8 pages 15 hours

VPHA46- Final Paper Assignment (1).docx

VPHA46: Ways of Seeing: Ideas about Art, Material and Visual Culture

Fall 2014

Final Paper Assignment

DUE DATE: November 24, in class

Paper Length: 8 pages, doubled-spaced, 12 point (Times New Roman font), 1” margins, pages numbered in lower right corner.

Bibliographic citations and style (use Chicago Manual of Style)

NOTE: late papers will be penalized at a rate of 5% per day

ASSIGNMENT:

Please write a critical analysis paper on ONE object of your choosing from Neil MacGregor’s History of the World in 100 Objects, addressing TWO of the following points:

· How do we, today, understand the meaning of your object? Do we need to understand its intended meaning to value it?

· How does it measure our common humanity? Or how does it illustrate our differences?

· What does this work tell us about the role of the artist or maker in society?

· What is the significance of trade, travel and migration in the making of your object and in its reception? How do these factors affect its meaning and value?

· How does your visual object advance ideas of power?

· Discuss ideas of representation (abstraction, naturalism, realism) in the understanding of your object? How did these choices address or reflect larger cultural traditions?

· What questions would an art historian ask about this object? What questions would an anthropologist or an archaeologist ask of it?

· What are the politics surrounding the collection and display of your object?

· Are we to consider this object an artwork or an artefact and why?

*****Your analysis must include*****

· Find ONE or more new resources, identified through library research that will help you address your object and the questions above (these can be museum catalogue, scholarly books, a field report or a scholarly article—wikipedia sources are not considered serious research materials)

· Include a SHORT summary of the author’s argument (the main points or arguments) in your own words

· Consider the evidence or information given to support the author’s arguments (what sorts of evidence are used?)

· Think about the author’s position vis a vis the subject: what does exclude? What does it show us?

· Is the argument convincing (and why or why not)

· Evaluate the applicability of the article to your work of art

Formatting checklist:

-8 pages (NOT INCLUDING TITLE PAGE)

- double-spaced

- 12-point font (Times New Roman or Garamond)

- 1” (2.54 cm) margins

- pages numbered

-follow Chicago Manual of Style

-Title page to include YOUR NAME, YOUR STUDENT NUMBER, TITLE OF ASSIGNMENT, NAME OF COURSE, DATE OF SUBMISSION.

PLEASE PROOFREAD ALL YOUR WRITTEN WORK (read your work out loud, to yourself or others—your ear will catch grammatical errors).

Please submit your written work on time. Please note that no extensions will be granted without a doctor’s note. If you need additional help with writing please refer to the information regarding writing centres on campus or come see me.

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