When I told Mr. Kramer the topic for our subsequent interview “Beckmann and the Neo-Expressionists” in October, his face suddenly brightened up with joy. He said,”This is very close to my heart.” Several days before Thanksgiving, the critic made an exception to come to his office. When I asked him if he felt that Beckmann was like a visitor from another civilization as he wrote in 1969, Mr. Kramer, dressed in a dark gray wool suit and a white silk tie that echoed his white shirt gave me a surprise answer. He said that the cultural climate for contemporary art had changed markedly since that article “Max Beckmann: The Quality of Pulsating Life.” The emergence of the Neo-Expressionism in Europe and U.S. that occurred within the past decade was a sign of the welcoming back of the Expressionist impulse in art. “No. He seems now to be considered something of the father of our own civilization.” replied the critic.

When he heard my question, “What do you think is the role of an art critic?” the seasoned writer with fine features lowered his head. After a moment’s thought, he said, “The role of the critic was defined by T.S. Eliot many years ago in a way that I think has rarely ever been improved upon. Eliot said the role of the critic consisted of two things primarily: the elucidation of works of art, and what he called the correction of taste. I think that these remain the two primary functions of criticism.

On the one hand, (there is) the illumination of works of art, both past and present. By the correction of taste, I think he meant to describe all those functions that the critic takes on in
explaining why works of art are important to us: what values they encompass, what perspectives
they lead to, what is important in the work of the past as well as the present, how certain works in
the past have lost their meaning for us–meanings that they might have had for an earlier
generation.

By taste, I think Eliot meant something broader than what we normally mean by it. He meant a
kind of spiritual affinity, a spiritual outlook. I think that (central to this is) the combination of both
the analysis of objects–what we call the explication of works of art, the elucidation of works of
art– and on the other hand, the larger cultural, critical task of correcting taste, correcting values–
affirming some and denying others. I think those remain the primary functions of criticism today.”

As our taped interview gradually came to closure, I realized that I was having a privileged
experience in discovering the answers to my long term questions. I am grateful that these
in-depth interviews and my essay “Poetic Reflections” which focused on the writings on Morandi
by Kramer and by poet W.S. Di Piero are included in my book in Chinese The Mark of Time:
Dialogues with Vivian Tsao on Art in New York. The well-illustrated book, published by Hsiung
Shih (Lionart) Art Books in 2003, lives in the Chinese world. Mr. Zhong Han, art critic and
professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, found the book inspiring. Not only
that, its art magazine that first printed these interviews is being archived in its original format in a
Chinese language digital file that will soon become available. The sudden realization that the
voice of art critic Hilton Kramer will be heard by new readers around the globe was magical.

thanks for sharing……..your human reaction/observation brings life and
spirit to the article….