Assignment:Piece of art
You will need to find a work of art (the work you select need not be a non-western image, but it can be from any time period or culture) in your community. Once you have found something, you will need to take a photograph of this work of art and analyze it based upon the terminology presented in your textbook and outlined below. Your detailed analysis should be written in the form of a five page essay, where you discuss such aspects as subject, color, composition, material, scale, technique, and style. When you are finished with your paper, please place the essay along with any images together in the appropriate drop box.
Although you may find several works of interest, please choose only one work of art to write about. Your paper will be a "formal analysis" which entails a complete visual description of the image. It requires careful and thoughtful observation, and does not require any historical background or any research. Before you begin, copy down the complete identification information on the work you choose, which should then appear at the top of your completed paper. You may simply copy this information from the museum label, or ask for the information at the location you have selected. The information should include title, artist, date, scale, medium (material), and location.
Next, examine this work very carefully, taking notes and thinking about how and why the work was constructed. Your description of the work must be very precise, complete, well-organized and articulate. Therefore, please make sure to consider all of these aspects (although not necessarily in this order):
1. Composition: What is the subject or narrative? How is the work organized and unified? How do your eyes move around the work, and what do you focus on?
2. Color: Describe the color and explain how it affects the mood of the work and how it is used to organize the composition.
3. Objects: What exactly is in the work? Figures? Landscape? Is it crowded or empty? Is it naturalistic or abstract, and to what degree?
4. Technique: Describe the brushstroke in a painting, or the particular material of a sculpture, and how the material is used or manipulated. How does the material that the artist chose contribute to the reading of the work?
5. Size and shape: Is the work large or small, horizontal or vertical? How does this contribute to how you read it?
Give a brief introduction to the work. Then write at least one paragraph on each of these aspects explained above, making sure to write clearly and to organize your paper carefully. You do not need to follow the order that I have given, but write in a way that presents each aspect in a unified manner. If you are not certain what type of work of art to discuss, you may submit photographs of your options to your faculty member for approval before you begin your essay. In your conclusion, explain how the creative process is revealed in the work you have selected.