Art criticism is the analysis and evaluation of works of art. More subtly, art criticism is often tied to theory; it is interpretive, involving the effort to understand a particular work of art from a …

Art criticism - 20th Century, Analysis, Interpretation: In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many critics continued to grapple with the newness of the generation of artists inspired by …

Watson suggests that, in a capitalist society, art is above all a luxury commodity, and art criticism is the packaging designed to create a taste for it.

Art criticism - Antiquity, Middle Ages, Foundations: Since antiquity, philosophers have been theorizing about art, as well as criticizing it. Plato, for example, regarded art as an inferior form …

Philosophy of art - Interpretation, Aesthetics, Creativity: Works of art present problems of both interpretation and evaluation. Evaluation is not the concern of this article (see aesthetics), but …

Art criticism - 19th Century, Analysis, Interpretation: Art criticism grew exponentially in the 19th century, when artists began to make works with an uncertain future.

Art criticism - Renaissance, Analysis, Interpretation: Despite such theorizing, no definite critical tradition emerged until the Renaissance, when art criticism came into its own—that is, when …

Art criticism - Enlightenment Theory, Analysis, Interpretation: At the beginning of the 18th century, the Englishman Jonathan Richardson became the first person to develop a system of art …

Art criticism - Avant-Garde, Analysis, Interpretation: Painter Gustave Courbet’s rebellious Realism was the case par excellence of new avant-gardism that threw off the centuries-old debate …

Prominent art critics include Roger Fry, Clive Bell, Clement Greenberg, Harold Rosenblum, Lawrence Alloway, Rosalind Krauss, and Donald Kuspit. See also aesthetics.