STRUCTURE FOR ANALYZING A WORK OF ART

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STRUCTURE FOR ANALYZING A WORK OF ART
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The AP Exam Requirement To Completely Identify
a Work of Art

• Title
• Artist
• Date (exact, approx., or century?)
• Art Historical Period (e.g. Archaic Greek vs
  Greek French Gothic vs Medieval)
• Location as appropriate
• e.g. Kouros (doesnt matter that its at
  MMA)
• Berninis Throne of St. Peter
  (important that its
• at San Pietro
• Medium (fresco, tempura, oil, watercolor, chalk)
  or
• (wood, stone)
• Patron (as appropriate)

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Subject Matter

• Identify and describe the scene and its
  characters
• Mythological
• Religious
• Historical
• Portrait
• Landscape
• Other ???
• Is the work of art symbolic? allegorical?
  metaphorical?
• Is the work of art didacticdoes it contain a
  hidden message? Is it an art of propaganda?
• Also, what is the real subject of the work?
• Giorgiones Venus the woman vs
  nature
• Monet the landscape vs light and
  atmosphere (fog, snow)
• Van Gogh the room vs intense emotion
• Cezanne the mountain vs the
  underlying geometric structure of the mountain

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Relationship Between the Subject Matter and Style
and the Historical Period in Which It Was Created

• Politics
• Military
• Economics
• Philosophy
• Religion
• Geography
• Society
• Other arts

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Rendition of the Human Body

• I. Representational, abstract, or somewhere in
  between
• II. Dimension - embedded vs in the round
  (sculpture)
• III. Viewpoint
• A. Optical as the eye sees it
• B. Composite front eye, side head, front
  chest, side legs

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Rendition of the Human Body

• IV. Stance
• A. Columnar vs contrapposto vs theatrical
• B. Motionless or active (real action or
  restrained action?)
• V. Composition
• A. Horizontal and vertical vs diagonal
• B. Symmetrical and balanced vs asymmetrical
  and unbalanced

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Rendition of the Human Body

• VI. Anatomy and proportion
• A. Describe what you see
• 1. Head
• a. Shape and size
• b. Hair
• c. Face eyes, eyebrows, nose,
  mouth, etc.
• 2. Neck
• 3. Chest (if visible) or relationship
  between chest and clothing (wet tee shirt?)
• 4. Arms, hands, fingers, nails, etc.
  same
• 5. Legs, feet, toes, nails, etc.
  same
• B. Is the anatomy correct or distorted?
• C. Is it proportionate?
• D. Is it realistic (life-like) or
  idealistic (better than life-like)
• E. Are details individualized or
  stereotyped?

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Rendition of the Human Body

• VI. Relationship of clothing to the body (hidden
  vs wet t-shirt)
• VII. Temperment emotional or restrained
• VIII. Modeling
• IX. Relationship of people to the landscape or
  architectual setting

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Treatment of Nature and Architectural Background

• Subject matter is the scene the subject of the
  painting or is it a backdrop for something else?
  Is it Nature or is a symbol or metaphor for
  something else?
• Treatment of detail
• Use of perspective linear, atmospheric
• Mood tranquil or violent
• Size, placement, and significance of people in
  the painting

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Artistic Style

• Framing
• Composition (horizontal and vertical vs
  diagonal symmetrical and balanced vs
  asymmetrical)
• Treatment of space perspective (linear and
  atmospheric (sfumato))
• Treatment of light (tenebrism)
• Surface
• Application of paint brush stroke as smooth
  vs thick textile-like)
• Sculptural surface as smooth or rough
• Use of color (warm vs cool, real vs imaginary,
  color to create perspective space, etc.)

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Special Considerations for Architecture

• What is the purpose of the building (home,
  palace, religion, etc.)?
• What is the relationship between the purpose of
  the building and the way it is constructed (e.g.,
  Aegean palaces as fortresses)
• What is the relationship between the purpose of
  the building and the way it is decorated (e.g.,
  Assyrian palaces and their relief sculpture)?
• Symbolic purpose of the building?
• Structural innovation (e.g., barrel vault,
  pendentives, flying buttresses, etc.)?

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Sacred Space

• How does the building (both exterior and
  interior) serve as sacred space? What is the
  purpose of the building? How is it used? How
  does its design relate to its purpose and use?
• Is it used for services or is it simply a home
  for the deity? Does it accommodate a few people
  or a lot of people? Can anyone enter or is access
  restricted to a priestly elite?
• How is the building constructed arches,
  buttresses, pendentives, etc.? How do such
  technological elements relate to the purpose of
  the building? Do they have symbolic value?
• How is it decorated inside and outside
  sculpture, windows, stained glass, etc.? What is
  the relationship between such decoration and the
  architecture itself?
• Is the building designed to convey an emotional
  impact? (power and authority, religious fervor?)

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Influences on the Work of Art

• Influences from its day (politics, economics,
  religion, etc.)
• Influences from the past

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How Has the Work of Art Influenced Later Works of
Art?