What is art history?

Look at and react to this artwork?

While animals are attracted to superficial appearances humans are enticed by the idea of that which is hidden

THE FACTSArtist: Ben ShahnTitle: The Passion of Sacco and VanzettiDate: 1931

ART-MAKING: MATERIALS and TECHNIQUESMedium: Oil Paint on Canvas

THE CONTENTSubject Matter: What do you see? What is this an image of? What is the emotional content?

FORMAL ANALYSIS:How is the picture put together? What are the visual characteristics/qualities of the artwork – style?

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSISHistorical Context / Contextual Analysis: What is outside the picture- A social-realist painter- Painted urban life, organized labor, immigration and injustice. - Nicola Sacco and Batolomeo Vanzetti: Italian anarchists who many thought were

unjustly convicted of killing two men in a robbery in 1920. - The three men are members of the commission who declared the trial fair and cleared

the way for the executions. - Behind, on the wall of a government building is a picture of the judge who pronounced

the initial sentence.

MEANING / PurposeConsidering the subject matter, the historical context in which this work was made, and how it looks what is the message does it communicate and purpose/function does it serve?

CONTENTDescribe What You See?

WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE ABOUT THIS PAINTING?

CONTENTWHO IS IN THE PAINTING?

Investigation of the Content

FACTSWHO PAINTED IT?

WHEN and WHERE?

MATERIALSWhat did the artist use to make it?

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

WHY WAS IT CREATED?Investigation of what outside the

painting gave cause for its creation*

Formal Analysis

How is the subject matter visually represented?

What are the visual characteristics that define

artwork’s style?

WHAT IS THE MEANING?What is the meaning or message that the artwork

is intended to communicate to its audience?

Formal Analysis(Style)

Content

Contextual Analysis (History)

MEANING / PURPOSE

Art history is not the practice of describing or evaluating works of art. Rather it is the process by which we analyze an

artwork’s content, historical context, and visual qualities (style) to determine it’s meaning purpose.

Facts• Who made it: Artist• When was it made: Date• Where was it made: Culture, Location

Art-making: Medium and Technique, Tools

What is the medium: The material used to make the artworkExamples:

Painting Mediums: Tempera paint, Oil paintSculpture: Bronze, MarbleArchitecture: Stone, Wood, Mud

What is the technique: How the artwork was made Examples: Painting techniques: Fresco, Plein Air, Perspective, Chiaroscuro Sculpture: Casting, Reduction/Carving Architecture: Arches and keystones

What are the tools needed for the medium/technique Examples: Painting: Brush, Pigments Sculptures: Molds, Chisels Architecture: Hoist and lever

ContentWhat is the subject matter?

Story, or narrativeThe scene of the story presentedThe action’s time and placeThe person’s involvedThe environment and details

Pictorial Subjects: Religious Historical Mythological Genre (daily life) Portraiture Landscape

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS the information about the painting you can’t see

• PATRON: Who commissioned it?

• HISTORICAL EVENTS AND BIG IDEAS: What historical events and big ideas of the time contributed to the selection and portrayal of the subject matter

• LOCATION: Where was the art displayed?

• AUDIENCE: Who was intended to see it? • FUNCTION: Where was the artwork displayed

and what role did it serve to it’s audience?

Formal Analysis• How is the artwork put together: Elements

of art and principles of design

• Period Style: What are the distinctive visual characteristics that place the artwork in a specific culture and time period?

• Regional Style: What are the distinctive visual characteristics that place the artwork in a specific location?

• Personal Style: What are the distinctive visual characteristics that attribute an artwork to a specific artist?

• How does the arrangement of the artwork and it’s style reflect the historical context of the painting?

Meaning Synthesizing content, context and style

• What is the meaning or message that the artwork is intended to communicate to its audience?

• How does the artwork communicate the BIG IDEAS OF THE TIME?

Themes In Art HistoryArt Historian categorize art by style, tim period and culture. However they also categorize by Theme. The meaning and/or purpose of an artwork will relate to one or more themes in art history

Themes• Power, authority and commemoration • The Spiritual World/ Images of Religious Figures/Ritual Objects/Sacred Sites (temples, basilicas, and cathedrals, and objects of worship/ritual) • Propaganda • Family, domesticity and everyday life • Love, marriage, sex and procreation • The human body • Humanism • Portraiture • Technology • Nature; man vs. nature• The “Other”• War, Violence in art• Challenging the establishment/tradition• Internal worlds/realities and the subconscious