Art Question
Access the remarkable collection online at www.nortonsimon.org/
You need to select two paintings created after 1800 from Europe or the
Americas.
This is not a typical paper assignment. The first half is “fill in the blanks” format.
This first half, which lists important facts about the paintings–will involve short
answers. The second–and most important–half of the paper is the essay, which
needs to be a minimum of 500 words in length. Although your fill-in-the-blank
answers can be single words or short phrases, the essay needs to be carefully
written in complete sentences, with correct spelling and grammar. I will look at
organization and clarity, with focus on the content of the essay.
A. First, select, identify, and photograph two paintings from the museum that
were created in Europe or the Americas after 1800. Download an image of
each painting into your paper.
1. Name of the artist
2. Name of the painting
3. Name of the country of the artist’s birth
4. Date of the painting
5. Historical era and/or historical style of the painting (Impressionism,
Cubism etc.)
6. Size of the painting (You may need to estimate height and width)
7. Medium of the painting
8. Copy the museum text about your chosen painting here. This text will be
on the wall next to the painting (in person) or underneath the photograph of the
painting (online). You must type out the entire text.
9. Describe the artwork in your own words. What do you see? Give a
complete description of the visual elements (dominant colors, light, texture, etc.) as
well as the content. Be very thorough and precise.
B. Next, write an essay of at least 500 words discussing how to the two paintings
are similar and different. The essay is the most important part of the paper.
Here are some of the things you should cover in your essay:
1. Start by briefly discussing the subject of each painting. Is it a portrait of an
actual human being? A divine figure? Is it a scene with several people—or divine
beings—interacting? What are they doing? Is the subject religious? Historic? Is it a
landscape? A still life? Is it an abstraction?
2. Now look at the style. How is the surface finished? Is it smooth or
textured? What kinds of colors does the artist employ? How does the artist use
space? Is the figure realistic? Abstract? Idealistic? Or a combination?
3. Put the painting in historical context.
4. Discuss the possible function of the artwork. What purpose did the
artwork serve? Answering this question may require research. What do you
think the artist was trying to communicate? You certainly can talk about your own
ideas about the art, but be careful NOT to project your ideas onto the artist.
5. Finally, compare the two artworks in terms of form, style, function, and
cultural context. How are they similar? How do they differ?
6. Conclude with a paragraph that sums up your ideas.
7. Note that you are not asked to write about the artist’s life. Your focus is on
your selected artworks, not the personality of the artist.
As you are writing the paper, remember:
a. The first part of this paper (everything before the essay) should be written in a
“fill in the blanks” format, as below:
1. Name of the artist: Leonardo da Vinci
2. Name of the painting: The Last Supper
Etc.
b. The most important part of the paper is the final Compare/Contrast Essay. After
you have “filled in the blanks” for the first parts of the paper, you should plan to
spend most of your time writing the essay. It should be written in proper English
(no texting or tweeting language), with correct grammar and spelling. Take the time
to re-read your essay and check it for spelling, grammar and clarity. If you write the
paper on a program like Word, it should give you prompts about spelling and
grammar.
c. In order to do a good job on this essay, you will need to do some additional
research about your chosen paintings. If you do research the artist and/or the
artwork, remember to CITE YOUR SOURCES in footnotes or in-text notes!
Any time you use someone else’s words or ideas, you need to credit the source
with a footnote. Here’s a sample footnote: Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art Through the
Ages, A Concise Western History. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013, p. 14. Or you can use a
Bibliography with in-text notes, as (Kleiner 2013:14). Please ask me if you have
questions about how to format footnotes and/or bibliography.
d. In your conclusion, you need to grapple with WHY you chose to compare and
contrast these paintings. What is the point? Do you learn more about a particular
artist? About the significance of a particular subject? The nature of a particular art
history period
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