AP Art History Summer Assignment - Due on the First Day of Class!
AP Art History Summer Assignment - Due on the first day of class!
Email me with Questions:
Step 1: Define the Elements of Art & Principles of Design in your own words! You will be using these terms to analyze works of art all year long so I need to know that you understand the concepts.
Elements
Line:______
Shape:______
Value:______
Form:______
Color:______
Texture:______
Space:______
Principles
Balance:______
Emphasis:______
Movement:______
Pattern:______
Repetition:______
Proportion:______
Variety:______
Unity:______
Step 2:Go to Khan Academy: Watch &/or Read and take notes:
- Watch:
- Read Common Questions about Dates-
- Watch and take notes:
Step 3: Go to Khan Academy and Watch, Read and OutlinePrehistory
I.Paleolithic
A.Paleolithic art, an introduction
B.Origins of rock art in Africa
C.Apollo 11 Stones
D.Nude woman (Venus of Willendorf)
E.Venus of Willendorf
F.Nude woman (Venus of Willendorf) (quiz)
G.Lascaux
II. Neolithic
A.The Neolithic Revolution
B.Jericho
C.Çatalhöyük
D. Anthropomorphic stele
E.Bushel with ibex motifs
F.Stonehenge
G.Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites (UNESCO/NHK)
H.Nuragic architecture at Su NuraxiBarumini, Sardinia
*If you are enjoying these videos and would like to get a head start, you can also outlining the Art of the Ancient Mediterranean, but I will not be grading this yet!
Step 4: Museum Visit Critique - Choose one of the following topics to write about…Bring a notebook to the museum or gallery and use the “How to Critique a Work of Art”worksheet to help you take thorough notes of the piece. You will have to write 2-3 page paper. Take a photograph (without flash) or print the image you chose from the museum’s website to include with your critique.
•Take a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and look at Renaissance portraiture. Pick a portrait of the person that you’d want to sit down and have a conversation with to write about. Why have you chosen this person? What are they thinking? Complete the critique steps to find out!
or
•Take a trip to the MOMA and pick a piece that reminds you of your childhood to critique. What first captured your attention? What story does the image or sculpture tell? Describe the experience you are reminded of and how it relates to the piece after you critique it.
or
•Visit the Newark Museum and explore African or Asian Art and find a piece that is functional. Can you think of any objects that you use in your daily life that might have artistic value in future? Critique the piece and then write about an object from your own life that might be considered “art worthy” in the future.
or
•Visit the Monclair Museum and look at 18th and 19th- Century American Landscape Art. If such a painting were made today how would the modern environment change what you see? Critique the piece and then describe what the landscape might look like today if you were to repaint it.
How to Critique a Work of Art
Just go through each step and write in what is appropriate for the art you are analyzing
Your analysis should be written in paragraph form NOT as a list or outline.
Not every work of art will contain ALL Elements of Art, etc. You must decide which are
the most important ones for your chosen artwork and include those in your analysis.
Step 1:
Description- Record what you see; only facts - NO opinions or assumptions!
Do NOT use the pronoun ―I! Usually 4 or 5 sentences but it could be longer for
complex works. The point here is to get you to really LOOK at the work of art. It may
help to think how you would describe it to someone on the phone.
1. LabelInformation- Citation
a. Title of work, and artist’s name and dimensions
b. Date and Place it was created
c. Format/Technique
d. Medium/Materials
e. Collection/Museum
2.Subject matter-(Start GENERAL--then progress to more specific) First tell us about
the setting before you tell us about the dancer’s tutu.
a. Recognizable images such as people, buildings, cloudy sky, trees, and other tangible things.
b. If the work consists of geometric shapes or free forms, indicate that & then go on to Art Elements.
3. Art Elements & Principles
Tell us what the dominant Elements are in the work of are you chose.
a. Line
1) Straight, curved, dotted, broken, wavy, swirling, jagged, textured, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, etc.
2) Contour lines or outlines.
3) Implied (Due to color, value, or texture changes, etc.)
b. Color and Value
1) Colors are warm, cold, bright, dull, dark, light, opaque, and transparent.
2) Values result from combinations of black & white, or shades & tints of color.
c. Shapes (2-D) and Forms (3-D)
1) Representational, abstract, organic, geometrical, open, closed.
d. Texture- rough, smooth, coarse, soft, bumpy, hairy, sandy, and so on. It can be
simulated or real.
e. Pattern-Don’t confuse with texture. Describe repetition of some motif (design) in a recognizable order, such as checkerboard.
f. Space
1) Two dimensional art (illusionary depth), shallow or deep? Due to chiaroscuro, foreshortening, linear perspective, aerial perspective, overlap, high-low placement.
2) Three dimensional art (real depth) Due to voids, concaves, convexes, volumes, etc.
Step 2:
Formal Analysis - How have the things listed under Subject Matter and Art Elements
been organized or interrelated to work together? This is usually the longest section of
your analysis. Although most works of art use all of the elements to some degree you
should choose only the pertinent ones. You must be selective but thorough.
1. Similarities
a. Are there things similar in shape, color, texture, form, or size?
b. Are there lines similar in direction or kind?
2.Contrasts
a. Are there contrasts in color such as dull-bright, cool-warm, dark-light?
b. Are there contrasts of shape, form, texture, movement, size, complexity—
simplicity?
3. Continuities
a. Are there elements in the composition that are repeated in some systematic way?
b. Are there elements that cause directional flow or lead your eye through the
composition?
4. Emphasis or Dominance
a. Is there some area, elements, or arrangement that seems most important?
5. Balance
a. What contributes to balance in the composition?
b. Is balance symmetrical, asymmetrical or radial?
6. Relationships
a. What are the relationships between the theme of the artwork and the art elements?
b. What are the relationships between the theme of the artwork and the medium or
procedure used to produce it?
Step 3:
Interpretation - Use the information from your description and analysis to help you
identify the content of the work (what the artwork expresses about human experience).
You will base this information on the description and especially the formal analysis.
Again, do NOT use the pronoun ―I! This section is usually 4 or more sentences.
1.Create a hypothesis (an assumption or informed guess about the meaning of the work).
2. Defend your hypothesis:
a) Use evidence from your description and analysis information.
b) Use other sources such as art history books, past experiences the work reminds
you of, or presumed purposes: to praise, criticize, predict, record an event, make a
political or social statement, ridicule, and so on.
Step 4:
Evaluation or Judgment - Based on your analysis in the first three stages, what is your
judgment of the quality or success of the work? You are now giving your opinion BUT
you MUST base it on the facts that you have discovered and presented in sections 1
and
1. Craftsmanship-The degree of skill used of media and techniques relevant to the
subject matter and purpose of the artwork.
2. Design Quality-The degree of visual organization of the materials and elements that
make up the work. Consider unity, variety, proximity, balance, emphasis, and rhythm.
3. Expressiveness- Rate the expressiveness of the work relative to the subject, idea,
or theme it is based on.
4. Personal Response-The extent to which the artwork provokes a personal response,
one that could be shared with others.
5. Originality-The degree of uniqueness, imagination, and freshness demonstrated by
the artwork.
6. Comparison-The art critic or connoisseur would consider how the work compares
with other artworks of similar kind.