The final paper assignment portion of the course will consist of a critical analysis of either a work of art, individual artist, or period/movement/artistic style of the student’s choosing, pending approval by the instructor. This assignment will be measured by the student’s ability to demonstrate a working knowledge, understanding, and competency of course lessons by applying said information to take shape as a written formal analysis. The final paper must be formatted in MLA, utilize a 12pt font, contain a bibliography, an illustrations page (do not insert illustrations into the text itself) and be at least 8 pages in length.
While emphasis should be given to the understanding and ability to discuss art in a formal context, other areas that should be included in the paper are as follows:
• Introduction– Begin by stating why you chose the particular artist, or art work and what interests it holds for you as an individual. What is the aesthetic and personal appeal for you as an individual? Then provide a clearly defined statement of intent in regarding the work.
• Description– Describe the work visually along lines of the presence and use of the elements and principles of art, both as design and aesthetic compositional devices. So look at what’s there, literally right in front of you. Start with the most basic: what medium or material is it – a photograph, an object, a painting? How does it look? Rough and quick? Slick and neat? Shiny? Dirty? Carefully made? Thrown together? The artist will have made some very deliberate decisions about the materials, style and approach, and these will feed directly into the overall feel and meaning of the work.
• Analysis– Refers to how we see the elements and principles of art. In this step, our minds take in the lines, values, and colors of the artwork. We also may take notice of the balance, proportion, rhythm, and unity found within the work. Look, see and think about what is before you. The first two – look and see – are just about using your eyes, and observational skills. The third requires a bit of thought, drawing on what we already know and creatively interpreting what we’ve observed within an artwork’s broader contexts. When we see anything, whether it’s a work of art, a movie or a billboard, our brains perform a massively complex split-second process of reading and making meaning. We absorb a whole range of clues that make up our understanding of any image, many of which we’re not even conscious of.
• Context– Particulars should include biography, history as regarding artistic style and process, along with societal influences. The broader context of an artwork will help make sense of what you’ve already observed. Much of the information about context is usually given in the little labels that tell you the artist’s name, the title of the work and the year. And there are often other valuable morsels of information included too, such as the place and year an artist was born.
• Meaning– We look for meaning in everything, so this is natural. An interpretation of the work based upon research with considerations given to the possible presence of universal themes, iconography, symbolism, metaphor, etc., that will help to give shape and inform of the inherent meaning within an artwork. What is the artist trying to communicate to us?
• Judgement– This is a summation of the previous steps leading up to it. The goal is to provide a statement of the work’s cultural significance and worth based upon analysis, objective viewpoints, critical perspectives and reasoning. The aim is to provide an answer to the question, “Is this work of art successful?”.
Artist
If you have chosen to cover a particular artist, remember the focus should be on the development of the work created by that artist. While biographical information is important in relating the development of personal artistic style, it should not become the primary concern, nor subject of the paper. Biographical information that would be pertinent would be area of birth, early training, life experiences that bear influence upon the work, geographical locations and associations with other artists or groups.
In order to inform and define individual artistic style, you should choose works to compare and contrast, that visually demonstrate and provide example of early, middle and later artistic work. Remember, artistic style is based upon the individual’s personal methodology, habits and applications of formal attributes as pertaining to the elements and principles of design. While this may be initially rooted in geographic location, culture and training, it evolves and changes based on experiences and personal choices that reflect the growth of ideas.
Artwork
Whenever you conduct a formal analysis of an artwork, you are primarily looking at applications of the elements and principles of art and informing as to how they result in an effective, or ineffective piece. If you choose to focus on artworks for your paper, you may focus on the works of several artists comparatively, artworks from a specific period that crosses mediums, i.e. renaissance painting and sculpture, or compare artwork from different periods, such as Japanese woodblock prints compared to the artwork of contemporary graphic novels.
Contextual information is provided that serves to inform of the artists, but also serves more to inform of the work and the era/period in which it was executed. Inform the reader of the materials that were utilized, what markets did it serve, how does it compare to other works that are contemporary, what stylistic properties were introduced, and what are the lasting effects on subsequent generations of artists?
Period/Style /Movement
Without a doubt, writing about art regarding a specific artistic period, style or movement is the most challenging in terms of chronology, analysis and context. It involves the consideration and comparisons of several artists, mediums and can range over several geographic locations and decades.
Period
An artistic period can range over decades, involve hundreds of artists, various mediums and be broken into several smaller movements, i.e.
The Romantic Period 1790-1880
• Nazarene movement c. 1820 – late 1840s
• The Ancients movement 1820s – 1840s
• Purismo movement. 1820 – 1860s
• Hudson River School movement 1850s – c. 1880
Movement
An artistic movement is a smaller association of a larger period and is relative to a specific location. They are collective titles that are given to artworks which share the same artistic ideals, style, technical approach, or timeframe.
Style
In the visual arts, style is a “…distinctive manner which permits the grouping of works into related categories” or “…any distinctive, and therefore recognizable, way in which an act is performed or an artifact made or ought to be performed and made”. An example of this would expressionism. https://www.theartstory.org/movement-expressionism.htm
Rubric
Final Critical Analysis Paper: Topic must be submitted by Week 2.
Paper due April 14 11:59pm. (for every day late, 5 points will be deducted from the overall grade.)
• Thesis 25 pts
• Analysis 25 pts
• Synthesis 25 pts
• Clarity 25 pts
• Grammar 25 pts Total: 125pts