Art Question

This is your first AHIS 1 Exam! You will write a 3 to 4 page formal/visual analysis paper on an ancient work from Gardner’s textbook. You get to choose which one to write on. The Format is detailed below.

What to choose: Select ONE WORK (painting, pottery/vase painting, 3-d sculpture, or 2-d relief sculpture) from the Dropbox Homework assignments. The images come from Gardner’s textbook. Make sure that the work dates to the date parameters of our course: ca. 9000 BCE to 100 CE. This includes: Prehistoric, Mesopotamia/Near Eastern, Egypt, or Aegean. 

A formal analysis contains the following:  

1] WHATS:  

(This information is on the caption label.)          

Title of work            

Artist’s name (if listed)           

Country of origin/location            

Date            

Medium            

Dimensions  

2] HOWS:

This is a detailed formal analysis from careful observation and QUESTION. Explain how the elements you observe are achieved and why you think the artist chose to use them in that way.              

A] PURPOSE (if known)

Painting or sculpture: Did the work once serve a functional purpose, and if so, is that function still evident from looking at the work today? Was the work meant to stand alone or be part of a larger piece or ritual? Was it intended for private or public viewing?              

B] SHAPE

Painting or sculpture: What geometric shapes make up the composition? Are shapes used geometric or biomorphic?  

Sculpture only: Is the work representational or geometrically stylized/abstract? Simple or complex? Two-dimensional relief or three-dimensional volume? Are any geometric shapes emphasized (i.e., cone, sphere, pyramid, square, rectangle, circle, etc.)? What do the shapes and/or pose imply?              

C] SURFACE TEXTURE

For sculpture, discuss: What is the tactile quality of the work, and how is this affected by the material it is made from? Does the surface appear rough or smooth, shiny or dull, subtle or noticeable, etc.? Does it make you want to touch it? What are the associations with the material? Does the finished surface still show the “touch” of the artist or the tools used?

For painting, discuss: Is the work an example of tactile texture or visual texture? Is the surface rough or smooth, shiny or dull? Is this a result of the medium chosen? Are the brushstrokes noticeable and sketchy or smooth and hard to detect? Does that affect its mood or your response?              

D] COMPOSITION:

How the parts are arranged Painting or sculpture: Formal (symmetrical, centered, balanced, orderly, stable), or informal (asymmetrical, active, off-balanced)? Are the shapes and forms arranged in the picture space in a crowded or open way? Directional focus: Where does your eye first look and why? What are the dominant compositional or organizational lines used (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, circular?) What is the effect of this orientation? Are objects in proportion and correct scale to one another?              

E] COLOR

Painting or sculpture: (If a sculpture, first discuss where and how color is added to the sculpture, then answer the following:) What are the Hues used (name of color)? What are the Values used (lightness or darkness, brightness or intensity)? What Saturation is used (strength of the hues)? Is the color imitative of appearances in nature or more expressive of emotion (or both)? Is color used to focus your attention on any specific area of the painting/sculpture? Does color seem to be emphasized more than line? Is color a major factor in creating the mood of the piece? How? Describe the colors: bright, dim, saturated, pale, deep, dark, obscure?              

F] LINE

Painting only: Is the overall emphasis on line (drawing) or color? Are the lines that define the shapes and contours crisp and precise or blurred and irregular? Does the line help to define the mood? Describe the line(s) used: sinuous, curving, angular, acute, perpendicular, parallel, straight? Steep, slanted, diagonal, angled, tapering, block, bulky?              

G] LIGHT Painting only: Does the effect of light seem natural or unnatural? Are there sharp contrasts of light and shadow or gentle gradations? Is the light even overall or focused (drawing your eye to one area)? Is the source of light clear and bright or dark and mysterious? What is the effect of this? Is the painting’s mood affected by the lighting (dramatic, disturbing, comforting, etc.)? Describe the way light appears: opaque, transparent, translucent, layered, glazed, reflective? How about: blended, blurred, softly lit, harshly lit, bright daylight, glowing?              

H] SPACE: The illusion of depth in the picture

Painting or sculptural reliefs: Is it more 3-dimensional (the illusion of a natural recession into space) or more 2-dimensional (shallow and limited). Describe how this is achieved by indicating the use of any of the various ways to indicate depth:            

Overlapping            

Foreshortening            

Shading/modeling            

Linear Perspective (parallel lines converge in the distance)            

Aerial or atmospheric Perspective (remote objects are less clear than near objects)  

For 3-Dimensional Sculpture – discuss instead: How does the figure interact with the space around it, e.g., active or self-contained? Was it originally meant to be seen from only one point of view or from all around? Does the pose imply rest? movement? emotion? authority. etc.? What effect does the size of the work have on you? Does the sculpture encourage you to look at it close up or from afar? Why?  

I] CONTENT: Subject matter and Iconography

Painting or sculpture: What is the subject matter? (describe figures, poses, actions if representational; also if the human body is the most important form in the work.) Does it tell a story (narrative) or is it more symbolic? If symbolic, what do you think the symbols mean, and are you able to interpret them? Does the work express any specific mood or emotions to you? What is the deeper iconography — the meaning and symbolism of the subject matter?  

3] WHYS:      

BIOGRAPHY

What, if anything, is important to know about the artist and his/her career? Can this help you understand the artwork better?

ADD YOUR PERSONAL EVALUATION

What is your opinion of the work? Why did you select it to discuss (what qualities appealed to you)? Do you feel the artist successfully achieve what he/she set out to accomplish (and can we know what that was)?  

*****FORMAT: Papers should be typed, double-spaced, and about 3-4 pages in length. Use Times New Roman font AND 1” margins. This paper is primarily your observations so do not consult any sources for the formal analysis part. Important: Please insert a photo of the work you chose onto your Word doc. You can put it on the last page, or include it on a cover or title page. Give your paper a nifty title! The photo and title page do not count towards the number of written pages. Submit your paper to the Exam #1 link on Canvas (.pdf or .doc, .docx only) by March 22nd, 11:59 pm Pacific Time)   (You are not expected to consult outside sources, but if you do consult any research sources or websites, then you must include a Bibliography.  Your textbook must be on this list.)                          

A RANDOM LIST OF WORDS THAT CONVEY VISUAL QUALITIES IN PICTURES (talk to me about words you do not understand):  

Questions... Ask questions and remember that every quality is relative: How many figures are there? How large are the shapes? How varied are the shapes? the colors? How dark or brightly lit is the scene? How deep does the space seem? How thick do the figures look? Do things resemble one another or differ from one another? (For example, is there a resemblance of shapes, forms, persons, things, colors or a great deal of difference among them? Does the scene seem empty, crowded? concentrated, dispersed?  

Formal elements… space, light, color, composition, texture, illumination, lighting, drawing, line, shading, detail, contour, edge, plane, frame, size (literally 2 inches tall), scale (seems monumental), hue (color), value (relative brightness or darkness of a color), form (implies a 3-dimensional volume, not simply a 2-dimensional shape), volume (the implied space occupied), mass (sense of weight of volume), gesture, movement  

Use Descriptive Words in your Analysis... foreground, middle ground, background rising, falling, elevated, lowered, descending, diminishing, enlarged, stacked, level high, low, central, center, close, far, distant, marginal, peripheral, contrasting large, small, tall, short, squat, narrow, wide, thick, slim, slender, miniature, diminished,     

diminutive, monumental, imposing, grand, stiff, flexible, schematic crowded, empty, dense, reduced, simple, minimal, busy symmetry, asymmetry (symmetrical, asymmetrical) projecting, receding, sloping, foreshortened, protruding intersection, overlap, contiguous, continuous, next to, beside, behind, before, in front of contrasting, complementary, juxtaposition, opposition, rhyming, mirroring sinuous, curving, angular, acute, perpendicular, parallel, straight steep, slant, diagonal, angled, tapering, block, bulky variety, pattern, ornament, ornate, complex, complicated simple, minimal, bare, empty, delicate, bold rhythm, rhythmic, spiral, curve, undulation, serpentine, staccato repetition, parallel, mirroring, doubling unique, singular, solitary, isolated circle, cylinder, cylindrical, column, cone, pyramid matte, flat, dry, dull, shiny, reflective, reflection, illumination, illuminated, brilliant, glossy,