This estimate may be considered presumptuous by the artist who is,
after all, the prime mover in the whole artistic process. As Gombrich
puts it: "There is no such thing as art; there are only artists.'' The
writer on art must maintain a sympathetic rapport with artists, so that
he is open to their ideas.

Traditionalists are appalled by this incestuous cosiness, but if French
eritics in the 1870s had taken the trouble to talk to the Impressionists
they might not have made so many wisecracks - and been so dead wrong,

Intentional criticism has been fostered not only by an awareness of past
mistakes but by a new tool, the tape-recorder, plus the fact that more
artists today are being formed by Fine Arts departments of universities,
thus developing their articulateness.

But the critic should supply two-way feedback, relaying not only the
artists intentions to the public but conveying to the artist his own
feelings and judgements.

It is the latter word that has become so controversial. Everyone detests
making judgements. In truth they involve existentialist anguish. But to
imagine one can avoid them is self-delusion. Critics, dealers, curators,
editors of art magazines - all of whom, upon occasion, can function as
jurors - are constantly exercising judgement, choosing the artists whose
work they will review or exhibit, and out of that work selecting further
what they think is best.

Such responsibility cannot always engender popularity. Artists whose
work you praise will find it quite natural, those about whom you comment
adversely will berate you as blind and brainless.

Only if an artist respects the good faith and perceptiveness of a critic
can the delicate artist-critic relationship be maintained.

In the end the people for whom you write mostly, the non-specialized
audience eager to know, are people whom you rarely meet. They do
not write letters to the editor. Occasionally they approach you in a
gallery and tell you they have enjoyed a shaw you have recommended
or bought a paperback you suggested. But, like speakers on the

ll.