The theme of the final session of 7 Ways of Thinking About Art was 'Art as Iconic'.
We considered how individual works of art can be iconic, not in C.S.Peirce's sense of an iconic sign ( in semiotics this is a sign that represents by virtue of resemblance); but rather in the more colloquial sense used by curators, collectors, auction houses etc., meaning, roughly, an outstanding example of an artist's work or of a phase of an artist's work.
An iconic work provides a key that can unlock our understanding of an artist's style (where style is a series of implied choices the artist has made, including choices about content and materials). To call a work iconic is to make an evaluative judgment about its quality - this is very different from a subjective judgement of approval - it implies that the work has qualities that make it typical, informative, exemplary in some sense.
My hypothesis is that iconic works by contemporary artists may initially be difficult to recognise as such, but that this becomes easier when posthumously when the artist's repertoire is closed. In practice there is often a great deal of consensus amongst art historians, critics, curators and collectors about which are the iconic works of an artist, and which fall short of this. Iconic works emerge as having passed the test of time. (For the idea that there might be such a thing as an expert critic, see David Hume's classic essay 'Of The Standard of Taste')
In this sense the group of paintings usually on display in the Rothko Room at Tate Modern (but on tour at the moment) are an unequivocal example of an iconic work.
We looked at Cy Twombly's 'Bacchus' series (described here) in the light of the 7 topics covered in the course.
Information about my forthcoming courses on Aesthetics at Tate Modern
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