‘We kind of try to merge our own experience with the objectivity of the criteria’: The role of connoisseurship and tacit practice in undergraduate fine art assessment

ORR, Susan (2010). ‘We kind of try to merge our own experience with the objectivity of the criteria’: The role of connoisseurship and tacit practice in undergraduate fine art assessment. Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education, 9 (1), 5-19.

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Abstract

This article explores connoisseurship in the context of fine art undergraduate assessment practice. I interviewed twelve fine art lecturers in order to explore and unpack the concept of connoisseurship in relation to subjectivity, objectivity and tacit practice. Building on the work of Bourdieu (1973, 1977, 1986) and Shay (2003, 2005), both of whom problematize the view that subjectivity and objectivity are binary opposites, my research illustrates the ways that connoisseurship is underpinned by informed professional judgements located in communities of practice. Within this particular conception of connoisseurship, the lecturers’ expertise is co-constituted in communities of assessors through participation and engagement. Standards reside in communities of practice.

Item Type:	Article
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Cultural Communication and Computing Research Institute > Art and Design Research Centre
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1386/adch.9.1.5_1
Page Range:	5-19
Depositing User:	Helen Garner
Date Deposited:	20 Jan 2012 16:21
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 04:25
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/4422

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