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Formal Visual Analysis Paper Assignment
Formal Visual Analysis Essay Assignment
Due: Friday May 30
Assignment: Choose one work of art on view at the Tacoma Art Museum or the Museum of Glass. This could be a painting, photograph, print, or sculpture. Complete this worksheet on the field trip May 21. Write a 3-5 page essay in which you make and support an argument about this work of art. Craft a clear thesis and argument. Use evidence from the visual analysis you complete at the museum and additional research you might conduct. Be sure to cite your sources. Turn in the completed essay and the worksheet.
Name: _______________________________________________________
I. Basic Information:
a. Title _________________________________________________
b. Artist ________________________________________________
c. Artist Birth and Death Dates: _____________________________
d. Medium: ______________________________________________
e. Size: ________________ (estimate)
f. Year: ___________
II. Make a sketch of the work:
III. First Impressions:
a. What attracts you to this work?
b. What do you see present in the work (objects, shapes, situations)? Make an
inventory.
c. What physical sensations does the work produce? How does it make you feel?
d. What do you think this work is about? What were the artist’s intentions?
IV. Analysis
1. Content:
a. Are the images representational, abstracted, non-objective?
b. Is the work religious, secular, mythological, historical?
c. Do the images tell a story? If so, what is the story?
d. What ideas or symbols do you see in the work? What do they mean?
IV. Analysis continued
2. Formal Analysis
a. What kind of composition does the artist use? (central placement of
the subject, symmetrical, asymmetrical, triangular, circular). How does
your eye move through the work? What do you see
first, second, third… How has the artist achieved this?
b. How large is the work in relation to the viewer? How does this
scale make the viewer feel?
c. Where is the viewer in relation to the subject? (In the scene, at a safe
distance, looking up, looking down, etc)
d. Space: How has the artist dealt with space? If the work is two
dimensional, does it have deep or shallow space? How has
the artist achieved this? (linear perspective, focus, atmospheric perspective,
overlapping shapes, shading). If the object is three-dimensional,
how does the sculpture relate to the space it occupies?
e. Line: Can you identify a system of lines in the work? Are diagonal
vertical, or horizontal lines suggested?
f. Color: Is the color realistic, expressionistic or symbolic? Is color
used to emphasize a certain feature of the work?
g. Light: How is light used? Is it realistic, artificial, soft, dramatic,
expressionistic? What is the source of light and what does it
emphasize?
h. Texture: How does the artist use texture (descriptive, decorative,
symbolic)?
3. Context
a. When was the work made?
b. Was the work part of a series?
c. Who was the patron? Under what circumstances?
d. Was the work a part of a tradition, movement or style?
e. Who was the intended audience?
f. Where was the work meant to be seen?
g. How was the work intended to be used?
V. Formulate a thesis: Review your first impressions and analysis. Based upon this formulate a thesis that presents an argument you plan to make about this work. The thesis should relate to what you think the work is about. It will be supported with evidence from the analysis of content, formal visual elements and context.
VI. Attach an outline of your paper. Cite specific evidence from your analysis of content, formal visual elements and context.
Thesis:
Argument I:
Evidence a, b, and c.
Argument II:
Evidence a, b and c
Argument III:
Evidence a, b, and c.
Conclusion
VII. Write the Paper. Turn in this worksheet with the paper.
Due: Friday May 30
Assignment: Choose one work of art on view at the Tacoma Art Museum or the Museum of Glass. This could be a painting, photograph, print, or sculpture. Complete this worksheet on the field trip May 21. Write a 3-5 page essay in which you make and support an argument about this work of art. Craft a clear thesis and argument. Use evidence from the visual analysis you complete at the museum and additional research you might conduct. Be sure to cite your sources. Turn in the completed essay and the worksheet.
Name: _______________________________________________________
I. Basic Information:
a. Title _________________________________________________
b. Artist ________________________________________________
c. Artist Birth and Death Dates: _____________________________
d. Medium: ______________________________________________
e. Size: ________________ (estimate)
f. Year: ___________
II. Make a sketch of the work:
III. First Impressions:
a. What attracts you to this work?
b. What do you see present in the work (objects, shapes, situations)? Make an
inventory.
c. What physical sensations does the work produce? How does it make you feel?
d. What do you think this work is about? What were the artist’s intentions?
IV. Analysis
1. Content:
a. Are the images representational, abstracted, non-objective?
b. Is the work religious, secular, mythological, historical?
c. Do the images tell a story? If so, what is the story?
d. What ideas or symbols do you see in the work? What do they mean?
IV. Analysis continued
2. Formal Analysis
a. What kind of composition does the artist use? (central placement of
the subject, symmetrical, asymmetrical, triangular, circular). How does
your eye move through the work? What do you see
first, second, third… How has the artist achieved this?
b. How large is the work in relation to the viewer? How does this
scale make the viewer feel?
c. Where is the viewer in relation to the subject? (In the scene, at a safe
distance, looking up, looking down, etc)
d. Space: How has the artist dealt with space? If the work is two
dimensional, does it have deep or shallow space? How has
the artist achieved this? (linear perspective, focus, atmospheric perspective,
overlapping shapes, shading). If the object is three-dimensional,
how does the sculpture relate to the space it occupies?
e. Line: Can you identify a system of lines in the work? Are diagonal
vertical, or horizontal lines suggested?
f. Color: Is the color realistic, expressionistic or symbolic? Is color
used to emphasize a certain feature of the work?
g. Light: How is light used? Is it realistic, artificial, soft, dramatic,
expressionistic? What is the source of light and what does it
emphasize?
h. Texture: How does the artist use texture (descriptive, decorative,
symbolic)?
3. Context
a. When was the work made?
b. Was the work part of a series?
c. Who was the patron? Under what circumstances?
d. Was the work a part of a tradition, movement or style?
e. Who was the intended audience?
f. Where was the work meant to be seen?
g. How was the work intended to be used?
V. Formulate a thesis: Review your first impressions and analysis. Based upon this formulate a thesis that presents an argument you plan to make about this work. The thesis should relate to what you think the work is about. It will be supported with evidence from the analysis of content, formal visual elements and context.
VI. Attach an outline of your paper. Cite specific evidence from your analysis of content, formal visual elements and context.
Thesis:
Argument I:
Evidence a, b, and c.
Argument II:
Evidence a, b and c
Argument III:
Evidence a, b, and c.
Conclusion
VII. Write the Paper. Turn in this worksheet with the paper.
