The Analysis of Visual Arts

HOW TO READ ART

• Awareness and understanding of art requires
the viewer to have knowledge of:
– Form
– Medium
– Subject matter and Style
 Form

• Encompasses the elements of art and the

principles of organization.
• The physical aesthetic qualities of the image.
 Analysing the Form
• What are the dominant elements in the artwork?
• How are these used?
• How is the main subject matter treated in
relation to the background?
• How is space used within the frame?
• How does this dominant element affect you?
• In there are a balance of forms or do some
objects cover most of the frame?
 Medium

• The materials used by the artist.

• May vary in the different art forms.
 Medium
• Drawing
– Charcoal
– Pastel
– Pencil
– Ink
 Medium
• Painting
– Applying pigment suspended in a liquid vehicle to
a surface.
• Water, oil, arabic gum, other liquid
• A pigment is material that changes the colour of the
light it reflects as the result of selective colour
absorption.
 Medium
• Watercolour
– Painting techniques using colourants dissolved in
water.
– Made of finely-ground pigment or dye mixed with
arabic gum for body, and glycerin or honey for
viscosity.
 Medium
• Fresco
– Word comes from Italian “affresco”, which in turn
was derived from “fresco” (fresh), which has
Germanic roots.
– Pigments mixed with water and applied to plaster
support (wall, ceiling)
• Buon Fresco – done on wet plaster, freshly applied lime
plaster.
• Fresco Secco – done on dried plaster. Dry walls are
soaked with lime water and painted while wet.
 Medium

Michaelangelo, The Creation of Adam (1508-1512)

 Medium
• Tempera (or Egg Tempera)
– Traditionally created by hand-grinding dry
powdered pigments into egg yolk and water.
Sandro Boticelli,
The Birth of Venus
(c. 1486)
 Medium
• Oil Painting
– Pigments mixed into a medium of oil.
• Linseed oil, poppy seed oil, walnut oil, safflower oil.
Pablo Picasso, Les
demoiselles d’Avignon
(c.1907)
 Medium
• Oil Pastel
– Painting and drawing medium with characteristics
similar to pastels and wax crayons.
– Pigments mixed with a non-drying oil and wax
binder.
– Surface is less powdery.
Picture above: https://drawingninja.com/photo/31202/oil-pastel-drawing-pictures-
images-and-stock-photos-istock-oil-pastels-on-colorful-drawing-stock-photo.asp
 Medium
• Acrylic
– Fast-drying paint.
– Contains pigments suspended in an acrylic
polymer emulsion.
– Can be diluted with water, but will be water-
resistant when dried.
– Opacity can range from watercolour to oil
painting, depending on how much the paint is
diluted.
From:
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 Medium
• Prints
• Photography
• Clay
• Metal
• Wood
• Paper
• Etc…
 Analysing the medium
• What is the medium used by the artist?
• Does this medium enhance the beauty of the
image?
• How well does the selected medium show the
artistic representation?
• If the artist chose another medium, do you
think the same effect will be achieved? Why
and how?
 Style
“The manner in which the artist express
themselves constitute their style. Style gives us
that body of characteristics that identifies an
artwork with an individual, a historical period, a
school of artists, or a nation, for example,
realism, expressionism, abstract and so on.”
(Sporre, 14)
 Analysing the style
• What particular characteristics does this
artwork have that are also present in other
works by the same artist?
• Describe the use of elements of art and
principles of design that identify the artwork
with other of its contemporaries.