A01=Gary Alan Fine
administration
aesthetics
art
artist
assessment
Author_Gary Alan Fine
business
Category=ABA
Category=ABQ
Category=JHB
Category=JNU
creativity
criticism
critique
cultural production
curriculum
education
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethnography
finance
history
humiliation
imagination
interaction
learning goals
masters degree
mfa
nonfiction
occupational socialization
patronage
praise
sociology
university
visual arts
Product details
- ISBN 9780226560212
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 31 Aug 2018
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The idea of a graduate art program likely conjures up images of young artists in lofty studios, learning advanced techniques and honing the physical practice of their creativity. In truth, however, today’s MFA culture is centered almost entirely around discussing art rather than actually making it.
In Talking Art, ethnographer Gary Alan Fine gives us an eye-opening look at the culture and practices of the contemporary university-based master’s level art program. Central to this culture is the act of the critique, an often harrowing process—depicted here in dramatic and illuminating detail—where artists in training must defend their work before classmates and instructors. Through analysis of the practice of the critique and other aspects of the curriculum, Fine reveals how art schools have changed the very conception of the artist: no longer a misunderstood loner toiling away in a garret, now an artist is closer to being an articulate tour guide through the maze of contemporary art rhetoric. More importantly, he tells us, MFA programs have shifted the goal of creating art away from beauty and toward theory.
Contemporary visual art, Fine argues, is no longer a calling or a passion—it’s a discipline, with an academic culture that requires its practitioners to be verbally skilled in the presentation of their intentions. Talking Art offers a remarkable and disconcerting view into the crucial role that universities play in creating that culture.
