Survey Of Art History ASSIGNMENT
Choose one artwork from the current exhibition from the Schelfhaudt Gallery and write a two page term paper,
https://www.schelfhaudtgallery.com/
Or look for the artistes web-site.
Follow standard formatting for papers? 1? Margins on all sides, single-spaced.
Use the voburalry we've been using and learning all semester: line, form, palette. Try to convince me that you're an art critic.
Try asking yourself some of the following questions: What colors are used in the artwork? Do the colors influence the effect the piece has on the viewer?
How big is the work? Does that require the viewer to be close to observe/understand the work? What medium is the work in? How does that influence the total affect of the piece? Where is the work located? Was the work intended for many people to see or not? How do you feel when you look at the piece? What do you think the intentions of the artist were? Do you think the artist was successful? Is the effect of the artwork on the viewer different now than when it was originally done? Etc. How is this artwork typical or untypical of the culture in which it was produced? Does it have a social or religious function? What is its historical role? Is it reflective of that particular historical period? Is it somehow different or like the artwork that came before and after it? To answer some of these types of questions, you will need to gather general historical and cultural information from written sources, but then also discuss points specific to that piece of artwork, like in visual analysis. Ask the staff at the Library to help you identify books on your topic if you are having trouble. Some valuable information can be found on the web, But first try to make sure that you are consulting a reliable site. Sample footnote: Some art historians have long held that Picasso was among the first major artists to switch from traditional artists? paint to house paint.?
(2/19/13 NY Times)
Vocabulary to Use:
Aerial perspective: a technique for creating the illusion of distance
Basilicaan: early church/ a Roman building for public functions
Chiaroscuro: light and shadow used to create three-dimensionality
Dome: a vaulted roof erected on a circular base.
Façade: the front of a building.
Patron: the person who pays for the artwork.
Quatrefoil: a medieval frame
Tempera: a fast drying, water-based paint made with egg yoke
Linear perspective: mathematical system to create the illusion of depth
Fresco: a wall painting made of pigment and plaster
Picture plane: the flat surface of a drawing or painting
Vanishing point: a point where liner lines converge
Annunciation: Angel announces to Mary she will give birth to Jesus
Humanism: pre-Christian sources that rely on intellect, rather than spirituality.
Buttress: an external architectural support.
Cella: the main inner room of a temple.
Contrapposto: a stance of the human body in which one leg bears the weight, while the other is relaxed.
Glaze: a layer of translucent paint or varnish.
Martyrium: a church built over the tomb or relics of a martyr.
Painterly: using the quality of color and texture, rather than line, to define form.
Pastel: a crayon made of ground pigments.
Pieta: an image of the Virgin Mary holding the dead Christ.
Sfumato: the definition of form by delicate gradations of light and shadow.