Interpreting Art: Reflecting, Wondering, And Responding

In Terry Barrett's book on analyzing art the author begins the first chapter by exploring concepts of interpretation by examining Surrealist paintings and offering an insight into his own interpretation of each artist's work.  Barrett also states "Anyone can engage in meaningful interpretive thought."  His idea of not saying "we see" and rather stating "I see" when interpreting each work is relevant because everyone has their own individual view point of a specific piece of art based on their own life experience and body of knowledge.  The author suggests that viewers or interpreters of art start with the literal aspects of what they see and then move on to find deeper meaning.  Sometimes an individual work of art may leave a viewer puzzled.  Looking at a wider variety of an artists body of work can offer insight into individual works by finding common elements, for example repeating symbols.  In interpreting art the author says one should still acknowledge prior knowledge and research on the topic.  Barrett also suggests that the selection of images we see of an artists body of work affects our understanding of it, and often only a small selection of ones art is shown and discussed.

 Many of Barrett's principles for interpreting art are in a way introduced in the first chapter, but they are focused upon more in detail in chapter eight.  Interpreting art is about making meaning of an art object.
The author provides a list of these principles, most of which I find very straight forward (but for a few I have offered a tad bit more insight into).

• 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, analyzing, interpreting, judging, and theorizing about works of art are interrelated and interdependent
• Artworks attract multiple interpretations and it is not the goal of interpretation to arrive at single, grand, undefined composite interpretation.
• There is a range of interpretations any artwork will allow
• Meanings of artworks are not limited to what their artists intended them to mean
• Interpretations are not so much right but are more or less reasonable, convincing, informative, and enlightening.
• Interpretations imply a world view 
• 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 endeavor that is both individual and communal (Interpretations that are individual are influenced by personal meaning.  Communal ones are influenced by a group with shared interests)
• Some interpretations are better than others (the best ones working as a persuasive argument that builds upon fact)
• The admissibility of an interpretation is ultimately determined by a community of interpreters and the community is self-correcting (As time goes on new views develop or are discovered, new light is shed upon a work and evidence for new interpretations arise)
• Good interpretations invite us to see for ourselves and continue on our own 

I really appreciate how the author wrote this book, all his points are articulated well, but without becoming overly verbose, loosing me in confusing and unnecessary language.  The chapters I covered are great for those new to interpreting art, but also for those who need a little refresher.  One of the most important stances that the author takes is that there is no one right interpretation for a particular work. This is really important for beginners to understand and I would make this very clear to students.  Everyone has an individual view of a particular work of art based on our own experience. At several times Barrett mentions the fear of over interpreting art that often holds one back, but the principles he has set up, as well as many of the questions asked of works discussed in chapter one, offer as an excellent guide in deep thoughtful interpretation.