ART 100Fall 2016

Class 5.1FORMAL ANALYSIS

Formal AnalysisYou are going to examine this object closely in terms of:

• line• color• shape• pattern• light• texture• size• orientation

KEEP IN MINDNot all of these will apply equally to every work of art. Based upon the actual work you are analyzing, you will choose a few of these to focus your energies on.

LINE and COLOR Are considered the two

most basic elements of two-dimensional art

SHAPEorganic (or biomorphic) vs. geometric

Vasily Kandinsky, Composition VIII, 1923Oil on canvas, (55 1/8 x 79 1/8 in), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Sonia DelaunayRhyme1938oil on canvas

Frank STELLA, Jasper’s Dilemma, 1962-3, oil on canvas

Arshile Gorky, Garden in Sochi, 1943

Joan Miro, Flight of the Dragonfly in Front of the Sun, 1968

Edgar DegasFour Jockeysc. 1889oil on board18 1/8 x 14 5/8 inches

Tina ModottiWorkers’ Demonstration, Mexico City 1926Platinum print

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970, mud, salt, rocks, water, 15 x 1500 ft, Rozel Point, UT

PATTERN

Bridget RileyFall1963polyvinyl acetate painton hardboard55 x 55 inches

Bridget Riley, Hesitate1964Oil on canvas 1067 x 1124 mm

Tomma AbtsFenke, 2014Acrylic and oil on canvas18 7/8 x 15 inches

Henri MatisseLa GerbeCut paper1953

Diego RIVERA The Flower Seller1941Oil on masonite48 x 48 inches

Loïs Mailou JonesOde to Kinshasa1972Mixed media 48 x 36 inches

Thomas RUFFInterieur 13B1980Chromogenic print10 7/8 x 8 inches

LIGHTis light evenly distributed across the picture plane or concentrated in one place for dramatic effect?where is the light source and how does it create emphasis?

CaravaggioConversion on the Road to Damascus1601 Oil on canvas 91 in × 69 inches Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome

Georges de la TourThe Penitent Magdalenc. 1645oil on canvas61.4 x 48 inches

Mary CassattYoung Thomas and His Mother1893 Pastel on cardboard24 x 20 inchesPennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

Weegee (Arthur Fellig), Two Offenders in the Paddywagon, c. 1942

Raymond PETTIBONNo Title (And now the…), 1987Ink on paper22 1/2 x 13 inches

TEXTURE/MATERIALS• texture can be a quality of a two-dimensional

surface—it is most noticeable at the extremes of roughness and smoothness

• it can also be a more literal—a choice of unusual materials that seem to carry a symbolic charge

TEXTURE

Jean DubuffetGrand Master of the Outsider1947

Paul KleeHighway and Byways1929oil on canvas32 5/8 x 26 3/8 inches

Cy TwomblyLeda and the Swan1962oil, pencil and crayon on canvas6' 3" x 6' 6 3/4"

Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1971, Oil and crayon on canvas, 118 x 188¼"

John MCCRACKEN, Green Slab in Two Parts, 1966

Mickalene ThomasA-E-I-O-U and Sometimes Y2009Plastic rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel on panel 24 x 20 in

Cady NOLAND, Frame Device, 1989, Pipes, stantions, and twelve walkers132 × 132 × 54 in, installed at the Hammer Museum

Nayland Blake, Feeder 2, 1998, steel and gingerbread, 7 x 10 x 7 feet

Liu Wei, Density 1, 2013, books, mild steel and wood, dimensions variable

SIZE

Richard Serra, installation at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

Donald RODNEY, In the House of My Father, 1996-7

ORIENTATION

Carl Andre, Breda, 1986, blue Belgian granite

Robert RAUSCHENBERG, Monogram, 1955

Xu BINGA Book from the Sky1987-1991

E.V. Day, Bride Fight, 2006