The International Association of Art Critics (AICA-Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art) was founded in 1950 to revitalize critical discourse, which suffered under Fascism during World War II. AICA was initially affiliated with UNESCO as a non-governmental organization. Currently, there are seventy-two member nations representing more than 4,000 art critics.
The main objectives of AICA are:
• to promote the critical disciplines in the field of visual arts
• to ensure their having sound methodological and ethical bases
• to protect the ethical and professional interests of art critics by defending the rights of all members equally
• to ensure permanent communication among its members by encouraging international meetings
• to facilitate and improve information and international exchanges in the field of visual arts
• to contribute to the reciproca knowledge and closer understanding of differing cultures
• to provide collaboration with developing countries.
Famous quotes containing the words association, art and/or critics:
“It is not merely the likeness which is precious ... but the association and the sense of nearness involved in the thing ... the fact of the very shadow of the person lying there fixed forever! It is the very sanctification of portraits I think—and it is not at all monstrous in me to say ... that I would rather have such a memorial of one I dearly loved, than the noblest Artist’s work ever produced.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)
“The finest works of art are those in which there is the least matter. The closer expression comes to thought, the more the word clings to the idea and disappears, the more beautiful the work of art.”
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)
“Nature, when she invented, manufactured, and patented her authors, contrived to make critics out of the chips that were left.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)