In class on Wednesday, we discussed the formal aspects of artworks
(form: line, shape, color, value, texture, composition, movement). The pages below are excerpts from "A Short Guide to Writing About Art". These excerpts help to distinguish between a description of an artwork and a formal analysis. In other words, between simply saying what something looks like to to using words that actually
do something - that tell us
how the marks and colors and movement make us feel about an artwork.
(Click to view them larger... )
After you have read the excerpts, write a four sentence formal analysis of the painting below.
Remember, use sentences that tell us something about how the painting makes you feel, what it does. Don't say something is "interesting" (interesting could be good or bad), rather use words with more strength, opinion and emotion.
For example, "there is a blue line down the middle of the girl's face" tells us nothing about what it does to the girl's depiction - try something like, "a pale blue tinted stripe splits her face into two opposing halves; one demure and serene, the other a stringent, unrealistic yellow."
