Art criticism is the process of gathering facts and information about a work of art and the artist to describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate art. For this assignment, you will chose one work of art from the following artists to critique.
Choose a work from the following artists:
- Mary Cassatt
- Paul Cezanne
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- Claude Monet
- Edgar Degas
Complete the following:
- Identify the artist, the title of the artwork, and the date it was completed in the first paragraph.
- Paste an image of the painting in your paper. Examples of each of these artists can be found in the textbook. (The images in the textbook are copyright-protected and cannot be copied. To find the exact painting, search the Internet by the artist’s name and the title of the work. Right-click and copy the image. Open a Word document and right-click and paste. If the image does not paste into your paper, try another image. Sometimes images are protected and cannot be copied. Wherever you do find the image, make sure to cite your source in APA style. If you are unsure how to cite an image, this resource can help you.)
- Use the four steps to critiquing art that are found in Chapter 10 of Embracing Art to develop a critique of the work. Be sure that you write a well-developed paragraph on each of the four areas indicating specific areas in the painting in your explanation:
- Description
- Analysis
- Interpretation
- Evaluation
- Can art be “aesthetically pleasing” even if it isn’t beautiful?
- How would the viewer respond to the work at the time it was created?
Part 2
Using a camera or cell phone, take 3 photographs from your immediate environment that exemplify each of the following styles of art (be creative!):
- Realism
- Impressionism
- Post-Impressionism
You can manipulate your photographs with any software effects to achieve the appropriate results. For example, you can take a photo of a friend or family member, and using software, blur the image to represent impressionism.
Include your 3 original photographs in your paper. (Save the photos to your desktop. If you use your phone camera, you can e-mail them to yourself. Open the image and right-click and copy. Open a Word document and right-click and paste.)
Answer the following questions in paragraph style:
- Number each photo and identify the style it closely resembles. Explain the characteristics of each style that you tried to emulate.
- What style of art would best be used to communicate a direct message? Explain
- What style of art would evoke an emotional response? Explain.
- Identify 3 examples of Realism in art or design that you see on a daily basis.
- Describe a situation in which the style of Impressionism might best be used in art and/or design today?
In-text citations and a list of references are required when including or paraphrasing any idea, fact, date, or other information from the textbook or other references.
