Quality in a Work of Visual Art

Assessing the quality of a work of art is complicated. Some argue that not everything visible can be described in words. I confess I support this idea, and so I argue that the quality of a work of visual art is perceptible as soon as we see it.

Let us be honest: with painting or sculpture, what the work shows is what it can give. However passionate the seller's explanation, what we are buying is the work.

In my opinion, as I said in the article "Buying Art with Confidence", the quality of a work comes from the balance between the quality of the material and the quality of the idea presented. Simple as it is, this formulation clearly shows the close relationship between the two. For all intents and purposes, the artist's role is to handle the material so as to communicate an idea.

We usually think of the artist as the maker of the work of art, which is not necessarily true. However, to make what I want to say easier to follow, when I write "artist" read "the maker".

Here I will try to develop this topic a little further and, after a brief note on "the quality of the idea", I will talk about "the quality of the material" in painting, as this is the area I work in and where I feel most at ease.

Part I - The Idea

Assessing "the quality of the idea" in a work of art is inevitably a subjective exercise that depends heavily on the viewer's intention. For this reason I only write a few notes as food for discussion.

• We can assume that the context in which the work is found, or for which it is intended, is the starting point for defining the criterion of relevance. But it is not always enough, nor is it always the criterion that matters most to us.
• Perhaps it is fair to say that a work of art serves an idea better the clearer the problem it sets out to solve. For example, if the aim is to enrich an informal, neutral space where red is the dominant colour, the best painting for that space might be an all-red canvas. If we have no reason to add more elements, it is fair to ask why we should, and why pay for it?
• Fortunately for artists, colour is not the only reason to buy a painting. Marie de' Medici, later Queen of France, knew this when she commissioned "The Disembarkation at Marseilles" from Peter Paul Rubens, demanding to be portrayed with the dignity she deserved.
• Some works are experimental or preparatory in nature, and that does not always make them less interesting. Often that very quality gives works their freshness and appeal. Turner's watercolour "Looking East from the Giudecca: Sunrise", in the British Museum in London, is a good example.
• Another problem, quite different from the previous examples, is making works for an exhibition in a museum of contemporary art. If the artist sets out to present a show on "ethics in the Roman Empire", presenting a "Pre-Raphaelite-style school exercise" may not be the best option. Even if it took 4 or 5 years of study to fill an A4 sheet, and however symbolic the effort, the public would see only an A4 sheet with a good academic drawing, not the reflection on ethics they bought a ticket for.

Part II - The Material

The other point to consider when assessing a work of art is the quality of the material it was made with. This is far from simple and, although more pragmatic than the previous point, it is not completely objective, especially as regards compositional choices and what characterises the artist's style.

Every seller uses stock phrases such as "this work was made with good materials", "the artist is very skilled" and "is well established", but that is of little help to someone who wants to buy a work confident they are making a good choice, or who wants to enjoy looking at it closely. Believing such superficial phrases is halfway to paying a lot for something that will not last.

The physical and chemical properties of materials are known precisely enough for us to trust manufacturers' predictions about how they will behave over time. For example, ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) uses a 5-level table to rate the lightfastness of a pigment used in art materials, level I meaning the colour lasts more than 100 years under museum conditions, and level V meaning the colour shows significant changes in just two years under museum conditions.

Although the paint industry is constantly evolving, with new pigments discovered and what was known about earlier ones called into question, we can say that the most unpredictable variable is how the artist handles the materials. In painting, materials are handled directly and, however careful the artist, the thickness of the paint layer can never match the precision of the robots Ferrari uses to paint cars.

So it is up to the artist to select the materials and processes used to make the works they want, and consequently to stand behind their work. Today there are hundreds of brands of paints, supports, brushes and everything else. From paints with gold pigment for metal to oil paints made by classical methods, brands offer endless possibilities. On the one hand, it is easier for artists to meet market needs; on the other, it is harder to avoid explaining technical failures.

If we want to enrich a space with a work that will last for generations, we must consider the following factors: the support's resistance to changes in humidity and temperature where it hangs, the lightfastness of the pigments and how well the paint layer adheres to the support.

It is widely agreed that oil painting is the most stable and gives a painting the greatest longevity. It has proven itself for more than 600 years and is more versatile than rivals such as fresco or mosaic. In the article "The Quality of Materials in an Oil Painting" I develop this topic a little further, mentioning some benchmark materials and brands. I also give some tips on how to tell which material was used in a particular painting. To read more, click here.

This does not mean you should paint with this medium in every situation. On the contrary, as I said, we can now meet all or almost all needs, including those for which oil painting is not suitable, such as customising a car or a tattoo (I sincerely hope nobody does either with linseed-oil-based paints).

One of the advantages of visiting a painter's studio is seeing first-hand the kind of materials they use and the experiments they carry out. Even with a basic knowledge of paints and supports, you will quickly see the quality and whether a particular work meets your goals.