Art Criticism: Private Experiences and Public Objects

Abstract

The author points out that the art critic is confronted with the choice between alternative policies. He may concern himself with (1) the pleasures or satisfactions to be derivedfrom immediate sense experience of a work of art, or (2) the admiration (or disesteem) that is properly due to a work of art. These have led to two types of art criticism that he calls experience-directed and objectdirected. He discusses the weakness of experience-directed criticism by stressing the unavailability of private entities ('inner experiences')for public scrutiny and rational discussion. On the other hand, he finds that object-directed criticism, conducted in terms of admiration and the grounds of admiration, may include that part of experience-directed criticism that deals in discussable matters. He concludes by saying that, from a beholders point of view, understanding a critic's attitudes and presuppositions is not necessarily an alternative to understanding the work itself; the critic may provide a way to understand it.