You can never know entirely 'how'. In his book Depiction, the art historian Michael Podro puts it wisely: 'Critical description can never properly or adequately correspond to the interest and force of a painting... because what we describe takes on its force for us only in the context of innumerable other recognitions in which it is embedded and which lie beyond the scope of describing.' The problem is not just that your analysis will miss a lot of things out. The problem is that you'll take a lot of things for granted. There's the feeling that analysis is the wrong kind of attention. A picture is to be experienced: thinking about how it works, you'll miss or even become positively unreceptive to its power There's the claim that analysis is impossible. A successful work of art is not a box of tricks; it is a mystery.
You'll never work it out, and any explanation will be a distortion. Some of these objections are wilfully ignorant and fuzzy-minded. It will explain how the picture works, and to explain a picture (like a joke) is to kill it dead. And since these articles are dedicated to analysing pictures, the case against it should be considered There's the fear that analysis will simply succeed. In 2003-04, the NHS Litigation Authority took 6,251 new claims.. Two people are in an art gallery They're standing in front of a picture, talking about it Someone, on the other side of the room, notices them. They're not in earshot, but this someone has spotted their tell- tale body-language " the hand movements in the air, tracing lines, making points " and comes over directly, and says to them in a voice that mixes pity, reproof, and a genuine wish to help: 'Please don't try to analyse it.' Don't analyse it The plea is well known.
Stephanie Brown, of the Medical Protection Society, said that a balance must be struck between rigorous investigation and speedy resolution."An investigation that fails to consider all aspects of care could lead to doctors and healthcare professionals being unfairly criticised and patients left without the full facts. This would undermine confidence ."Clinical negligence claims against the NHS have soared to £5bn, to be paid out over years as claims are settled. "What they want is someone to admit they made a mistake and to ensure things are changed so it doesn't happen to others."Medical defence organisations said that doctors should not be blamed because of system failures in the NHS which were the fault of many people. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said research showed most patients who suffered problems with their care did not seek compensation.