What interview questions to ask an art historian?

August 17, 2023 3:55 PM

I recently started an academic kind of podcast but also an arts/visual arts/literary as well and I was wondering, what would be some excellent and interesting interview questions to ask an art historian?

Especially in terms of Canadian art or Quebec art? I do not have an academic background in art, but I am an admire of the arts and am a writer and photographer myself, and I really would like to learn more about Quebec in terms of the arts/visual arts but not sure what kind of questions to ask in interview...I have been reading some articles on Quebec arts and paintings but perhaps not enough to cultivate certain questions.

posted by RearWindow to Society & Culture (8 answers total)

I might want to hear their thoughts on Canadian artists over the years who should be better known or deserved wider exposure. Or Canadian art movements (if any) little known outside Canada.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:06 PM on August 17, 2023 [2 favorites]

Ask them what they feel the influence of the Refus global has been on Quebec visual arts. That might be enough for an entire podcast if the historian is into the topic.
posted by zadcat at 4:33 PM on August 17, 2023

Ideally you’d have read some of the historian’s work and have some specific questions that arose from it.
posted by crazy with stars at 7:05 PM on August 17, 2023 [16 favorites]

Very strongly seconding the advice to know your interview subject, and I'd also recommend thinking about your prospective audience. What sort of listeners is your podcast targeted toward? Is it addressed to a general audience who will be largely unfamiliar with your subject and want a broad level primer on the topic? People with a pre-existing interest in the arts who have a lot of background knowledge and might want to hear more specific details about the interviewee and their work? Would they be more interested in the historian's own career, or in the light that person could shed on some specific project or story? How will this interview fit into your vision for your podcast as a whole? Are there certain questions you'll ask everyone you talk to?
posted by eponym at 7:35 PM on August 17, 2023 [4 favorites]

Great ideas so far!

Especially ask questions that fit with historian's areas of interest. Look up who they've written about. You can always ask "How did you get into the work of..."


It usually gets people talking to ask what artists or movements should have gotten more attention.

You can ask about government funding and other grants available to artists--like who has benefitted from them most?

There's usually an angle about indigenous artists to consider.

Definitely ask if the French language/ influence has played a part in the Quebecois landscape.

I'm sure there's a place that many painters have depicted; you could ask about the different takes on it.
posted by mermaidcafe at 10:19 PM on August 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

So presume that you know about the Group of Seven - but ask about the traditions esp indigenous that they were drawing on

I described Quebec as "culturally Catholic but not practising Catholic" - so the art work at Sainte Anne de Beaupre

Or the interaction between indigenous and (E)mpire(s)

and public sculpture and art - silhouettes of churches on street lamps, the entrance to the National Assembly
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 2:08 AM on August 18, 2023

More generally, I find that a couple of good, interchangeable opening questions are: 'what got you started down the road of becoming an art historian?' or 'what was the first artwork that ever really spoke to you?'
posted by Chairboy at 9:20 AM on August 18, 2023

It might be interesting to ask their thoughts about the appointment of a non-White and also non-First Nations person as the Indigenous Arts Curator at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. However, you would want to really know the topic and your subject before asking that and to be aware of the various sensitivities.
posted by OrangeDisk at 2:21 PM on August 18, 2023