Analysis

·  When analyzing a work of art we focus on both content and formal qualities.

1)  Content Analysis: What is going on in the work? What do you recognize? What figures are present? What is the setting?

Some other questions related to content: Is the subject imagined, remembered, or observed directly?Is it treated representationally, or is it abstracted? Do you know why? Is there any symbolism that reveals meanings not immediately apparent?

2)  Formal Analysis -What are the visual elements of the image and how – according to what principles - are they composed within the format (the boundaries of the picture or sculpture)?

Ask yourself how the artist has used the elements and principles of design within the format to best express his or her idea, message and feelings.

ELEMENTS:

LINE - Are there thick, thin, curvy, jagged, or straight lines?

VALUE - Is there a range of tones from dark to light? (Squint your eyes). Where is the darkest value? The lightest?

COLOR – What colors have been used? What kind of color scheme do you see (many colors, only one or two, light colors, dark colors, etc)? Describe the colors in terms of their harmony or contrast with each other.

LIGHT - Does there appear to be a strong sense of light in the image?

Is it harsh or soft? Is the light coming from a particular direction?

SHAPE - Do you see geometric or organic shapes? Do positive shapes, such as objects, dominate the composition, or are there more negative shapes that represent voids? Is there one principle shape or is it composed of interrelating combinations of shapes?

SPACE - Is the space deep or shallow? How has the artist created a sense of space? (By overlapping objects, position on the picture plane, linear perspective, atmospheric perspective, other ways?)

TEXTURE - Do you see the illusion of textures within the image? Is there an actual texture on the surface of the image?

PRINCIPLES:

DOMINANCE/EMPHASIS - Close your eyes. When you open them and look at the image, What is the first thing that you notice? Why? What does the arrangement of the parts of the picture or sculpture draw your attention to in the image?

CONTRAST - Are there strong visual contrasts—lights and darks, textures, solids and voids, etc.?

REPETITION/RHYTHM/PATTERN - Repetition of visual elements can create unity—a sense of order or wholeness that holds the work together visually. What elements are repeated? Do they form a strong visual rhythm? Do they form a pattern?

Do they contribute to a sense of unity?

MOVEMENT – How does your eye move around the format? How do rhythms and patterns contribute a sense of visual movement?

VARIETY - Variety creates interest. Can you see a variety of visual elements such as different values, different shapes, textures, etc.?

BALANCE - Is the visual weight on one side of the image about the same as the other? How about the top to bottom and diagonally? Is the work symmetrical or asymmetrical?

UNITY – Does the work hold together as an overall entity, or is it pleasing in parts yet unsatisfactory as a whole? (Or pleasing as a whole in spite of less successful parts?)