Have you every wondered how artists choose titles for their art? Or why they choose to show their art without titles? In this article I share insightful comments and suggestions from several artists about this topic. You may never look at an artist’s work and title in the same way ever again. As an artist you may also consider taking this subject more seriously.
While writing art reviews for several artists this week this topic of interest came up. A new client of mine displays a few different beautiful portfolios of her art on her website. She had no titles for her art which made it very difficult to discuss individual works of art with her. She told me she hadn’t given it much thought. After our discussion she realized how important it is if she wants to sell and get exhibitions for her artwork.
On the other end of the spectrum, another artist who is a member of one of the online galleries I maintain assigns short poetic titles that accompany her equally lyrical and emotive abstract paintings. She says she enjoys the process and so do her increasing list of collectors. She also divides her art into different themes and gives them inspirational titles. These names attract art buyers when they want to narrow down their searches for the perfect artwork.
This artist knows that the title conveys the mood she is trying to communicate. Her artwork might sell just as well if she didn’t offer titles; however, they show the potential buyer the breadth and depth of her creative vision and unique personality. She offers a total experience that is difficult to resist.
Quick Tips
Do you have trouble choosing titles for your art? You don’t have to force yourself to be clever. Often it’s the straightforward approach that works best. For instance, was the art inspired by a specific color, geographic location, song, poem, musical score, time of day, or season? While you were creating it, did it arouse a feeling, memory, or concept? Is it part of a series and you can connect several works of art with titles within a specific theme? You can also get ideas by brainstorming with other artists and art writers, viewing works of art in museums and galleries…
For Georgia O’Keeffe, whose “Blue and Green Music” is shown here, the reference to music in the titles of her paintings derived from her belief that visual art, like music, could convey powerful emotions independent of representational subject matter.
Titles Are Important to Many Individuals
In my professional experience I have learned how you title your art is an important part of how you engage and communicate with your potential art buyers. It also impacts how you develop your relationships with other members of your art business community, such as curators, art consultants and gallery owners. As a curator of dozens of exhibitions over the years for Manhattan Arts International, and The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS, I’m impressed by artists who take time and effort to select titles of their art especially when it’s a theme exhibition. As Gail Green, founder and principle owner of Gail Green Interiors, wrote, “Titles capture the essence of the picture or story. To me, it’s where poetic license is issued to the creator to be witty, pithy, and clever.”
Comments from Artists About Titles
Kerry Reverzani states, “As President of an Art Society (Wanneroo Joondalup Art Society in Australia) I curate our members exhibitions and titles definitely mean something different to each Artist. Here’s what I find: ‘Untitled’ is the unorganised artist’s option when entering their art. They just choose on the day of delivery what they put in. Long drawn out titles that tell the full story or location of the art are boring and also hard to fit on the exhibition ID cards. Short and sweet-descriptive, yet leaving it (to) the viewers’ imagination to fill in the gaps, is my best choice for a title.”
She adds this about her own art, “For my abstract artworks I use a Thesaurus to find an appropriate unusual word that relates to my work but doesn’t describe it.”
Lisa Friedus shares, “I believe that titles are the accessory to a painting as a piece of jewelry is to a glorious outfit. Captions add appeal, intrigue and sometimes amusement to the painting and is a subtle wink from the artist.”
Angela Mole states, “I like titles…….as a clue or entry point to enable the viewer a little ‘starter’ from which they can explore and put own interpretation on a painting. They should be a little non-specific and mysterious. I have a preference for one-word titles… I also feel that Series J No..17 kind of titling somewhat sterile and smacks of mass production. I work in series but prefer to keep them to 5 or fewer, e.g Haze – I, Haze – II. This approach keeps identification simple for my own records as well as for viewers and those collating exhibition catalogues, short, sweet and simple!”
Sandra Duran Wilson states, “A title for me sometimes comes before the painting. I am an abstract artist and scientist, and I have synesthesia, a crossing of the senses. I paint concepts and music, so the title may be s song lyric or a physics concept. I love titles and I also share some of my inspiration to begin the dialogue.”
Ruth Killoran shares, “I keep a book that I add words and phrases to continually that evoke an emotion within me. I love to start work by meditating or focusing on one of those phrases and that is usually (but not always) the title of the work that evolves. I want viewers to know what the work means to me.”
Justin Aerni offers this advice, “Having created over 4,000 paintings I’ve been back and forth many times on this issue. My advice is make sure the title is something that is coming from a place of self-fascination and amusement rather than if you think it will sell better. Just title your art from the heart and let the chips fall where they may. That will shine through and the right people will connect with that truth.”
Elliot Appel shares, “Sometimes I like to pick a small, hidden, insignificant part of the painting and make that the title. People may look closer at the painting to find the significance of the title.”
Janet Burgos has this to say, “I think titles provide a clue (to those who need it) as to the subject matter. I have no problem with a viewer seeing something very different than what I intended. I also find it a lot more stimulating to have something to go on even if you don’t agree on it. I enjoy titling both visual art and written work. On the other hand when I look at a piece of art, the title is the last thing I look at.”
Betsy Cole tells us, “After reading comments and speaking with many artists, it appears that I am in the minority in preferring not to title a painting. Since I paint how I feel each day, my paintings are quite personal, and how someone else interprets them will be entirely different. If I attach a title to a painting, I feel it ‘nudges’ viewers in a certain direction and that may or may not be where they want to go or what they might actually see. I very much respect what could be called the ‘marketing argument’: It is likely much easier to market and sell a painting that has a catchy or intriguing title, as opposed to something as vague as ‘Untitled #1’. Nonetheless: While the business side of the equation is important, I prefer to allow viewers to draw their own conclusions about any given painting, free of influence from a title.”
Peter Dryer offers this perspective, “Perhaps William Shakespeare said it best: ‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet’. To my mind Shakespeare says that no matter what name the flower “rose” has been given, it will always be sweet-smelling. In other words, no matter what title you give a painting, it will always be the painting it is. This seems to support the conclusion that titles are inconsequential.”
You may also want to read the article that inspired this one
“Do You Think Titles of Art Matter?”
Thank you for the very informative read which directly answered my question of labelling a diptych, including name, support, medium/s, .and size of the work. Using professional attributions is new to me as I undertake this first year of an arts degree, so I found the information really helped with meeting required conventions. I also thoroughly enjoyed reading the comments.
Because a Barthesian approach is applied to pictorial language as well as text, I too feel finding a title that resonates without giving too much away, leaving room for viewer interpretation, is the way to go. I wanted desperately to include a haiku with my works, but this, too, would limit and/or direct a viewer’s understanding, and I feel it’s better to leave the art open for their imagination and intellect, and choose a one-word allusory title for each.
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Thank you Theresa for your thoughtful comment and convincing reasons for how you title your art.
An interesting article. As a photographic artist, I agree with many of the fellow artists’ opinions on this one. Authenticity is key, a title cannot nor should no be forced, (better without in such cases), but it can lend itself to the work and/or artist. Whilst it should aim to contribute to the piece, ultimately the art should speak for itself.
Thank you for your wonderful comment Marv. I’m sorry, we had to remove your website link from your comment because your link took us to a warning page that prohibited us from entering it. You may want to make sure you check what’s causing this and correct it.
Much like a piece of art emerges from me with minimal cognitive forethought, so does the title. As I am sculpting, many titles come to mind. I write each one on the base of the armature, with black permanent marker. Usually the title that makes me smile the most wins.
Even more fun is that I use the base board over and over again. I look at all of the titles of other pieces and relive the old journey, while I am traveling a new one. It’s like a diary or journal and part of the fun!
I have been an artist all my life and for me art has always been a natural expression of my existence. I have been painting continuously for over fifty years and through that time faced many different stages of development. After many thousands of ‘titled’ paintings I have come to a surprisingly unexpected question; does the finished work really need a title?
I have always been particularly careful with my titled paintings in that the name given was generic and more relative to a universal concept than indicative of any particular representation. I am acutely aware of the banality of illustration and have always tried to allow a wider area for the viewer’s interpretation. Often such titles came with the painting and would be a conjoining of terms which gave a completely unprecedented word to language. An example of this would be a large work recently shown at my latest exhibition; it is titled ‘Neurorhythm’. Other examples of this type of naming would be ‘Autumnuance’, ‘Chopinia’ or ‘Neuressence’. Many such titled works carry some sense of their inspired origination, especially those relative to music or travel.
However, recently I began to question very seriously this traditional propensity of giving the abstract visual experience a name. This questioning has grown from my own observation of people’s reaction to my work, especially children, to whom a title is meaningless and their imaginative appreciation goes much deeper and further than I could ever anticipate.
In recent years I have allowed paintings to leave my studio ‘Untitled’ with only a number as reference for my database. There are now many thousands such works in various mediums on canvas or paper.
I have always professed that the artist does not ‘finish’ a painting. The work is always completed by the mind observing it. A painting hanging on a gallery wall is to be viewed and every person who approaches it brings their own memory-bank, educated mindset and conditioned awareness to translate and ‘complete’ the work through their experience.
A work of art, through its viewers, can be born many times over and it is hoped that it may live long through a continued series of such births. Equally a work may suffer and die through confusion and lack of interest. It has occurred to me that such confusion may be caused by the incompatibility of a viewers expectations and the proclaimed (therefore limiting) title of the painting.
So – with this in mind, I ask myself, is a title not a literary aid to influence the viewer’s thinking? Is it not a form of subtle propaganda put there to elicit a certain response? Does it not, through subtle psychological effect, place a boundary on the viewer’s approbation? While I can reach no final conclusion on this question I hope that some consideration of the points made will bear fruit.
Of course, I will still be giving titles to paintings but it will be more likely when, as a work evolves, it names itself and the art transcends the artist.
Well stated. Thank you for expressing my thoughts also
A while back I created a horizontal triptych an abstract in acrylic. I was stumped for a while what to name it. It came to me as I was marking the back (which order they went in) what to call it, Le Miri, basically the first 2 letters of its position ;-), sounds French, fancy.
This was a wonderfully thought provoking article on titles Renee! I agree that titles are important. Keeping it short allows the viewer space to fill in the blanks. A title conveys the whole package and gives a sense of completeness to the viewer!
As a poet and an artist, words mean as much to me as the paintings I create. Titles come to me after a painting is finished, two to four words at most. The title is a Haiku poem of the umage, but it weighs as heavily as the painting.
Painting is a visual expression of words to me… therefore titles are most relevant. Yet I never would name a work until it’s complete. As a long-standing freelance writer, poet and lover of language, I will often use a thesaurus to help. Sometimes, it’s right out there once I’ve seen it in a distant element. Often, people do ask about my titles.
I always read titles of all artistic endeavors, art, music and books.
Great topic
This is a very interesting topic.
As a photographer, I must give each photo some sort of name, in order to keep them organized. In that situation, I tend towards a very simple descriptive filename. Much of the time, however, those names don’t satisfy me. Yes, they would tell a viewer what they are looking at, but it often says nothing at all about WHY. There is little emotional connection.
I find that my favorites, the images that jump out and touch me, often suggest their own title, something beyond a filename. A feeling, if you will. Sometimes, it is direct and obvious how the title relates to the image, but other times, not so much- and those are the ones I am often happiest with. Something about the often whimsical nature that makes itself known appeals to me, likely because it comes from my heart, not my head.
It is something I give conscious thought to, the concept of titles. When done well, they add another dimension to the art. I am not always 100% satisfied with my titles, and this article is encouraging me to explore that a little more. Thank you.