MELVIN M. TUMIN
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is, if you cut out a ll those " bad" types of a rt, then the word "art "
would necessaril y mean ma rvelo us a rt. In fact, it would be very hard
to think of there being a work o f a rt a t all , it would be so p erfect. The
exi stence of a rt depends on adj ecti ves.
T umin:
Then you 're willing
to
make the term art almos t wh oll y non–
restri cti ve to stan with .
R osenberg:
Yes.
T umin:
And then to discrimina te and di stingui sh vari ou s qu aliti es,
dimen sion s, cha racteri sti cs, o bj ects, uses. skills , qualiti es of an ?
R osenberg:
Yes.
T umin:
So we don ' t need
to
wo rry a bout wha t me mean by th e generi c
term an . It's some kind o f acti vity whi ch in volves chalk or p aint or
movement or music o r sound o r wha tever?
R osen berg:
T h a t's right. In practi cal terms, the def initi on o f art–
when I say practi cal terms, I mean no t theoreti ca l terms-the
definitio n of art has very o ften been encouraged by concepts o f good
an , and therefore the a ttempt was made to exclude all oth er kinds o f
art.
T umin:
Yo u want to ma ke an a generi c human acti vity, whi ch is to be
di stingui shed , perh aps, from sc ience, from automo bil e driving, from
gymn as ti cs?
R osen berg:
Ri ght.
T umin:
T ha t means, now, tha t it makes sense to say tha t, g iven thi s
generi c human activity, as in a ll o ther human activiti es, th ere are
levels of excell ence, hi gh and low qualiti es of things.
R osen beTg:
I want to just get away from excell ence itself. because the
concept o f excell ence in art has an a lmost politi cal meaning. Wh en
you talk about excell ence you impl y th a t a bas ic measure in art is
p urely qualit ative, and I don 't accept tha t, because a work o f a rt can
be less excell ent than another wo rk of a rt, if you 're appl ying
standa rd A. and , let's say , much more interes ting intell ectua ll y and
much mo re stimul a tin g emo ti o nall y or imagina tively and th erefore
much more valuabl e. The concept o f excell ence ta ken by itself is an
academi c idea.
T umin:
So we want to ta lk about th e different aspects or dimensions o f
art whi ch loosely on e mi ght say th a t, if th ey reached a certa in level,
you would say tha t's an excell ent level, as aga in st a medi ocre level on
th a t dimension , with out now ta lking about the overall excell ence.
R osenberg:
Overall excell ence is an academi c term. As I say, it 's a very
imp ress ive on e, and it's bein g used ra ther aggress ively today.
T umin:
You do n 't obj ect to aggress ive criti cism and analys is, do you ?
