ANALYZING ART WORK MADE EASY!

D e s i g n e d F o r Young Art Students

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me!!

We each have different responses to works of art. Sometimes the feelings are very positive and sometimes it can be very negative, while at other times it can seem completely blah!

When your teacher asks you to “analyse” an artistic piece, it can be very overwhelming! It is probably because the style seems so peculiar, too simple or so very complex!

Luckily we can make the process so much easier if we look at art by looking for The Credit Line, a general Descriptive and Critical Analysis as well as the Elements and Principles of Art and Design.

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)was a Russian Artist. He was known as an expressionist (expressionism is a movement of art associated with exciting colour use and abstract forms) and the Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) group from Germany. This group painted themes that were spiritual and “primitive”.

Wassily Kadinsky“Composition IV

1911Oil on Canvas

KunstsammiungNordrhein-Westfallen

DusseldorfHow do YOU feel about this piece?

GETTING STARTEDThe Credit LineThe information about you is what makes you different from anybody else: Your name, the day that you were born, where you were born and where you live. Then there are other bits of information that you consider “vital statistics”, like your height and weight!

Pieces of art work also have vital statistics. They appear in this order beneath the art work:1. Name of the artist.2. Title of the work. This often appears in italics.3. Year the work was created. 4. Medium used by the artist. This is the materials used by the artist to create the piece. E.g. Oil Paint5. Size of the work. The first number is always the height, the second number is the width, and if the work is three-dimensional, the third number indicates the depth.6. Location of the work. The location is where you can find the art: a gallery, museum, a private collection as well as which city and country.

1. Name of the artist: Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (1452-1519)

2. Title of the work. This often appears in italics: La Gioconda (popularly known as The Mona Lisa)

3. Year the work was created: 1503-1519

4. Medium used by the artist. These are the materials used by the artist to create the piece: Oil paint on poplar panel

5. Size of the work. The first number is always the height, the second number is the width, and if the work is three-dimensional, the third number indicates the depth: 77 cm × 53 cm (30 in × 21 in)

6. Location of the work. The location is where you can find the art as in a gallery, museum, a private collection as well as which city and country: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

Leonardo da Vinci; La Giconda (The Mona Lisa); 1503-1519; Oil on Panel; 30”x21”; The Louvre Museum, Paris, France

“ser Piero” means “son of Piero”? Piero was the name of Leonardo’s Father. “da Vinci” translates as “of Vinci” meaning that is where Leonardo was born. Historians do not know exactly when Da Vinci worked on this painting. They do believe it was completed within a16 year span. They do agree that it was completed in Florence. The identity of the sitter of the painting was thought to be Lisa del Giocondo, wife to a Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo.

The Credit Line cont’d. Here’s an example:

DID YOU KNOW…?

Leonardo da Vinci

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS: What are we really seeing? Spend about a minute really looking at the piece. Is it representational or non-

representational? In other words is it easy to see recognizable objects and people or is it so abstract that you can’t see much of anything?

Representational piece by Piet Mondrian

Non-Representational piece by Piet MondrianPiet Mondrian; Gray Tree; 1911; Oil on board; 78.5 × 107.5 cm;

Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The HagueComposition with Large Red Plane, Yellow, Black, gray, and Blue; 1921; Oil on Canvas; 59.5 x 59.5 cm; Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS: What are we really seeing? Cont’d

Vincent van Gogh; Starry Night; 1889; Oil on Canvas; 29 in ×  36 1⁄4 in; Musuem of Modern Art, New York City, USA

What is your overall impression?This oil painting by Vincent van Gogh is a landscape set at night.

What objects do you see and where?In the foreground there is a (cyrpus) tree towards the left. In the middle ground, to the right, is what appears to be a town set in front of some rolling hills. In the background is a sky of stars and a moon.

MORE information please!To add more to the description you’ll need to use The Elements of Art. Read on!

Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853-1890)was born in Holland. He was a Methodist teacher and preacher before turning to painting in his 30’s. He worked alongside famous artists like Henri de Toulouse Lautrec and Camille Pissarro. He was a roommate of the Expressionist Paul Gauguin. Vincent was plagued by depression. Not only did he cut off part of his ear, but he committed suicide by a gun shot to the chest in 1890. Though poor for most of his life, today his paintings can sell for millions of dollars.

Vincent van Gogh

DID YOU KNOW…?

WHAT’S NEXT?

Art critics use the Elements of Art and Design to understand and describe art work, whether it is two-dimensional or three-dimensional pieces of work. The good news is that you can use them too!

Lines are marks made on art surfaces which can be thin or thick, zigzagged, straight, curved, irregular, patterned, standing alone or overlapping.Colour is a reflected light phenomenon. They are used to create drama and depth. The theory of colour says that the Primary create all of the other colours that we see in all of the works of art across the world.Shapes can be found in geometric forms like squares, circles or triangles. There are also irregular shapes also called biomorphic like leaves, flowers and clouds.

Space determines how near or far objects are in an art work, but it is also the spaces around the objects.

Texture is how things look and/or feel. Artists use fine or large tools to make different textures that sometimes appear as patterns. Dots, lines and a variety of marks are used to create the feeling of texture.

Different sources list what the Elements of Art and Design are. Most agree that there are up to ten. Here we will consider these five:

The Elements of Art and Design

Using the Elements of Art and Design to Describe Art Work.Where are the Elements of Art and

how do they look?There are many lines evident in Van Gogh’s Starry Night. In the tree there are wavy lines. These lines are multi-coloured in burgundy, forest green and dark blues. The shape of the tree is like flames of fire. The tree is such a large shape that it creates a huge space between the foreground and the middle ground.

The village has many geometric shapes showing the planes of the buildings. The triangular steeple shape, on what appears to be a church, stands out near the centre of the piece. The colours of the buildings are mostly cool colours of sky blue, lilacs and warm colours like mauve and golden yellow.

The lines in the hills emphasize how rolling they are. There are gradients of blues and purples with streaks of yellows, reflecting the moon light.

The sky is full of whirling lines that seem to represent wind. They are thick, thin, hatched and repetitive. The ones that are around the stars and moon seem to suggest the shimmering of the lights in the sky. He uses many blues like cerulean, aquamarine and sky. The yellows are pale, lemon and golden .

Contrasting Colours Contrasting direction Contrasting Values

WHAT THEN?The Principles of Art and Design

BALANCEBalance in art doesn’t mean that a composition is symmetrical. As a matter of fact, ideal balance is when things are asymmetrical. For example a large object near to the centre in the foreground will need a smaller object in the middle or background. When looking at a painting, you are looking for where objects are placed in the piece. Off balanced paintings can make the viewer uncomfortable.

REPETITIONWe look for shapes that appear more than once. Trees are a good example of that. Check to see if all the trees are identical in shape and size. Variations, even as they are repeating keeps the composition interesting.

CONTRASTContrast can be spotted in a number of ways:Colours like red and green, orange and blue as well as yellow and purple contrast when placed side by side because they are complementary (opposite each other on the colour wheel). Objectscan point in opposite directions. The lightness or darkness (value) of objects can point to contrast too. If there is contrast everywhere it can makea painting look confusing.

The Principles of Art are what helps us to understand the entire composition of the painting. They are:

HARMONYHarmony in painting is the use of colours and shapes that are pleasing because they relate well with each other.

RHYTHM AND MOVEMENTRhythm and movement is where there is a use of objects (sometimes repeatedly) to help the viewers’ eyes move around or through a composition. Patterns create rhythm and movement also.

EMPHASISEmphasis is how objects appear more dominant by making them much larger than other objects in the composition. This is also accomplished by having one object coloured or textured differently, being lighter or darker. Where an object is placed can also create emphasis.

PROPORTION/SCALEHow the whole painting is divided proportionally, can make it clear as to what is supposed to be the centre of attention. This holds true for individual objects as well. E.g. If the sky dominates you may automatically look at it first...but not always!

The Principles of Art and Design Cont’d Using the analogous

colours for harmony.

Degas uses the well placed dancers to lead our eyes towards the back of the dance studio.

The fish stands out because of its colour, direction and shape.

Homer was a master at painting skies. Though the sky proportionally dominates this painting, the children are more important. It is because of the colours used in their clothing and skin.

The Principles of Art and Design Cont’d

UNITYHow all of the other Principles and the Elements of Art and Design come together toappear united or not.

Above, Alison Chapman-Andrews uses all of the Elements and Principles of Art to create a piece that possesses unity. Can you identify some if not all of the ones discussed in the previous slides?

Alison Chapman-Andrews; Verandah Pandanus; Acrylic on Canvas; 8x10in. ; The Gallery of Caribbean Art, Speightstown, Barbados

Using the Principles of Art and Design to Describe Art Work.Van Gogh has repeated shapes in the fire

shaped Cyprus tree on the left and the triangular steeple of the church. The church was an important part of Van Gogh’s life. They both point skyward which could mean that he wants the viewer to feel connected to heaven.

Though the tree is large, the colours of the tree are more somber and so it is not the most dominant feature. Balance is created by the hill on the right being the same colour. Their dark colours could be related to Van Gogh’s obsession with death.

The sky has repeated circular forms. They are surrounded with rhythmic lines that seem to be moving

towards the right of the painting. This appears to be an attempt to draw the viewer’s eyes towards the moon which eclipses all other shapes in the sky with its size. There is also contrast in the sky as the warm and cool colours interplay with each other. There is a feeling that the sky represents the inner turmoil of the artist.

Van Gogh emphasizes the importance of the sky by making the sky proportionately larger than any other part of the painting. The village is made less significant by having less contrast, rhythm and movement. It is far more calm and quiet compared to the vibrant sky.

HOW DO I FINISH UP?

Talk about how the painting makes you feel. Really look at the piece and express yourself honestly about it. Even if it doesn’t make you feel anything you should state it and explain why.

Sometimes knowing something about the artist helps to understand their work better. So read as much as you can about the artist. Have fun!