Romanticism to Impressionism

Purpose: The reason for this assignment is for you to learn about one work of art in a comprehensive manner. The assignment begins with a detailed description in order to develop your abilities in visual analysis, which is the foundational skill of art history. The better you get at close looking and analyzing visually what you are seeing, the deeper understanding you will have of works of art. It continues with a conversion of your visual analysis into a thesis driven paper. It culminates with a research component in which you place the painting in its historical and cultural context. When completed, your paper should communicate the complex meaning of one work of art in the way that art historians do in museums, catalogs, and documentaries.

Part 1: Description – due Feb. 5 by midnight

Choose one painting from the choices in the slide show. Write a detailed description of your painting in the following structured manner:

· 1^st paragraph – introduction in which you identify the painting by artist, title, and date, and say a few things about the painting as an object. What size is it? What kind of materials did the artist use? Where is it today?

· 2^nd (and possibly 3^rd) paragraph – describe the subject of the painting. What did the artist depict? Start with the major elements and then proceed to the details. In this section do not yet describe colors, lighting, etc.

· 3^rd paragraph – describe the painting’s composition. Is it a crowded scene? Are things in the painting very close to the viewer or far away? Is it symmetrical or asymmetrical? Etc.

· 4^th paragraph – describe the palette (colors) used by the artist. Begin by stating the overall color effect, for example pastels, or jewel tones, earth tones, cool or warm shades, e.g. Then get more detailed. Comment on anything that really stands out in terms of color.

· 5^th paragraph – describe the lighting in the paintings. Is the light coming from one side, casting shadows on the other? Is it brightly lit or dimply lit? Is it warm light, sunlight, candle light, misty light, and so on.

· 6^th paragraph – describe the brushwork used by the artist. Is it loose and broad strokes? Detailed and smooth? Does it look like thickly applied paint or more think and wispy?

Pointers:

1. Keep each section focused just on that aspect, for example do not discuss color in any detail when you are describing subject matter.
2. Use lots of details. Pretend that you are describing the painting over the phone to someone who has never seen it.
3. Use lots of adjectives. When describing color, for example, do not just write blue – decide what shade of blue.
4. Do no research of any kind.

e. spell-check and proofread.

-Your paper should be no less than 900 words. Any paper that falls short of the word count will have point deducted from the grade.