ASSIGNMENT: Using 800–1000 words, you are to write a formal analysis The point of a formal analysis is to craft analytical language to account for the ways that an artistic object operates intelligibly through material form. This means the only research required (and allowed) is close looking and careful thinking. You are not to read any additional material on the artist that you select or the history of particular work that you select. Do draw on class lectures and readings to the extent that we discuss ways to “read” and analyze visual objects, and I encourage you to incorporate ideas about Enlightenment, Romanticism, Modernism, etc. that might apply to the time period of the work you select. Such factors that might be important to your discussion include: composition, size, scale, materials, brushwork, surface finish, space, movement, color, sheen, and/or light. Note that the writing options vary with respect to their depicted subjects—some are pictures that show recognizable objects, while others are more fully abstract. Regardless of whether your work is representational or abstract, you should not focus on any potential narrative but instead on the way the subject or object has been created by the artist. Do not write about symbolization or how a work makes you feel. This assignment concerns how visual form in and of itself can bear sophisticated and often subtle ideas. Try to seek out the intelligence of your object, and remember that it often takes time and consideration (and a rough draft or two) to really begin to bring out the material insights of an artwork.
You have the opportunity to write something original here, but this does not mean that you should expect every word of your paper to be ground-breaking or, on the other hand, for your essay to be merely factual. You are responsible for making an argument. This means that your paper will need to be organized meaningfully in paragraphs and have a clear, argumentative thesis. A good test for such a thesis is to ask yourself whether your main controlling idea is something that is self-evident upon first looking at the work. If it is not, then you have something to prove and, thus, an argumentative thesis. However, if your thesis cannot be proven in approximately three pages or cannot be proven with formal qualities alone, then narrow it down. The best essays strike a balance between ambition and feasibility.
Be sure to properly introduce your object in the beginning of your paper. Your teaching assistant is quite literally “your reader” in the sense that she will be reading and grading your work, but I strongly recommend that you write to a different, imagined reader who is someone that has not seen the specific artwork that you address in your writing. Keeping in mind this imagined reader, who needs to be told in the clearest possible terms what exactly it is that you’re writing about, remember to explain what your object is at the beginning of your essay and to detail its relevant information (including title, artist, date, materials, appearance, etc.). Always set the scene before breaking it apart with analysis.
Please write your paper in Times font, 12 point, double-spaced, and standard spacing of the margins. Always title your work. Include a header on every page with your name, the course number, and the page number. Also, list your total word count at the end of the paper. Use a staple, not a paper clip or a folder, etc. You don’t need a cover sheet. They only waste paper.
I ASLO HAD TO VISIT GETTY MUSEUM FOR THIS ESSAY. ASSUME YOU DID.
