Barret Chapter 3 Assessment

1.     What is the author’s thesis?

Barret’s thesis in Chapter 3 is that all photographs demand interpretation in order to fully understand and appreciated. They need to be reorganized as pictures about something and for some communicative and expressive purpose. He stresses how interpretation is making sense of a picture and it occurs whenever attention and discussion move beyond offering information to matters of meaning. It is understanding what the author’s main point is for producing the work of art, as well as how it affects and changes the viewers feelings or point of view. 

2.     What examples does he use to support the thesis?

The first example Barret uses to support his thesis about interpretation is Jeff Wall’s photograph, “Dead Troops Talk.” The interpretation is by Susan Sontag in which she first praises Wall’s work, then goes on to offering descriptive information about the object itself. Barret also mentions Joel-Peter Witkin’s bizarre photographs that attract interpretive questions and thoughts. He also discusses philosopher, Nelson Goodman and his quote on “the innocent eye.”

3.     In your own words, how does Barrett define interpretation?

Barret defines interpretation as the second step after describing an image. He defines it as the meaning, the tone, sense and the mood behind the photograph. From a critic’s point of view, he defines interpretation, as a means of finding out what others think is most important in an image and how that relates to the photographers meaning and purpose of the image.

4.     According to Barrett, why is interpretation important in criticism of photographs?

Barret states that interpretation is important in the criticism of photographs because when one is acting as a critic and interpreting a picture, they are relating their opinion about the meaning of the photograph with the actual photograph, which other critics will pick up on. Therefore in order to have a thorough understanding of the meaning of the photograph, interpreters must seek to find out the importance of the image and how it fits together. In addition, Barret states how every photograph is not “innocent” and has a bias towards something; therefore interpretation is needed to find the true meaning.

5.     In Chapter 3 Barrett gives examples of various interpretations from different “interpretive perspectives” and “interpretive strategies” - choose one that stood out, surprised you, or interested you in some way and discuss why.

One interpretive strategy that stood out to me was the “Feminist Interpretation” by Diane Neumaier. This interpretation was interesting because of the way Neumaier discusses how her first interpretation of photographs artists such as Alfred Stieglitz and Emmet Gowin took of their wives was romantic and dreamy. However as she as a photographer began to make efforts to duplicate their images with her own family (husband and sons) and failed, realized her interpretation was wrong. She began to reevaluate the pictures, and she began to see and interpret the pictures of domination.

6.     In your own words, what is/are the main point(s) the author is trying to make in the section “‘Right’ Interpretations”?

Barret’s interpretations follow a variety between credible and in credible. In this sense, viewers and critics can argue works through different standpoints. Yet, interpretations should be backed by reason and rationality in order to be respected over those that don’t. Believing that art is “subjective” and that each viewer has their own views about it weakens our ability to debate and share different understandings and viewpoints because valued interpretations contain correspondence and logic.

7.     In your own words, what is/are the main point(s) the author is trying to make in the section “Interpretations and the Artist’s Intent”?

The main points that Barret is trying to make in this section is that just because we know the intention of the artist does not mean our interpretations need to be made based of that, or else we will fall into intentionalism. Often time’s photographers are oblivious of what their intentions are when photographing something. Barret states that we should take an artist’s interpretation as an argument and evaluate on the same grounds as we do other interpretations that are offered

8.     Write about two other key points that you learned from this week’s reading.

One key point that I have learned from this weeks reading is that we as critics need to be able to have the “right” interpretations when analyzing art. I have learned it is important to interpret different works of art with correspondence and logic. In addition, relating to the Feminist Interpretation, I learned that our first interpretations and judgments are often not correct. We need to be able to analyze and find deeper meanings behind the work of artists and then form opinions.

9.     Summarize - what is the author’s conclusion?

In conclusion, Barrett is speaking to this idea of what makes an interpretation valid and a good interpretation. One point Barrett made is that, in essence, to interpret art is to understand it with language. While this might make sense to some degree, in other ways, art is the replacement of language. It is the expression of someone who did not want to simply write or say what they saw or felt or were, instead they created something to represent  that state of being. Barrett also spoke about how what the artist intended does not limit the meaning of a piece of art and how interpretations change, and so does our understanding of a work of art.