Topic: "It is the artist, not the critic,* who gives society something of lasting value."
Here is my classmate's essay. I don't agree with his structure. He said the body should consists of three paragraphs: the first about merits of artists, the second about the effect(positive) of critics, the last on the disadvantages of criticism.
In my view, there should be at least a strong paragraph to compare the contributions of the artist and of the critic. But he said that isn't needed.
So we agreed to put this essay here to let you judge it. Thanks in advance.
Art, undoubtedly as one of the most significant contributions that impel the society and history forward, being of as great importance as the science and politics, has a variety of definitions and standards. Just as the old saying goes "there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes ", every artist, every critic and every audience has his own textbook of art in his mind, different in contents though, but no wrong answers. It is just the diversity that makes the art so resourceful and charming for the art's main aim is to depict the material would and the people's inner world, which are both complicated. Generally speaking, the influence of a work of art usually consisted of labor of both the artist and the critics. And as the father of the art, I think the artist gives more value thing to the society than the critics, who behave live the work of the teacher.
Needless to say, art plays an important role in the development of history as well as society. And their creators, such the painters, musicians, writers, etc can be regarded as elites the same with giants in other aspects. They brought the society so many valuable treasures that you cannot imagine that without their talented works, how our material and spiritual world will be. In addition, some of the works related to politics is a powerful force in the society. In this role, the artist exerted his creativity and enthusiasm to give birth to the immortal masterpieces in order to arouse people in discourage. "The Death of Marat", the famous and meaningful painting drew by France's painter Louis David, woke up the people in dreams and called them on to fight against the dark government. The household song "the Internationale" also operated essentially to make people devoted into the struggle for their deserved rights and freedom. Such examples are countless in the aspect of the literate, for a great number of excellent works are inspiring and encourage people to fight against the hardship, coming from the really world as well as from the mental one. In a word, the artists contribute invaluable treasures to society in a spiritual and cultural way.
However, we should not ignore the effects of the critics. They stay beyond the works and watch them in a thorough and panoramic view. Because of this reason, they can usually distinguish the shortcomings easily. Moreover, an experienced critic can help a confused artist find the best solutions in other angle of thinking for they are usually edified from another's works.
A good and creative artist can not be restricted with the dead standard set by the critics. Since the art is a diversity subject, everyone has his own ways of consideration and styles of creativity, and some opinions from the critics may be quite opposite to the artist's original sketch because the critics and the artist may have different experience and understanding. Further, the critic's opinions may badly circumscribe the artist's creativity, which is the most important and crucial thing in a process of finishing a work. After all, it is the artist, not the critics that designing the work.
Overall, it is the artists that decide what manner his work will manifest and what characters it will demonstrate. But they should not ignore the ideas of the critics, some of which may be rather valuable. Only by adopting the good suggestions and mixing them into their own ideas can they produce remarkable works.
Could we, perhaps, hear from your classmate in order to be sure that he does consent to have his work posted here? I like the idea of letting forum members settle the dispute, I just want to make sure that the author of the piece consents to it being posted.
