What are some steps to analyze art? Please include any websites that helped you answer this question!?

Question

Thank you!

Answer 1

Anyone can interpret art from their own expereince, since art is created for everyone not only for those who study it! All you have to know is what kind of questions to ask! The problem with Art History majors is that they beleive that they are the only people who know art. Sorry, they are not. As a matter of fact many of us (artists!!!) trully believe that most of the time they (art historians/critics)don't get it!!! Please don't let anyone keep you from looking at art and enjoying it because they think you need a four-year degree to understand it.

The beauty of the language of art is that it is universal... You don't need to speak Dutch to appreciate a Van Gogh, or French to enjoy a Duchamp, or Spanish to love a Picasso, or Italian to learn from a Da Vinci. Art crosses all boudaries of language because it mostly focuses on the human condition and experience. So that if you are a living member of the human race, you should be able to look, appreciate and enjoy art from your own experience. Now, if you want to write a paper about a specific work of art below are some questions that you can use to help you write that paper. (By the way I am a middle to high school Nationaly Certified Art Teacher in addition to being an Artist of 20 years in the job. Not just an Art History major in college.)

The analysis of art has four stages. The four stages of art criticism are identified as follows: (1) Describe; (2) Analize; (3) Interpret; (4) Judge.

During the Description stage you look at the art work and ask yourself: What is it that I'm looking at?, Are there figures, objects, animals, or is it a non-objective art?, How would you describe the environment (soroundings) in the artwork?

During the Analisys stage you ask yourself the most important question: How is the artist organizing the Elements of art by the use of the Principles of art? You need to understand what these are in order to answer this question. However, by this time your art teacher must have discussed The Elements and Principles of Design in class to a comfortable degree where you can have some discussion during your analisys of the art work. You may also ask questions like: How is color used to create emphasis, balance and rhytm?; Does the artwork has Unity? Why? And other similar design and compositional questions.

During the Interpretation phase you will be looking at the artwork from the artist's point of view. Questions like: What is the artist trying to say?, and What kind of emotions does the artwork evoke?, will come to mind. This is where the message of the artwork is described and interpreted.

During the Judging stage you look at the work and talk about how it works or it does not work. The most important question is: Is the work successful? Using the information that you gathered in the first three stages you will synthesize an answer for this most important question. You may also introduce your own feelings ablut the artwork. Why does it work (or not) for you. What would you do differently had you been the artist. Everyone is entittled to their own opinion. However, for your analysis to be a solidand successful one you must back up your opinion with sound thinking that others can sink their teeth into, even when they don't agree with you.

In addition to the four stages of art criticism, you may also want to decide what school of art criticism you may want to focus on. There are three(3) main ones: (1) Subject; (2) Composition; and (3) Content. In a nutshell:

(1) Subject focuses on images that are easily identifiable. A subject can be a person, people, flowers, fruits, animals, etc. Anything that you can identify readily.

(2) Composition focuses its analysis on the way that the artist organizes the elements through the use of the principles. So you will be looking mostly at line, color, shape, form, texture, space, and value (the elements of art). And balance, emphasis, harmony, movement, proportion, rhythm, variety, and unity (the pricples of design). Hint: All successful works of art have UNITY!

(3) Content wants to find meaning in the artwork. This view is concerned with the message the artist is trying to convey to the audience. It focuses on feelings, stories being told, social commentary and how these are proclaimed in the artwork.

You can use all of these views in you analysis. To be perfectly honest (as a teacher) I believe that a well though out and balanced analysis contains a bit of all three.

I hope that this was helpful to you. Again, do not let anyone's elitist response to keep you from loving, enjoying and finding meaning in art. As an artist, I paint for everyone. As a teacher, I hope to instill the love for the arts that I feel into my students' hearts. Keep on asking questions, it will make you smarter, wiser and healthier. Good luck, God speed!

Lourdes

Answer 2

analyzing art is more complex than you think. it actually takes quite a bit of education in art history. general knowledge of all periods in art history helps greatly. that helps you to understand where the artist is coming from -as far as influences, etc. then, you really do need to have a deeper knowledge of the art at the time of the artwork you are analyzing, as well as specifics on the artist themself. then, reading the history & art criticisms of the time help as well. it really does take a while to learn how to analyze art correctly.

so, start by reading books in areas that interest you. the more you learn, the better you can analyze art!