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| Collecting Basics: Quality |
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How do I decide what is great art?
Look at art that is considered to be great by experts in the
field, and make a mental note of the pieces that appeal to you
personally. Since everything on ArtSender has been selected by a
jury representing decades of art world experience, this is a
good place to start. If you spend some time exploring your taste
in art, you'll begin to identify why you like some pieces more
than others — and you may even surprise yourself in the process.
The two toughest questions in art
What is art and how do we evaluate its quality? Neither can be
answered objectively, but there are some guidelines that can
help focus our evaluation of individual works of art. None of
the guidelines we suggest for evaluating quality are absolutely
objective. They are not markers that divide art from non-art, or
good art from bad art. Rather, they are issues for you to
consider in making your own assessments.
A hot debate
When is a painting or drawing or sculpture or photograph really
art? Are the snapshots from a recent vacation art? What about
the doodles of a monkey at the local zoo? Many artists and
critics simply define art as anything whose maker intended it to
be "art." Most of us have a personal definition of art that is
narrow, specific, and would probably exclude monkey doodles. The
challenge of contemporary art is to join the discussion about
what is or isn't art with family, friends, educators, and
critics — and ultimately, to make up our minds for ourselves.
The good, the bad, and the ugly
The point where you divide the bad from the good will probably
change with exposure to art. Quality is a slippery concept. It
often seems to be based on objective standards: for example, the
processor in one computer is measurably faster than another, or
one car gets better gas mileage than another. Yet companies
making slower processors or bigger cars can still argue that
their products show other signs of quality, like adaptability,
design, and reputation. Similarly, there is more than one factor
that determines the quality of art: technique, composition,
content and personal taste are some of the major considerations.
All major topic headings in Art Smart begin with a discussion of
quality. Click on any thumbnail image to learn more about the
individual artwork.
Next:
Authenticity & Originality — Why should I collect original art
instead of posters?
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