5 paged essay on virtual museum tour

MOLLOY COLLEGE Prof. Stacey Weir History of Western Art II

Museum Report Guidelines

Guidelines Must Be Followed!!!

The museum trip will avail the students of viewing various exhibitions at a Major

Museum of Art in New York City. **Attendance MUST BE proven through the

inclusion of a photograph. Museum buttons and receipts are no longer

acceptable.***

Content Visit a Major Museum of Art and select (1) work from the exhibitions to write about

from after 1300. Do some research on the artist, movement and art piece that you are

discussing. Using the Museum Critique Guidelines below, write a five-page analysis and

critique, carefully following the steps as outlined.

Museum Critique Guidelines

To criticize a work of art does not mean to say that you dislike it, rather, that you are

judging its success on a number of aesthetic and technical points. Your personal

response is important, and will be uniquely your own. What you see in the work and

what you think will be different from what anyone else sees or thinks. The experience of

the world which you bring to the task will differ from that of anyone else. Your response

may be something entirely outside the range of reactions which the artist anticipated

when the work was created. This will be true for any work of art, and will most certainly

be the case when the artist lived in a previous time and place. One of the standards by

which art is judged to be great, or by which a work is considered to be a masterpiece, is

its ongoing power to stimulate the responses of viewers over time, and across cultures.

When you learn to criticize art, whether you like it or not, you will gain skills in

organizing your thoughts, and will become more objective and accountable for your likes

and dislikes in visual experiences. This can make your aesthetic experiences more

meaningful and more memorable, and will carry over to your understanding of your

thoughts and reactions to all visual objects.

You will need to be a bit of a detective in the process of learning art criticism.

Approach the task of viewing the work of art with the idea that the artist has put some

hidden messages into the work, as well as its more obvious effects, to which you might

first respond. You need to start on a systematic program to analyze the work thoroughly

and well.

There are four steps to this approach:

DESCRIPTION, ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION, JUDGEMENT.

They need to be taken in order, and broken down into useful components.

DESCRIPTION: What do I see?

Make an objective list of what you see in the work. Use only facts. Note the size, the

medium, the artist’s name, the title of the work, the date, the country.

ANALYSIS: How is the work organized and achieved?

How has the artist used the formal elements at his disposal? Talk about line, color,

shape/form, value.

Has the artist create an illusion of space? How? Is there an emphasis on texture? Is it

implied or actual?

How are the elements of design used? Talk about composition, rhythm, movement,

balance, proportion. Variety or unity? Emphasis or focus?

Please refer to the handouts on analyzing art as well as the “Short Guide to Writing

About Art” for assistance with this task.

**** At this point you are still collecting facts – not ready to make your judgment

yet.

INTERPRETATION: What was the artist trying to say here? What is happening in this

work of art?

Try to explain what the artist seems to have meant to say in the work. Is it narrative –

telling a story? Does there seem to be a viewpoint taken? Does the artist seem to

endorse the activity or make a statement in opposition? If it is non-narrative, is the work

about observation of the material world or perhaps about the formal elements of art?

Obviously, you must make some guesses here.

JUDGMENT: What do I think of the work? How do I respond to it, personally?

Be honest with yourself. Critically evaluate your feelings and the reasons why they

emerge in response to the work of art.

As appropriate, consider these three theories for judgment which are used by art critics:

1.) Imitationalism: It may be important that the work of art imitates what we see in

real life, in some manner. This is not necessarily a copying of an exterior visual

appearance but may rather include the responses that one might have given to a

visual experience. For example, the reddish glow of a sunset cast over a

landscape may not seem entirely naturalistic, but may have a strong emotional

appeal to you, or not.

2.) Formalism: The work might seem successful because of careful or innovative

use of formal elements or design principles – in ways which elicit your strong

response. Such treatment by the artist may or may not be made in relationship to

a narrative basis for the work.

3.) Emotionalism: The work may derive its impact primarily from the visceral,

emotional response of the viewer, in what may be a communication of narrative

content, or may rely entirely upon the effects of more or less pure formal

elements.

You might apply one or two of these theories of judgment to a greater extent than the

others, but it is necessary to consider the work in light of all three. Then you will be

able to discover the most possible information about the work and your responses to

it.

Format for the Research Paper

The research paper must have the following parts completed:

1. Title page (name, date, title of paper, class, and professor’s name)

2. Full length double spaced pages of manuscript with 1” margins and page

numbers

3. Footnotes (in context footnotes may be used)

4. Five research sources (textbook, research sources, The Grove Dictionary of Art

Online and the Metropolitan Museum Website; NO OTHER INTERNET

SOURCES ARE ALLOWED!!)

5. One illustration of each of the art works discussed

6. Bibliography (Works Cited List) of research sources

The research paper is to be 5 pages in length. Less than five pages will seriously

detract from your grade. As always, papers not submitted to turnitin.com will not

receive credit.

Grading:

10% Museum Trip attendance 20% Proper citations and bibliography 70% Paper content