Blake Gopnik is trying to figure out what to say about a show of Islamic miniatures that he just doesn’t get. In his frustration, he has a go at first principles:

The best art reviews get right inside their subjects. They don’t just try to figure out how an artwork speaks to modern viewers — let alone to one single, benighted critic. They try to take the object on the terms it was made for, partly because that’s the best way to make it speak to us. One way to avoid looking and thinking according to the cliches of our era is to look through the eyes of another.

A way out?! Sadly, not:

But what if you can’t buy the view those bygone eyes reveal?

Pages with Tales Worth Foretelling (Washington Post)