Description
Your 4-page National Gallery artwork analysis paper should look like this:
Page 1 : 1st paragraph – overall introduction to the object of study, the artist, the period, culture, and artistic movement in which it was created.
2nd paragraph – Formal Analysis – Using your formal analysis questionnnaire, use your words to help your reader “see” the artwork you selected, making sure to detail important aspects like subject matter, composition, color, light, and line, etc..
Page 2 : 1st paragraph – continuation of formal analysis.
2nd paragraph – Contextual Analysis. Using your contextual analysis questionnaire, tell your reader who your artist was, when they lived (birth-death dates), where they lived and worked, where they trained, where this artwork fits in their overall production, if your artwork is typical of their art production overall, and what strategic choices they made to represent the subject matter or “tell the story” using a particular visual language.
Page 3 and Page 4 :Analysis of 1 or 2 key aspects of your artwork.PLEASE NOTE – when you selected your artwork at the National Gallery, what drew you to it? Research and write about what you found remarkable or compelling? Discuss this and use this paper as an oppotunity to demonstrate your expertise on your selected artwork. For example: if you are examining a neo-classical sculptor and sculpture, how did your artist choose to represent or tell the classical myth? What decisions, visual languages and artistic techniques exemplify your artist’s artistic approach? Was there a patron that influenced these decisions? Your research findings, investment and excitement will translate to your reader. This paper serves as the basis for your optional extra credit presentations at the end of our semester, if you choose to do one. (These presentation will be 3-minutes, recorded, and includes a short powerpoint).
Bibliography – Chicago Style Manual Format
Artwork: Spring (Design by Claude Audran III and woven by Pierre-François Cozette)
Focus topic: What element signifies the season spring in the artwork?
I’ll include the formal analysis and contextual analysis that I had done with photos of the tapestry.
