describing artwork
Post on 08-Sep-2014
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DESCRIBING ARTWORKWhat Do I See?
DESCRIPTION DEFINED
Description A data gathering process One notices things about it and tell another
person what you observe verbally or in writing Questions you ask
What is here? What am I looking at? What do I know with certainty about this
artwork? What to notice
Notice everything Some things that are obvious to you are not
obvious to others
DESCRIPTION DEFINED Descriptive information includes:
Subject matter-what the artwork is about or the object being portrayed
Medium-what is it made of? Form-how is the subject matter presented? Background Info
About the artist Time period it was made in Social Milieu it came from
Description is factual information Closely describes what can be seen within the
artwork Also, can be from external sources like: the
artist, books, press releases
DESCRIBING SUBJECT MATTER
Identifies persons, objects, places, or events in an artwork Identify what you see and characterize it
Characterize-describe character or peculiarities of
Subject matter can be the same-as or different than the subject Subject may be 4500 nude people Subject matter is a call for freedom
SP
EN
CER
TU
NIC
K (N
UD
E A
DR
IFT S
ER
IES
)
Subject is 4500 nude people
Subject matter is a call for freedom
RIC
HA
RD
AV
ED
ON
(AM
ER
ICA
WES
T
SER
IES
)
Subject Matter was described by an art critic as, “ranchers, housekeepers, rodeo riders, oil drillers, pig men, meatpackers, and an army of unemployed drifters.” One drifter is tall and enigmatic and the snake is wrapped coyly around the boy’s arms.
Another critic calls the subject matter “a human cyclorama” and describes the apparent dysfunctions of the people.
Another critic started by telling about his older work first and then talk about it as a catalog of theodd.
CIN
DY
SH
ER
MA
N
Simple but hard to define subject matter
Subject matter could be cultural construction of femininity, characters in dramas, women represented in media, women as pictured by male producers
To simply say they are self portraits is to misidentify them
WH
AT IS
TH
E S
UB
JEC
T M
AT
TER
HER
E?
Photos by: Larry Sultan
DESCRIBING FORM
Form is how the subject matter is presented The shape of content How it is composed, arranged, and constructed
visually How does it use formal elements?
Principles of Design Dot, line, shape, light, value, color, texture, mass,
space, volume, tonal range, contrast, camera or file format, point of view, angle and lens, frame and edge, depth of field, sharpness
How does that form affect the subject matter?
JAN
GR
OO
VER
A critic talks about the form of this photograph•Scale of the objects•Understanding of everyday objects is redefined•Arrangement of the objects•Controlled lighting•Reflections•Natural color•Organic objects placed with manmade; juxtaposition
DES
CR
IBE T
HE F
OR
M IN
TH
ES
E P
HO
TO
S
Photos By: Andreas Magdanz
DESCRIBING MEDIUM
Medium refers to what an object is made of The medium itself can inflect meaning Usually medium describes
Photograph or painting or… Kind of paint, photo, print… Black and white or color Size, shape… Any process info
To fully describe medium include facts about the process as well as description of how these things effect the overall expression of the image
RA
SH
ID JO
HN
SO
N (JIG
GA
BO
O H
OLY
FIE
LD
N
EG
RO
ES
)
Subject matter is unclear
Medium• Photogram• Van Dyke• chicken bones• watermelon seeds• red beans and rice
The materials used have their own connotations
SA
ND
Y S
KO
GLU
ND
(WA
LK
ING
ON
EG
GS
HELLS
)
Medium is Cibachrome or color photograph, but the installation has whole eggshells, cast paper bathroom fixtures, casts of snakes
DO
UG
AN
D M
IKE S
TA
RN
Custom made macro lenses
Specialized printing method
softened the emulsion so that flakes of it washed away
Printed on soft paper
*The medium enhances the subject matter
DESCRIBING STYLE
Style-a resemblance among diverse art objects from an artist, movement, time period, or geographical location and is recognized by a characteristic handling of the subject matter or formal elements Photographic styles include directorial
photography and snapshot aesthetic Painting styles include: traditional, impasto,
different types of strokes, pointillism.. When describing style you should look at the
artwork’s subjects, the use of the medium and the formal elements
Directorial Photography
Jeff Wall
Snapshot Aesthetic
Nan Goldin
Straight Photography
Ansel Adams
Compare and Contrast
Compare and contrast the artwork to other works by the same artist, to other artists’ works
This lets you see what the photo has in common with or differs from another work
Internal and External Sources
Getting information from the artist or some other source
You cannot observe from the photos that 12 of 4200 frames were chosen to be shown and who commissioned the work, and that is descriptive information
Description and Interpretation
You decide, as you describe an artwork, what is relevant in the artwork or what is worthy to describe and discuss
Description and Evaluation
Your judgments about an artwork are going to color how you describe it
Description and Evaluation One critic described the
work as representations of some of the most repressed and oppressed images of human behavior
Another critic described them as bizarre and sometimes extraordinary
Joel-Peter Witkin
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