Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary (Paperback)

by Terry Barrett (Author), Terry Barrett (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Designed as a supplementary text, this book helps students of art and art history better understand contemporary art by engaging them in the study of criticism and the practice of critically considering contemporary forms of art.

About the Author
Terry Barrett is Professor of Art Education, with a joint appointment in the Department of Art, at The Ohio State University, where he is the recipient of a distinguished teaching award for courses in criticism and aesthetics within education. He has authored four books: Interpreting Art: Reflecting, Wondering and Responding; Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary (2nd ed.); Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images (4th ed.); and Talking about Student Art. He edited the anthology Lessons for Teaching Art Criticism, published articles in Aesthetic Education, Afterimage, Art Education, Exposure, Camera-Lucida, Dialogue, Cultural Research in Art Education, New Advocate, New Art Examiner, Studies in Art Education, Teaching Artist Journal, Theory into Practice, Visual Arts Research, and many chapters in edited books. He is an art critic in education for the Ohio Arts Council, consults museum education departments, juries exhibitions, and conducts workshops on studio critiques and writing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 2 edition (December 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076741165X
• ISBN-13: 978-0767411653
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #159,865 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A straight-forward introduction to art criticism, March 5, 2001

By	Reto Zoppi Deiss (Mexico City, D.F. Mexico) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A wonderful book. Boy, i was dragged through galleries and museums by my parents throughout the 60's and 70's, seeing things I thought interesting, some beautiful, some scary, some outright nonsensical. I never got to understand nothing, though I felt the impact of "the better stuff". Mr. Barrett does a wonderful job in being sincere and easy to understand as he, with impressively up-to-date examples, puts forth the meaning behind those formulae of formalism, modernism, post-modernism and the like. He carefully introduces techniques of criticism which are acknowledged as "best practices", but always underlines that other avenues will take us to excellence, too. I definitely appreciate what he covers under the "feminism" and "multiculturism" headlines, cos when we get to see it, we rarely have the nomenclatura to understand it properly. This is not just a book for someone who in earnest wants to make a living off "criticizing art", but for anyone young (in mind) enough to set out on the adventure to enjoy, understand and recommend contemporary art with some kind of vision for the betterment of mankind. The art, Mr. Barrett tells us, is all there - it's now up to us to make something with it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars review, March 28, 2009

By	J. Beck - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a high school art teacher. This book has been very helpful to me, in that I better understand the criteria for theories in contemporary art and I am better able to communicate the criteria to my students. It's an easy and interesting read.