Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
A caption can limit or distort the interpretation of a visual artwork.
In plain terms
Text captions restrict art meaning.
What can you take from it?
Be careful how text frames visual art.

Where it applies

  • art criticism
  • exhibition design
  • media literacy

Putting it to work

  • audit captions for bias
  • let art stand alone

Questions to consider

  • How do titles change your view of art?
  • Should art speak for itself?

Another view

It assumes captions always lower quality rather than enhance understanding.

More from James Thurber

  1. From now on, I think it is safe to predict, neither the Democratic nor the Republican Party will ever nominate for President a candidate without good looks, st…

    Permalink to quote #40
  2. But those rare souls whose spirit gets magically into the hearts of men, leave behind them something more real and warmly personal than bodily presence, an ine…

    Permalink to quote #42
  3. Sophistication might be described as the ability to cope gracefully with a situation involving the presence of a formidable menace to one's poise and prestige …

    Permalink to quote #43

Related quotes

  1. As has been said...it is impossible to make clear the aims of a work of art by means of words.

    Wassily KandinskyWassily Kandinsky quote #22
  2. Tout silence n'est fait que de paroles qu'on n'a pas dites. C'est pour cela peut-etre que je devins un musicien. Il fallait quelqu'un pour exprimer ce silence,…

    Marguerite YourcenarMarguerite Yourcenar quote #1
  3. Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn't have any beginning or any end. He didn't m…

    Jackson PollockJackson Pollock quote #1