Terry Barrett

Terry Michael Barrett (born 1945) is an American art critic, and Professor Emeritus at Ohio State University.

His many books, anthology chapters, and articles about contemporary art, art criticism, aesthetics, and the teaching of these, have had a significant impact on the field.

“If I follow these principles, I will be able to be confident that my interpretive efforts are in a right direction and a right spirit”

Barrett uses a think aloud process.

He begins by discussing what he knows about the painting.

His process is guided by a series of questions, beginning with what he calls a literal reading of the painting.

Barrett draws on prior knowledge and observations of the artwork to construct his interpretation.

He looks beyond the artwork to further his understanding of the painting, he asks whether there are similarities between an artist's other works and does not interpret the artwork in isolation.

He considers this within the context of the artist's oeuvre.

Barrett turns to scholarly interpretations of an artwork for further insight.

Barrett's approach may be summed up by words that are central to the title of his book – reflecting, wondering and responding.

He reflects on what he sees literally and metaphorically.

Based on prior experiences and knowledge he constructs an interpretation and articulates it verbally – this is his response to the artwork.

“When writing or telling about what we see and what we experience in the presence of an artwork, we build meaning; we do not merely report it”

A good interpretation is personally meaningful while also corresponding to the works visual elements and socio-cultural milieu.

The interpretation has communal relevance.

A good interpretation is developed through openness to the act of interpretation, a sense of wonder, keen observation, and a construction of understanding that can be shared with others.

• Artworks are always about something

• Subject matter + Medium + Form + Context = Meaning

• To interpret a work of art is to understand it in language

• Feelings are guides to interpretation

• The critical activities of describing, analysing, interpreting, judging and theorising about works of art interrelated and interdependent

• Artworks attract multiple interpretations and it is not the goal of interpretation to arrive at a single, grand, unified, composite interpretation

• There is a range of interpretations that any artwork will allow

• Meanings of artworks are not limited to what the artist intended them to mean

• Interpretations are not so much right, but are more or less reasonable, convincing, informative, and enlightening

• Interpretations imply a worldview

• Good interpretations tell more about the artwork than they tell about the interpreter

• The objects of interpretation are artworks, not artists

• All art is in part about the world in which it emerged

• All art is in part about other art

• Good interpretations have coherence, correspondence, and inclusiveness

• Interpreting art is an endeavour that is both individual and communal

• Some interpretations are better than others

• The admissibility of an interpretation is ultimately determined by a community of interpreters and the community is self-correcting

• Good interpretations invite us to see for ourselves and continue on our own

According to Arthur Danto, a contemporary philosopher and art critic, names, as an essential characteristic of artworks, “aboutness”.

That artworks are necessarily about something is the cornerstone of Danto's philosophy of art.

Since they are about something they must be interpreted.

Barrett's book, Reflecting, Wondering and Responding, summarises Danto's theory as containing five major propositions, namely, that a work of art is (1) about something, (2) projects a point of view, (3) projects this point of view by rhetorical means, and (4) requires interpretation and that (5) the work and interpretation require an art-historical context.