‘Middlebrow’ – Is The Word Still An Insult?

David Haglund: “While unabashedly lowbrow art has long ceased to be disreputable, has the term ‘middlebrow’ also lost its sting? It may be a tougher category to rehabilitate: Neither quite one thing or another, ‘middlebrow’ suggests something mushy and unsure of itself – and this in-between-ness evokes status anxiety far more than the art on either extreme of the spectrum.”