Art Critique

You will write a 2-3 page formal analysis on the work of art below.

This is not a research paper. You will rely on your eyes and your background only. There is no need to seek outside sources for this paper.

Please note, your paper must include a thesis statement. Your thesis statement should be stated in the introduction. The rest of your paper will support this statement. Any paper without a thesis will be reduced one letter grade. A thesis statement is the first one or two sentences of a paper or essay that inform the reader what the text is about. This statement communicates the main idea or central message that a reader can expect from the paper.

Please make sure that your report follows the guidelines below in order to receive full credit:

Heading: Include your name, date and title of the course

Title: Centered, Italics

Body: Double-spaced, 12 font; Times New Roman font or similar; 1-inch margins; The title of any art work should be placed in italics.

Length: 2-3 page minimum 

Description- A picture in words. A description is an impersonal inventory. You describe what you see without examining the formal elements. For Example, “This sculpture depicts a man seated on a throne. The figure sits with a straight back; his feet are firmly planted on the floor with his hands resting on his thighs. The man depicted in this sculpture wears a pleated kilt and a headdress.”

Visual Analysis- Visual analysis is primarily what we do in this class. It involves description but goes much more in depth, it as a description with a purpose. A visual analysis examines how the formal elements were used to make meaning in a work of art. Think about the way the artist used formal elements to communicate to the viewer. You should use your aesthetics vocabulary as well as your art vocabulary to describe the work and to make the connections to formal elements and aesthetic theory.