Cubism

Presentation (25% worth of your final grade) Guidelines

Scope: Students will prepare a 5-minute-long presentation (plus 2 min Q &A) about an unknown work

of art that has not been presented in class lectures but in the scope of the class material. It is a

paper based on your museum visit where you choose work(s) from the museum collection or

special exhibition.

Component: Your presentation will be timed to 5 minutes, so please practice before you present that

requires an organizational tactic. This activity is intended to open up the scope of the class and invite

some works of art that could not be discussed in class due to limited time. You need to create a

slideshow file (approx. 7 slides more or less) with the following information:

Slide 1: Title/thesis of the presentation, image of the artwork with caption (name of artist, title,

medium, size, location, collection site/venue), name of presenters, presentation date.

Slide 2: Short Bio of artist (if known or if necessary)

Slide 3: Introduction and relationship of/with the stylistic period

Slide 4: Detailed visual analysis (form/style- color, shape, composition, light, expression, etc.)

Slide 5: Interpretation (meaning, function, commissioner, significance, context, etc.)

Slide 6: Comparison to a work of art drawn from class lecture if necessary (please add name of

artist, title, medium, size, location for both images)

Slide 7: Bibliography & Raise any questions

You can use Microsoft Powerpoint, Google Slides, Prezi, etc. as your tool.

Submission:

Right before your presentation, you have to submit the material by the Wednesday noon a day

before your presentation due. (November 4 (extra credits) – December 9, four weeks)

1) your selection and title 2) the ppt file of your presentation 3) a 250-word interpretative

summary that outlines the content of your presentation (separate word file: 1-inch margin,

double space, Times New Roman, font size 12).

Rubric: Your presentation will be graded on the following criteria:

1) Quality of the PPT slide: how well you integrate the content into your topic (20%)

2) Presentation Quality: speech, eye contact, timing, and confident presentation (20%)

3) Visual Analysis: how much well analyses visual (formal) aspects of the work(s) (20%)

4) Interpretation: stylistic period, meaning, function, significance, ways to prove your thesis (20%)

5) Summary/Research 500 words Paper (with references) (20%)

Style: Chicago Manual of Style Guide: http://libguides.umw.edu/c.php?g=424169&p=2897942

https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/PDF/chicago_turabian_uwmadison_writingcenter_june2013.pdf

Museum Paper (35% worth of final grade) Guidelines

The museum paper will require you to visit a museum with a strong Modernism collection in the

Washington D.C. area or Virginia, which will be the Smithsonian Museums, Phillips Collection, The

Kreeger Museum, Corcoran Gallery, or the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. This paper is

based on your presentation from which you can expand or revise.

Due: Thursday, December 7, 11:59pm (you can submit before the due after your presentation; submit

online copy to School website)

Please take note that papers will not be accepted over email and papers submitted past the due date

will have 5 points deducted per day.

Visit a museum with a strong Modernist collection in the Washington D.C. area or Virginia/Baltimore, or

another museum. Select any painting, print, photography, sculpture, design, performance, installation that

is relevant to the time period or themes we are covering in this class, according to your own preferences.

Remember you must visit the museum and make your observations in person. This is an assignment

about looking and writing, and requires you to rely on your own visual observations, followed by brief

research in the library. Be sure to have a clear argument/main thesis statement in your paper. (Exception

will be given only with official medical documentation)

Write an essay with a minimum of THREE (3) typed, 12-pt Times New Roman font, double-spaced

pages in length and with one-inch margins. You MUST include in (a) separate page(s) 1) a photo of

the object with you (a selfie is okay) that you have taken at the gallery and 2) a photo of the museum label

on a separate page. If you are comparing your work of art with some other images, please include those

images with proper caption (artist name, title, date, medium, location) at the end of your paper.

Classify your work of art using the art-historical terminology established in the lecture. In addition to

drawing upon what you have learned from your class, please consult at least two different written sources

as part of your research on this topic. To avoid plagiarism, all students must document research

sources properly using footnotes and must include a bibliography. See The Chicago Manual of Style

(15th edition, http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html) for correct bibliographic

format and the correct format for footnotes. (Plagiarism software will be run.)

* DO NOT USE ONLINE SOURCES except e-journals/ newspaper articles with an author / scholarly

articles found online through “Research Database” on the library website and trustworthy dictionaries

(Britannica, Oxford art online, essays on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History). Most online sources,

such as random blog posts or non-scholarly websites, don't have authors and contain wrong information.

Also, please try to avoid Wikipedia. It’s ok to look at the content from museum websites and cite in a

proper way, but please don’t quote or copy the visual analysis. The visual analysis must be your

own.

This is not a full research paper (interpretative writing), and there is no right or wrong answer. There

are, however, right and wrong ways of thinking through the thesis. Try to address the following questions,

in approximately this order:

I. Start with an introductory paragraph and end with your thesis statement at your first paragraph. Please

do not write about your visiting experience since this is NOT a personal essay. Briefly indicate ID (artist,

title, date, medium, size, time period, narrative) and your argument.

II. Briefly analyze the style of your painting. (if it contributes to your argument/thesis)

- How would you classify the work stylistically?

- To what 'known' example would you compare your painting with respect to style?

- Is the composition, figure, gestures, symbolism, meaning similar? Why or why not?

- Are similar techniques used to create the work of art (e.g., collage, ready-made, appropriation, etc.)?

- What system of modeling is used to render depth of the forms (e.g., intuitive or one-point perspective,

brush techniques, chiaroscuro, etc.)?

- How would you classify the treatment of the human form (if there are any human figures)?

- Do you think that your artist intends to create an image that is naturalistic, abstract, or ideal?

III. For what social context or function do you think your chosen work was made?

- To argue your point effectively, you must cite at least one 'known' work of art which performed the

same kind of function within a similar social or political context.

- Are there new reception and interpretation of the work based on contemporary perspectives?

IV. What is the subject (whether narrative or iconic) or theme of the painting?

- How does the subject matter or meaning of your painting relate to its probable social context or

function?

-Cite another work of art with similar or the same subject matter, and explain the exact nature of the

relationship.

V. Add a nice (adaptive) conclusion (respond to your thesis set up in the beginning). Good Luck!

Useful websites:

How to write visual analysis in an art history paper:

https://www.skidmore.edu/arthistory/academic/writing/visual.php

https://www.hamilton.edu/documents/formal%20analysis%20Art%20History.pdf

Research Guide for Art & Art History: http://libguides.umw.edu/c.php?g=424028&p=2897157

Chicago Manual of Style Guide:

http://libguides.umw.edu/c.php?g=424169&p=2897942

https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/PDF/chicago_turabian_uwmadison_writingcenter_june2013.pdf

Purdue Online Writing Lab (Chicago Manual of Style):

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/12/

Rubric (100%)

1. Clear and original title and thesis statement: 20%

2. Coherent Structure of the paper (logical flow): 20%

3. Cogent argument and writing effectivity: 20%

4. Relevant research and comparison with other works: 20%

5. Reference/ Bibliography/ Image added: 20%