The Critic As Artist: A Review Of The Longest Conversation Ever Recorded

In a drawn-out Victorian dialogue, Oscar Wilde seeks to discover if the critic and the artist are one in the same. The Critic As Artist depicts an intelligent and lengthy conversation between Glbert and Ernest as they delve into the artistic past and present in hopes to understand the relationship between the artist and the critic. By the end of the piece, it is decided that the artist is a critic in himself, and the critic an artist.

Gilbert believes that the artist and critic are equal. The artist is aware of his surroundings, thus making him self-conscious of his work. The critic, on the other hand, is an artist as he “works with materials, and puts them into a form that is at once new and delightful.” Gilbert further states, “… criticism is a creation within a creation.” [Pg.1027]

By using the Greeks as main examples, Wilde continues to push the idea that art and criticism cannot exist without each other. The critic would have nothing to critique, while the art would not be verified as art. Gilbert claims, “An age that has no criticism is … an age that possesses no art at all… But there is never a creative age that has not been critical also.” [Pg.1020]

As a critic, Wilde writes that one must be educated on the subject, and write of their own interpretation of the art, not the artists presumed feelings. With this, the critic helps society by further explaining the art and its impact to the audience. The character of Gilbert continues to explain to Ernest that it is much harder to be a critic than an artist; “It is very much more difficult to talk about a thing than to do it… Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it.” [Pg. 1023]

The story continues by contemplating whether art is sinful, whether the critic is unfair, and a million other things that at times seem to be irrelevant. Gilbert is an annoying gabber, while Ernest is much more patient than any other listener could be. Although Gilbert makes sense some of the time, he seems to contradict himself with the abundance of examples. Wilde’s piece is somewhat mind opening, while overly repetitive and conflicting. Even Ernest, towards the end of the piece, appears to be confused by his forever-and-a-day-long conversation:

“You have told me many strange things tonight, Gilbert. You have told me that it is more difficult to talk about a thing than to do it, and that to do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world; you have told me that all Art is immoral, and all thought dangerous; that criticism is more creative that creation, and that the highest criticism is that which reveals in the work of Art what the artist had not put there; that it is exactly because a man cannot do a thing that he is the proper judge of it; and that the true critic is unfair, insincere, and not rational. My friend, you are a dreamer.” [Pg.1058]

Ernest, you read my mind.