(what does it picture.
This exercise is called a response essay. Looking is not as simple as you may think. Rather than merely describe the object, you will want to analyze and interpret it. You need to ask yourself the questions:
“What is the most important thing this work communicates to the viewer?”
“What conveys this thing? What attributes of this work (lines, colors, subject matter, expressions, environment) evoke the associations, ideas or emotions in the viewer to convey its meaning?
The challenge is to analyze a work of art, separating its parts in order to understand the whole. You must resist the urge to merely describe, and instead evaluate the object.
This paper is NOT about research, the history of the work or the history of the artist. You can do the paper with little to no research at all. I am not looking for a history of the work, or the artist. Knowing some of the history may help you with your interpretation, but this paper is not a report about that history.
Organization of the Paper: (further explanations and examples can be found in the Survival Guide handout)
The Introduction. (Not necessarily in order.)
Write a Short Description of the Work You Have Chosen. Include identifying subject matter or forms, setting or space, color, and medium, artist and current location.
State Your Main Argument. A thesis statement related to the overall effect or meaning of the object. (i.e. What does this work mean?)
State (Briefly) the Ways in Which You Will Prove It. (Forecast your main points.)
The Main Body: You will describe three or four pieces of evidence from the work you’re looking at to support your thesis statement. This evidence can be from any of the following areas. You don’t need to use them all.
The medium (the material the work is made with), the medium’s traits, and the artist’s use of the medium.
The relevant visual elements (i.e.: line, shape and space, composition and relative scale, light and color, style)
The composition (i.e.: unity/variety, balance, emphasis, focal point)
The subject matter, if the work is representational. (What does it picture. If there are people, how do they react to each other or the viewer.)
The relationship the formal elements and composition have to the subject’s meaning (or overall effect).
The Conclusion.
Restate the Main Argument.
Place this work of art into the big picture. Relate it to a larger issue, art-historical movement, etc.
Attach an image of the object (This can be a postcard purchased from the museum bookstore, a photograph, or your sketch. Your own sketch does not need to be professional quality.)
