1 (Milan: Charta, 2003), 308-316.
>>>Assignment #19 due on Canvas
T 4/25 Practicum: Artist interviews
Conduct artist interviews with Studio Professional Practice students
Th 4/27 Conclusions
>>> Exhibition Review Final Draft + Response to Peer Reviews DUE to Canvas by midnight
T 5/9 In-class final essay
2-3:20pm >>> Artist Interview DUE to Canvas by midnight