Cross-Cultural Approaches in Art Criticism

Academic disciplines of art history and art criticism are generally based on Western canon، the textbooks for these disciplines –internationally- being mostly focused on a historical study of Western art and its underlying aesthetic principles. In recent decades، however، this situation has changed، and as researches from various cultural backgrounds have gradually joined these disciplines، a heightened awareness regarding non-western art and aesthetics has been raised. Cross-cultural art criticism is based on the notion that the definitions and manifestations of art differ in various nations and cultures، and therefore a standard، Western framework for art criticism might not be applied to all of these various practices and worldviews. Cross-cultural approach underlines contextual studies and mostly favors anthropological approaches and methodologies. It does not study the work of art per se and in isolation، but its aim is to understand the people through their works of art. Therefore، the works of art should be studied in regards to their original context، and be viewed in the same way that their creators viewed them. The work of art is not a subject to study out of sheer curiosity، but it is a manifestation of complex metaphysical، social، and emotional issues of a certain culture.