Art Criticism Art Criticism Is an Organized System for Looking at And
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Art Criticism Art Criticism is an organized system for looking at and talking about art. Art Critic is a person whose job is to study, understand, and judge works of art. When studying a work of art, a critic can use the sequential four-step process of description, analysis, interpretation, and judgement. Steps and examples 1. Description - “What do I see?” How many figures are there? What are they doing? Describe the setting. What type of building is this? Look for details in the painting. Describe the people and their postures. 2. Analysis – “How is the work organized?” Identify and describe the elements of art, including dominant colors and shapes. Where do you find pattern, rhythm, variety, harmony, or emphasis? How is balance used to organize the composition? 3. Interpretation – “What moods, feelings, or ideas are expressed by this work? What does this artwork say to me?” What is the mood or feeling of this painting? What is the artist trying to say? Identify and describe how the elements and principles of art are used to communicate feeling, ideas, or meanings. 4. Judgement – “Is this work of art successful?” Is the subject painted realistically? Is the artwork well organized? Does the artwork effectively express an idea, feeling, or emotion? Directions: Look at the painting and answer the questions on the following 2 pages. If you cannot print the worksheet, write your answers on a separate sheet of paper: Art Critic’s Sheet Name: ___________________________ The work I am critiquing is called A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The artist’s name is Georges Seurat Description & Analysis: What colors do you see? ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ What kinds of lines do you see? ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you see any objects you can name? Name them ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Are any shapes or objects repeated? Why do you think this was done? ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Where do you see patterns or textures? ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Interpretation: What is the subject of the work? ____________________________________________________________________________________ How do you think the artist wanted this artwork to make people feel? (sad, happy, angry, confused, calm, nervous) ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ How does the artist use colors, lines and shapes to show this feeling? ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you think the artist is trying to tell a story or a message to the viewer? What is the story or message? ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ If there are people in the work, what do you think they would say to you if they could speak? ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Judgement: Do you like this artwork?_________________________ Why or why not? ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ What is the most interesting part? ___________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ What is the least interesting part? ___________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ If you could give the artist advice on how to make this artwork more interesting or “Better”, what would you say and why? ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ .