The common conception of art today consists of, paintings, poems or novels. When one imagines these things words like original, beautiful and masterpiece come to mind. Contrary to this belief none of these forms of art are in fact original or new, according to Oscar Wilde. The truest art form is criticism.
In Wilde’s piece, From the Critic as Artist, he counters the common view of the arts. Wilde describes art other than criticism as having confinements, he says, “the painter must be pictorial always.” When describing an sculptor he says, “the sculptor gladly surrenders the imitative color.” Wilde then says, “It is through its very incompleteness that Art becomes complete in beauty.” This beauty he feels is not seen by the trained critic because it is not original, all art is an imitation of works before, except criticism. He then says, “the critic reproduces the work that he criticizes in a mode that is never imitative.”
From the Critic as Artist, is an engaging piece, it offers a different view of art. His notion that criticism is the only non imitative form of art is thought provoking. He feels that, “the highest criticism really is, the record of one’s own soul.”
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