ArtH 101: Formal Analysis Worksheet
Questions to ask oneself when looking at art: from Barnet, Writing About Art, pp. 28-29.
1. What is my first response to the object?
2. When and where was the object made?
3. Where would the object have originally been seen?
4. What purpose did the object serve?
5. In what condition has the object survived?
6. Is there a title of the object? Does it in some way illuminate the object?
Terms to keep in mind
1. context - the situation in which the object belonged originally: also the context can refer to the
situation/background in which elements of the work are found.
2. pattern - patterns can be formed by any repetitive sequence of lines, shapes, tonal accents, colors, brush-strokes, forms, etc.
3. material/medium - the physical ingredients of a work or object of art
4. texture - the implied or evidenced tactile aspects of an object; rough vs. smooth; how does the work connect our visual and tactile senses?
5. color - shade, treatment (cloudy/lucid, opaque/fuzzy?)
6. composition - the arrangement of parts that make up a whole by line, shape, or color: think about distinct parts of a work and how they react with each other. It often helps top look at something far away or squint to determine the compositional motifs - the composition of a piece should be its simplest parts boiled down without the details.
7. line - a trace left by a moving point; we often tend to follow line in one direction or another, and even continue them past the endpoint. If a line is too complex, we sometimes lose interest. Often motion is created by the line/s within an object. Certain lines are dynamic. Others are static.
8. light - bright or dark, illumination. Light can either be 'on' a surface or 'through' a surface.
9. scale - is one of the most obvious qualities of a painting; should suit the context, subject matter, and purpose of the painting; it is also not only the SIZE of a work, or the elements within a work, but is the relationship of the work to its surroundings and the relationship of elements to one another.
10. space - 'figure' is what we perceive as 'thing'; 'ground' is used to denote what we read as the area surrounding or void. It can be lucid and ordered or confused and cluttered. When talking about space, use directive words such as: up, down, left right, towards, away, and descriptives such as balanced or unbalanced.
11. contour - the boundary of any shape, or the outer limits of a three-dimensional shape as seen from any angle.
12. articulation - the manner in which contiguous shapes or forms join.
13. perspective - any of various techniques for representing three-dimentional objects and depth relationships; the relationship between of aspects of a subject to each other and to a whole. Think of recession in space, use of parallel converging lines, vanishing point perspective, and even perspective with more than one vanishing point.
14. shape - developed or definite form; the characteristic surface configuration of a specific thing.
15. volumes - individual masses that make up a form.
16. form - the contour and structure of something
17. movement - the vitality generated by thrusts and counter-thrusts of shapes or lines; the tendency of our eyes to track along and even extend lines; the off-balance dynamism of diagonals; the apparent spatial recession of objects drawn in diminishing scale. Think about possibilities of arrested movement, implied or suggested movement.
18. iconography - the identification of images with symbolic content or meaning.
19. iconology - the interpretation of the image (often through literary, religious, and philosophical texts) for evidence of the cultural attitudes that produced the meaning or content of the work.
20. tone - general quality or atmosphere; color - shade or quality
21. orientation - the directions in which the elements are facing; relationships in space to one another
For additional help on writing formal analyses and for understanding the terms even further, PLEASE take a closer look at Barnet. For terms and usage, look at David Piper's Looking at Art, Random House, 1984. Both are on reserve at Furness.