A Four-Step Critiquing Process for Art

1.Describe: Tell exactly what you see (non-judgmental)

2. Analyze: Use the elements/principles to reflect upon the art form (medium used, overall value (dark or light), color, line, shape (2 dimensional), form (3 dimensional), texture, balance (symmetrical, asymmetrical), movement)

3.Interpret: Consider the following to explain the meaning and mood of the work. (use the first two steps to guide your answers)

oWhat is the artist trying to say?

What caused the artist to say it?

oWhat is the historical context that surrounds the work of art?

oWhy was the work of art created in this particular style?

4.Evaluate: How successful or important is the work of art? (You may base your judgment on one of the aesthetic theories of art: literal qualities, design qualities, expressive qualities. Be sure to explain your reasoning.)

1. Describe: Tell exactly what you see (non-judgmental)

Oil on beaverboard

74.3 × 62.4 cm, 29¼ × 24½ in

American Gothic, by Grant Wood. 1930

2. Analyze: Use the elements/principles to reflect upon the art form (medium used, overall value (dark or light), color, line, shape (2 dimensional), form (3 dimensional), texture, balance (symmetrical, asymmetrical), movement)

3.Interpret: Consider the following to explain the meaning and mood of the work. (use the first two steps to guide your answers)

What is the artist trying to say?

What caused the artist to say it?

What is the historical context that surrounds the work of art?

Why was the work of art created in this particular style?

American Gothic, by Grant Wood. 1930

Oil on beaverboard

74.3 × 62.4 cm, 29¼ × 24½ in

American Gothic is a painting by Grant Wood from 1930.

Portraying a pitchfork-holding farmer and his daughter (though often mistaken to be his wife) in

front of a house of Carpenter Gothic style, it is one of the most familiar images in

20th century American art.Wood wanted to depict the traditional roles of men and

women as the man is holding a pitchfork symbolizing hand labor.

Wood referenced late 19th century photography and posed

his sitters in a manner reminiscent of early American

portraiture.-Wikipedia.org

In 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, noticed a small white house built in Carpenter Gothic architecture in Eldon, Iowa. Wood decided to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house."[1] He recruited his sister Nan to model the woman, dressing her in a colonial print apron mimicking 19th century Americana. The man is modeled on Wood's dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The three-pronged hay fork is echoed in the stitching of the man's overalls, the Gothic window of the house and the structure of the man's face. Each element was painted separately; the models sat separately and never stood in front of the house.[1] -Wikipedia.org

4.Evaluate: How successful or important is the work of art? (You may base your judgment on one of the aesthetic theories of art: literal qualities, design qualities, expressive qualities. Be sure to explain your reasoning.)

1. Describe: Tell exactly what you see (non-judgmental)

American Gothic, photographic parody of Woods’ paintingby Gordon Parks. 1942

2. Analyze: Use the elements/principles to reflect upon the art form (medium used, overall value (dark or light), color, line, shape (2 dimensional), form (3 dimensional), texture, balance (symmetrical, asymmetrical), movement)

3.Interpret: Consider the following to explain the meaning and mood of the work. (use the first two steps to guide your answers)

What is the artist trying to say?

What caused the artist to say it?

What is the historical context that surrounds the work of art?

Why was the work of art created in this particular style?

American Gothic, photographic parody of Woods’ paintingby Gordon Parks. 1942

Gordon Roger Alexander Buchannan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was a groundbreaking American photographer, musician, poet, novelist, journalist, activist and film director. He is best remembered for his photo essays for Life magazine and as the director of the 1971 film Shaft.

Parks commented: “I had a mother who would not allow me to complain about not accomplishing something because I was black. Her attitude was, ‘If a white boy can do it, then you can do it, too—and do it better, or don’t come home.’”

-- Wikipedia.org

After a brief stint with freelance fashion photography, Parks began to chronicle the city's South Side black ghetto and in 1941 an exhibition of those photographs won him a photography fellowship with the Farm Security Administration. Working as a trainee under Roy Stryker, Parks created one of his best known photographs, American Gothic, Washington, D.C.[3] (named after Grant Wood painting American Gothic). The photo shows a black woman, Ella Watson, who worked on the cleaning crew for the FSA building, standing stiffly in front of an American flag, a broom in one hand and a mop in the background. Parks had been inspired to create the picture after encountering repeated racism in restaurants and shops, following his arrival in Washington, D.C.. Upon viewing it, Stryker said that it was an indictment of America, and could get all of his photographers fired;[4] he urged Parks to keep working with Watson, however, leading to a series of photos of her daily life. Parks, himself, said later that the first image was unsubtle and overdone; nonetheless, other commentators have argued that it drew strength from its polemical nature and its duality of victim and survivor, and so has affected far more people than his subsequent pictures of Watson.[

--Wikipedia.org

4.Evaluate: How successful or important is the work of art? (You may base your judgment on one of the aesthetic theories of art: literal qualities, design qualities, expressive qualities. Be sure to explain your reasoning.)

Now compare and contrast the two works. Are they both of equal value as art, or is one artist more successful with what he is trying to say/accomplish? Do you personally prefer one work over the other? Why or why not?