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form vs. content
What is being expressed is the content. In visual art, we call this the subject matter.
How it is being expressed in visual language, is the form.
checklist
1. Experiencing the effects.
2. What is the genre, if applicable?
3. What is the medium? (what are the actual materials from which the work is constructed)
4. What is the actual size of the work?
5. Description.
6. Locate 3 qualities you think are central to understanding the work's visual form. Analyze each in turn.
TO BEGIN a formal analysisIDENTIFY the materials and medium.
What is the work physically made of: oil on canvas, charcoal on paper? Be sure you know.
MATERIALS
• EXAMPLE: art made of paper will have a different resonance than art made of steel
• Materials can have a strong expressive content.
• Even similar materials can be handled quite differently, resulting in different nuances of meaning.
David SmithCubi XVIII1965
Polished steel will have a very different feeling fromCor-Ten steel, which weathersnaturally (see next slide).
What is the MEDIUM of the work?
1. What is the medium of the work? Is it 2-dimensional?
drawing—charcoal on paper
painting—pigment on a prepared surface
print—lithograph, silkscreen, etching
photograph
Rackstraw Downes, Under the Off-Ramp from the George Washington Bridge, 2009. Graphite on paper, 17 x 36 3/4 in.
Brief Nod to Subject Matter
DESCRIBE the subject.
What subject is depicted? (Major features only, at this point it does not need to be too detailed.)
Include the genre if applicable and if you know it.
history painting
portraiture
landscape
still life
are some examples of artistic genres.
COMPOSITION
composition: how the various elements of the work are arranged in relationship to each other
things to look for:
spatial relationships: • foreground• middle ground• background
where is the viewer positioned?
how are the objects or elements ordered? what is emphasized? what is subordinate?
Edgar DégasDancers at the Old Opera House c. 1877pastel over monotype on paper 8 9/16 x 6 3/4 inches
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