What makes a work of art?

Impressionistic Art

The French Impressionists were startlingly original in their time and are now admired worldwide. And museum curators know that Impressionist exhibits are very popular and profitable for museums.

But in considering the quality of Impressionistic art, Anderson points out that some Impressionistic painters were distinctly lacking in technical skills. For instance he viewed Renoir as "the poster child of the overrated artist." while he waxes poetic about Manet's work "The Bar at the Follies-Bergère" as a masterpiece.

I agree. I too was never an admirer of Renoir’s; I find his paintings saccharine his subjects vacuous and boneless. However, Manet is one of my favorite Impressionists for his his storytelling and his powerful paintings of everyday life.

A new perspective on an old art

What makes art original?

Common artistic qualities

Throughout the book Anderson analyzes seemingly disparate works of art such as the Nairobi mask, Bernini bust, and Mendelssohn observatory shown above, and explains why they all meet his five criteria of artistic quality.

In addition learning more about artistic quality, I was intrigued by Anderson's many tales of the inner workings of top-tier museums and the challenges they face.

I found that reading this book on an iPad had distinct advantages; I could easily look up less familiar vocabulary words (inchohate, plebiscite, adduced, invidious, evanescent, etc.), and also zoom in on the illustrations to study them carefully.

I highly recommend "The Quality Instinct", a fascinating read. Enjoy!