Assignment

Review visual art

The following seven steps will guide you through writing a review about a piece of visual
art. Visual art includes: paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, etc.

In Arts (year 1-3) you learned about the elements and principles of art. You should include
those terms in your review. Just in case your historical perspective has faded somewhat
theres a timeline below. You may visit
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah to search online in the timelines of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York.
BC
15000 - Cave paintings
5000 - Pictographic writingPottery wheelEarly paints
1000 - Egyptian papyrus. Ancient Egyptian art was highly religious, depicting gods,
goddesses and Pharaohs(who were considered divine). Figures were drawn to size
according to their importance, rather than distance or perspective. Colours and symbols
also had extended meaning.

400 - Grecian urns

200 - Chinese invent paperQuill pen
100 - Pompeii wall art
AD
400 - Pantheon built
600 - Papermaking began in China
1000 - Bayeux Tapestry
- Paper first manufactured in EuropeTempera Fresco Ink
1400 - Printing press
- Oil paint
- Pastel
- Early Renaissance: Botticelli, da Vinci
1500 - First use of canvas
- High Renaissance: Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, El Greco
1600 - Modern pencil invented
- Baroque: Rubens, Rembrandt
1700 - Rococo: Boucher, Hogarth
1800 - Photography
- Watercolours
- Romanticism and Realism: Goya, Constable
1850 - Tube paints
- Fountain pen
- Pre-Raphaelites
1875 - Ballpoint pen
- Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: Gauguin, Van Gogh, Monet, Seurat
1900 - Acrylic paint
- Crayon
- Abstraction, Fauvism Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism
1950 - Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Op Art
http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/study/timeline.html

Writing the review

Write one paragraph (about 100 words) per step. Remember: you are writing an article for a
newspaper or a site.
Step One: Preparation
In many ways, preparation for viewing is more establishing a climate for viewing than it is
discussing the actual artwork. We all look at the same art work through different eyes. Our
cultural perspectives and past experiences will influence our responses to an art work.
In most cases, it is better not to gather too much information about the work to be
viewed. Too much information can strongly influence your first impressions. It would be
like reading the last few pages of a novel, then going back to read chapter one.
Step Two: First Impressions
This stage gives you the opportunity to air or record your first spontaneous reaction to a
work. First impressions can later be used to explain your first impressions through further
investigation and discovery.
You are neither expected to change your mind nor expected to find a way to justify your
first impressions. Just state your immediate reaction to the work. Start jotting down words
which immediately come to mind. Remember, there are no wrong answers. ( but please do
not use foul language)
The following are a few examples of giving a first impression of a work of art:
"This work is strange. It is dark and unexciting. I do not like boring art works."
"I like this painting. It has a quiet and peaceful quality to it. I think the artist should have
put the girl in the middle. That is a funny place to put her in the picture."
"I do not like it. Who would want to paint such a dull and uninteresting picture and who
would ever buy it?"
I feel like I can relate to this painting. Something about it reminds me of something I have
known. But I do not know, I do not really like the feeling."
Step Three: Description
Look at this stage as taking inventory, similar to taking inventory in a store. You want to
come up with a list of everything you see in the work. The key here is to stick to facts. It is
premature at this stage to assign meaning to what you see. Imagine that you are describing
the art work to someone over the telephone.

Some works of art demand interaction through senses other than the sense of sight objects that are meant to be touched, objects that make sounds or include sound tapes,
objects that have an odour. You should record such descriptions as well.
Keep your descriptions simple. It is not necessary at this stage to try to figure out what the
artist is doing or how the artist has manipulated the elements.
The following is a possible "inventory".
Five beds
A line running along a plain dark wall
A teenage girl dressed in dark colours
The girl is looking toward the bottom corner of the painting
The light source is dim and appears to be from a long window or from above.
Step Four: Analysis
At the analysis stage, you will try to figure out what the artist has done to achieve certain
effects. You are not yet going to try to figure out what the art work means, or what the
theme of the work is. That comes later, during interpretation.
The following questions can be used to get thinking and writing at this stage:
What grabs your attention in the work?
Do you see any relationships between the things you listed during the description stage?
What "qualities" do you see in this work (for example, dripping paint, sloppy or messy
lines, very precise lines, lots of circles that seem almost to spin):
How did the artist use colour? What effect did the artist achieve through use of colour?
To what effect did the artist use line? Do the lines draw your eye along any particular path
of movement? Do they emphasize any one part of the work?
Are the shapes you see geometric or organic? What effect did the artist achieve through
her choice?
What role does contrast play in this work?
Step Five: Interpretation
You have now looked at all the "evidence" that can be found in the work. You have applied
what you know about the elements of art and the principles of design. Now you will be
trying to figure out what the work is about. Interpretation is the stage where your own
perspectives, associations and experiences meet with the evidence found in the work of
art.

Ask yourself:
What could be the theme or subject of the work is (if there is one)?
What is the work about?
Why do you think the artist created this work?
What does the work mean?
What do you think the artist's view of the world is?
The types of questions asked will vary with the type of image or work of art being
discussed. For example, some paintings do not have representational subject matter. A
question about theme would not necessarily be relevant for these works, but you can still
deal with the question of why the artist created the work and what the content of the
work is.
The only way to know for sure what an artist was doing is to ask him or her. You will,
however, often come into contact with art works and have no information on the work and
no artist to question. The work stands alone. You may still enjoy it, speculate on its
significance and come up with your own ideas about it.
At this stage, two things come together -- the evidence you have found and noted, and
your own personal associations and experience. Both of those are important when
arriving at a personal interpretation of the work.
As in the "first impression" stage of the viewing process, when it comes to interpretation
there are no wrong answers. However, try to go beyond free association. Personal
interpretation evolves as the viewer combines associations and concrete evidence found in
the work.
Step Six: Background Information
This is a stage where you find out as much about the work and the artist as you can.
Questions to get you going:
How did your interpretation compare to what the artist said about the work?
Were you surprised by anything he or she said? If so, what?
Do you think this is an accessible painting, or one that is difficult to understand? Explain
your answer.
Art galleries are good sources of information about visual art and artists. Many galleries
have exhibition catalogues which provide artists' statements, and biographical and critical
information.

If yours have been looking at a traditional art work, gather information about the designs,
the people, the symbolism, etc. This will enhance your understanding of the work and of
the culture. You can discuss varying cultural perspectives.
Step Seven: Informed Judgment
Come to some conclusions about the art work based on all the information you have
gathered and on your interpretations. Return to your first impressions. Answer the
following questions:
Have your thoughts or feelings about the work changed since your first impression?
If so, how have they changed?
What made you change your mind?
If not, can you now explain your first reaction?
Will you think about this work again? Do you think anything about it might come back to
you?
Have you seen or learned anything from this work that you might apply to your own art
work or your own thinking?
Example 1
"I still think this is a dull painting and I would never buy it, but I do kind of understand why
the artist wanted to paint it. I think the artist must have been disturbed or beaten as a
child. Maybe she was an outsider like I sometimes feel. I have learned that I should not
always be so quick to judge a painting because I can now feel a much closer connection to
this painting. I will think about this painting again when I feel like the person in the
picture."
Example 2
"Yes, I did change my mind about this work. At first I thought it was too simple and
uninteresting. I didn't realize there were ideas being expressed. Now that I have studied it
and can see what the artist was doing, I'm impressed. I wouldn't have thought that such a
simple painting could express so many ideas. At times I will probably think about this
painting in relation to my life. I hadn't thought about using an asymmetrical composition
and I think I will try using that in an art work I am planning. I want to try to express a
mood like she did by using a triangular composition, colour and contrast to reinforce my
point."
This completes the section on viewing visual images and art works. Although the process
described might seem complicated at first, it will come easily as you become familiar with
the steps.