critical analisis for art works

4-5 pages dobble spaces. And the rest just follow the direction below.

Exhibition Proposal

Due Friday, December 6th

A museum exhibition consists of a carefully selected group of art objects that illuminates a specific artistic, cultural, or historical theme. It can explore the development of a single artist’s work (e.g. “The Prints of Albrecht Dürer”), reveal a range of artistic activity from a given time and place (e.g. “High Renaissance Artists in Rome under Pope Julius II”), or chart the depiction of a certain subject throughout history (e.g. “Images of War in the 20th Century”). Much like an academic paper, an effective exhibition makes an argument, using works of art as evidence for its thesis. Furthermore, an exhibition creates meaning through the arrangement of works of art in space. By sequencing works in a certain way, the exhibition’s organizer, or curator, structures the viewer’s understanding of the its subject.

This assignment asks you to create your own art exhibition devoted to a topic of your choosing, consisting of at least four works of art. Unlike your museum paper, this paper does require library research. Your final paper should have the following format:

I. Introductory paragraph: Introduce your reader to your exhibition’s topic. Describe its historical significance (in other words, why was this exhibition worth organizing? what can be learned from seeing it?) and state your thesis.

II. Checklist: Write at least two paragraphs for each work of art in your exhibition. Each entry in your checklist should contain a short formal analysis of the work and describe how it relates to your thesis. Consider how the sequencing of works in your exhibition affects the development of your argument.

III. Conclusion: This paragraph should not simply restate your thesis. What have we learned from your exhibition? What were the consequences of the works you have chosen? How do these works point to future art historical developments?

Requirements

1) Email me (

mlevy.behrend@gmail.com

) with a potential topic by Wednesday, November 6th. You are not bound to this topic, but it is important to start thinking about this early, so that you can begin searching for sources during our library session.

2) Your research must make use of published sources (i.e. books and journals) and may also include appropriate online material. Best practices for internet research will be discussed in our library session.

3) Your paper must include color reproductions of the works included in your exhibition. Images should be captioned with the following information: artist, title (in italics), date, medium.

4) Your paper must include properly formatted citations and a bibliography. Details on formatting will be discussed either in class or in our library session.

Formatting: Papers are to be word processed, double-spaced, with standard margins. Titles of works of art are to be italicized. Your exhibition must have a title (“Research Paper” is not a title). Reproductions of your works of art should be included at the end of the paper.

Academic Integrity: Evidence of plagiarism will result in a failing grade and will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action. See the syllabus for a full discussion of plagiarism, and please ask me if you have any questions on this matter.

Extra Credit: If you consult a tutor from the Learning Resource Center with a draft of this paper, you will receive a bonus point at the end of the semester.

Due Date: Papers are to be submitted to turnitin.psu.edu by midnight on Friday, December 6th.

Sample Outline: The Romantic Sublime

Note: This is only an outline. Your papers are to be written in paragraph form and with complete sentences, though you may break up the paper by section (e.g. “Introduction,” “Checklist,” etc.). Because I use it in this outline, the topic of the Romantic Sublime may not be used.

Title

1. Introduction: Provide an overview of your topic and state your thesis.

a. Overview of Romantic Landscapes: What do they generally look like?

b. Definition of “the sublime.”

c. Thesis: In the Romantic period, landscapes assumed new prominence, as artists began to see nature as the source of powerful forces that spoke directly to the human condition.

2. Checklist: A list of 4 works that support your thesis. Provide some general background information about each work and a short formal analysis that addresses how it relates to your thesis. Give some thought how the sequencing of the works affects our understanding of your topic.

a. Work #1: J.M.W. Turner’s, The Slave Ship

i. One paragraph of background information about Turner (his training, interest in landscape, etc.) and the story depicted in this painting.

ii. One paragraph of formal analysis about the painting. Describe the painting. How does it reflect the concept of the sublime?

b. Repeat the above two steps for works 2-4.

3. Conclusion: What have we learned from seeing your exhibition? What questions does it raise? How does it relate to subsequent developments in art history?

a. Possible conclusion #1: Comment on the variety of works included. Do we see different versions of the sublime in the hands of different artists?

b.

Possible conclusion #2: Landscape would continue to grow in importance through the 19th century. While later artists turned away from the fantastical themes of the Romantics, they nonetheless built on this generation’s insights on how the land reflects human experience.

4. Images: Insert jpegs of your four works of art into your Word document. Caption them as follows: Artist, Title, date, medium.

5. Bibliography

Useful Sources:

1) Smarthistory.org: Short instructional videos about major works of art geared to a general audience.

2) Artstor (access through the Databases section of the library website): Database of high quality images that can be saved as jpegs and inserted into your papers. Also very useful for seeing details of works of art that can inform your formal analyses.

3) Oxford Dictionary of Art (again, access through library databases): Short encyclopedia-length entries on major artists and movements.

4) Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/

Another online art history encyclopedia produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

5) PSU’s Art History Research Guide: List of databases for finding articles, many with full text online. Go to libraries.psu.edu Research Research Guides Art History.

6) Citation Guide: Your papers should include a bibliography of works cited at the end. When you quote or paraphrase a source, you must cite it with an endnote. I would like you to use Chicago style formatting for your notes and bibliography. For further information, go to libraries.psu.edu Research Citation Guides Chicago Style Quick Citation Guide.

A comment on online research:
This project requires you to consult academic sources. While many of these may be found online (e.g. e-books, full text articles), there is also a lot of online material that is not scholarly in nature. Wikipedia, blogs, individual websites, etc. are not to be used for this assignment.

Rubric

: 15 points total

Paper is submitted on time and with proper formatting (including citations): 0-3

Paper incorporates substantive research using scholarly sources: 0-3
Paper is clearly written and is free of typos and grammatical errors: 0-3

Paper contains vivid and effective formal analyses: 0-3

Paper has a clear and compelling thesis: 0-3

*Bonus point for taking your paper to the Learning Resource Center.