Art Visual Analysis Assignment

Directions

Use these questions to guide your looking at the painting. Not all of these questions will be pertinent to your painting. You do not need to follow these literally and respond to each one in your paper. You may choose the ones that will best fit your thesis about the work.

REMEMBER: you are getting evaluated on the quality of your close looking, on what you can SEE, and how you contextualize your object through YOUR OWN observations. THIS IS NOT A RESEARCH PAPER.

1) First Impressions

· What do you see? This is an important question to ask yourself before you read the object label. Your first impressions might change once you have read about the work, and the connections or changes you make between your initial impressions and later conclusions can form an interesting part of your paper.

2) Form

· Note textures and the quality of the surface of the work. What adjectives could you use throughout your analysis? E.g., shiny, dull, hard, soft, rough, smooth.

· How does the artist use line, color, light and shadow? (you should employ as much as possible the vocabulary and terms specific to art history.).

· What about the composition? Is it balanced, symmetrical, asymmetrical? Why?

· How big is the work? How does size affect your reaction to the work? How does size affect the depiction of the subject?

4) Context

· Read the label – what can we tell from the label? Look for the artist’s name, the media/materials used in creating the work, and when and where the piece was made.

· Where was the work originally meant to have been seen, and how might the current context in the museum be similar or different? What might it have been like to view the work in its original context?

· Where is the viewer meant to stand in relation to the work? Is there one viewpoint or multiple viewing points?

· Identify the subject matter. Be certain to describe all of the components depicted. Is this artwork telling a story? Is it religious or mythological?

5) In-Depth

· Is the subject ideal or real? Describe the style. Is this a realistic depiction? Is it abstract?

· You have identified the material(s) used from the object label. Why might the artist have used this material?

· What do you think the artist, or the patron of the work was trying to say about his or her subject?

6) Personal Response

· This should only be addressed in the conclusion.

· Describe why you selected this work. What do you like/dislike about it?

· Is this work popular? Do other people stop and look at it? What are some of the reactions you overhear?

NOTE:

Make sure that you are doing a formal analysis that connects and deepens as your essay progresses (good). You must use CLAIM + EVIDENCE.

An example would be:

· E.g. “The sculpture is wearing a long garment that emphasizes the proportion and length of her body. In keeping with Hellenistic tradition, the effect makes the figure seem life-like, as if the clothing might move if touched as if the sculpture could walk. This is contradicted by the fact that the work is actually made from very hard and immoveable white marble.” YES. Sentences 2 and 3 develop the description of the figure in Sentence 1, contextualizing the observations made with information that relates to art history and the object label.