Every Man His Own Art Critic

This collection includes two texts written to accompany two blockbuster art exhibitions: Every man his own art critic at the Manchester Exhibition,1887 and Every man his own art critic (Glasgow Exhibition,1888). The Manchester Royal Jubilee Exhibition was held in a purpose-built exhibition centre at Old Trafford to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne. The exhibition was open for 166 days and attracted 4.5 million paying visitors. In the following year, Glasgow hosted the International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry from May to Novemeber, which attracted 5.7 million visitors. Although these exhibitions were designed to showcase the industrial prowess of their respective cities, substantial exhibitions of fine art made the case that they were also cities of culture. Patrick Geddes's accompanying texts were designed as introductions to the visual arts that would help visitors appreciate what they saw. The Manchester text introduces Geddes's view that painting could be best appreciated through a threefold understanding of what the artist saw, how they represented what they saw and the feeling that they aimed to express. Rather than simply repeating these views in the Glasgow text, Geddes used the opportunity to expand upon them in the context of a new exhibition. - Summary by Phil Benson