Page 31 - Studio International - November 1972

Aspects of art education 2

of the contemporary art scene almost more Remarks on art knowledge' domain, thence to carry back the
disturbing than the estrangement of the artist fruits of his excursion to the practical area. That
from the general public, is that of the artist education is, a bizarre separation whereby art practice
from the art historian. The result is that effectively becomes 'applied something-or-other'
twentieth-century painting and sculpture are would ensue. No indication of the language of
not convincingly related to the rest of the this intellectual transaction is provided: are we
Western tradition and that our sense of that Material manipulation as a constitutive principle to believe that artists, in thus stepping into the
tradition is not, as it ought to be, modified by the of art activity (a-la Wollheim) necessarily clarity of the articulate domain, receive that
achievements of the present. This estrangement implies privatism. Without being too which they cannot themselves carry back with
is echoed in the unhappy relations between Fine black and white about the matter, the adjunctive them to the problems of their practice. There is
Art departments and those offering History of role accorded to theory in such sortings-out a crippling implication that the artist is unequal
Art and Complementary Studies. Brought into amounts to an ex hypothesi preclusion of to such a task — 'bête comme un peintre'. (The
being with the Diploma in Art and Design, dialectical access at any practically effective short answer is that he is not, he does, and such
partly to lend it a cloak of academic stage. It is difficult to see how a resolute flaws come to light — as now). The further, and
respectability, these departments came under pressing of morphologically grounded criteria perhaps more subtle, implication, is that it is not
heavy attack during the sit-ins. (e.g. 'rightness of form') can ever have any other the business of the artist to get involved in such
In the four Polytechnics under review, their than the quasi-mystical connotations recurrent problems, but strictly to keep within defined
courses often attract poor attendances. In in such writings. limits. (On this see below).
disputes, Fine Art staff have tended to side Despite the title of this essay it is unavoidable Absolute privatism is incoherent, and it would
with their recalcitrant charges rather to trespass thus on the domain of the theory of be out of place to get caught up in a discussion
than with their academic colleagues. In art practice since very many of the faults in the of such, but the neo-privatist accompaniment to
Birmingham, however, lectures and seminars current educational structure, whose resolutely enforced material manipulation is an
are being arranged in the studies rather than shortcomings have beset our collegiate period, observable fact of the art situation. Art
the lecture rooms in an attempt to bring the Art proceed directly from a failure to distinguish — educationalists possess the same
Historians into a closer and more functional wilfully or otherwise — between these disparate morphologically grounded differentia, but what
relationship with the chief study areas. At domains. It is our contention that a vicious is relatively inaccessible to any criticism other
Wolverhampton, the emphasis is placed on circle is initiated once this crucial distinction than the partial, as to how the art domain is to be
individual theses rather than formal art history is blurred, carrying as it does a necessary viewed, is, when transferred to the educational
lectures. Optional projects are offered on concomitance to the current attrition in sector, a blatant non sequitur. Neo-privatism
almost any subject liable to arouse interest: pedagogic ethics. may or may not generate an unbelievably pauce
recent examples include a study of the It has been held that 'for the mainstream of view of the practice, but educationally, ie in
development of the British waterways modern art the appropriate theory is one that what is essentially a communication/
network and its relation to the iron industry emphasizes the material character of art, a understanding situation, it fails to make any
and the publication of books of poetry. theory according to which a work is importantly sense at all.
At Coventry, there is a demand-feeding or significantly, and not just peripherally, a There is a prevalent attitude to the
system: lectures and seminars are physical object' or again that . concern with 'autonomy' of the artist which is sociologically
arranged and greatest attention is given to the concept of art quite outside any context of exponible in terms of a charismatic authority
twentieth-century art. A thesis on an art- working with a material is likely to be of little proceeding specifically from beyond the realm of
historical topic is part of the curriculum. interest'. Employment of even a vaguely everyday routine, that is, the artist as possessor
Nottingham, where relations between Fine Art relativistic model must from the outset render of innate powers, disdainful of so-called
and Art History are most strained is, illicit any strict notion of adjudication between 'economic exploitation'. The artist qua
paradoxically, the only case where the latter is competing frameworks. It must be clear, charismatic is an anti-economic ascetic force
not an independent service area but however, what the necessary implication of such repudiating involvement in the everyday world.
incorporated in the Fine Art department. a materialistic theory is — that the domain of art This otherwise hackneyed characterization
Lectures and seminars have an academic bias practise be privatistic. That is to say, the attains to neo-tragic relevance in terms of the
and the disciplines covered range from painting preponderance of commitment to an student — that is, the fault of the 'shaman'
and sculpture, seen in a historical perspective, engagement with physical objects, to the point conception is its implicit dependence on at least
to literature, sociology and philosophy. where critical discourse is relegated to the some degree of middle-class approval, an
No formula has yet been discovered, however, proffering of inaccessible rankings — and that a inconsistency both glaring enough and potent
which justifies in practice the inclusion of Art posteriori — obviously does not allow of any enough to have contributed to its decline in
History and Complementary Studies as a premium to be put upon discourse at any stage more circumspect circles of the domain. But the
compulsory element of a Fine Art course. in the procedure where there might conceivably economically sheltered student, given free rein
Whether or not it be desirable in theory, the be something for it to help clear up. And if it be to indulge in romantico-existential phantasy is
subject has won little real support from students remarked that this is far from the case, in terms the more likely to seize on such a quasi-mystical
and is treated at worst as an irritating of an 'on-going', 'generalized' activity, then it role. It is however uncertain that this notion is
distraction from more important matters and, may be countered that such an account falls free from difficulty. The propensity of the
at best, a pleasant and informative diversion. within the 'adjunctive' role mentioned above, indolent to invoke this conception as a prelude
Though this is not to say that students on an reducing the artist effectively to the recipient to evading such sectors of their 'course' as the
individual basis are insensitive to the of instructions, ie, the resultant of such an predominating lesson in descriptive art history,
aesthetic tradition in which they find opinion would be the artist, at some initial stage which albeit weakly, are demanded, founders
themselves. q in the procedure of 'making', as it were leaving once it is pointed out that such 'charismatic'
ANTHONY EVERITT the domain and approaching the 'pool of authority is not conceptually distinct from other

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