The subjective nature of art criticism and history

There is a fascinating article in The Art Newspaper by Julian Spalding, the former director of Glasgow Museums, and the academic Glyn Thompson in which they claim, on the basis of strong historical evidence, that Marcel Duchamp's famous artwork Fountain was actually the creation of the poet and artist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.

As the authors point out, 'Duchamp’s late, fictional story is still taught in every class and recited in every book' and 'The submission and rejection of Duchamp’s urinal is now regarded as one of the early turning points in the history of Modern art. Fountain is always cited as the source of conceptualism, the Modern art movement that America, rather than Europe, gave the world.'

What this contested finding illustrates for me is the essentially subjective nature of art criticism which nevertheless often goes entirely unchallenged (including, by myself, as I have repeated the received narrative about this work in several posts). In my sabbatical report I highlight Grayson Perry's acknowledgement that within the art world the rule by which people work is that of consensus plus time i.e. ‘If it's agreed amongst the tribe for a fairly sustained amount of time, then it becomes good taste.’

The claims made by Spalding and Thompson reveal some of the issues with this approach; issues which I have highlighted, through my Airbrushed from Art History series and Sabbatical art pilgrimage, in relation to the engagement of the Church with modern and contemporary art. Despite there being numerous and consistent examples of the Church commissioning modern/contemporary art and also the widely acknowledged prevalence of religious themes in the work of modern and contemporary artists, art critics and historians persistent in maintaining a narrative which posits an fundamental divide between mainstream art and organised religion. 

Such refusals to acknowledge evidence which conflicts with the accepted narrative reveals a fundamental subjectivity to much art criticism and art history.

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Dry The River - Lovin's For Fools.