Art Criticism

Do not make or state any judgments at this stage. Do not form or state any opinions at this time.

Ask yourself questions like the ones below.

1. What is the Artist's name?

2. Title of the work?

3. Date of the work?

4. Medium or materials used?

5. What do you see in the picture? (only describe what you see, eg. trees, sky, animals, etc. Do not interpret anything)

6. What kind of subject matter is in the picture? (eg, rural farm scene, landscape, industrial imagery. Again do not interpret or judge anything in this stage.

7. Is the picture a landscape or a portrait shaped 'canvas'.

Write about the elements and principles of design and the relationships between the subjects that you mentioned in the description.

Below are some of the questions that you may need to ask. There are very likely other similar questions that you need to ask.

1. What is in the foreground, mid-ground, background?

2. How has the picture been arranged?

3. What colors are used and how have they been arranged?

4. What shapes are there and how have they been arranged?

5. Are there any leading lines and if so, where is your eye lead?

6. Is there any use of contrast? If so, where?

7. Is there any use of pattern? If so, where?

8. Is there a sense of space or perspective?

9. Are there any special techniques employed by the artist?

Interpretation attempts to get at the meaning of the art work. Use the information learned from describing and analyzing in order to try and interpret what the artist was attempting to achieve with this artwork.

1. What do you think is the relationship of the title to the picture or meaning?

2. What areas do you notice first? Do you think there is a relationship between what you notice first and what you notice later? If so, what is that relationship?

3. What story do you think is being told?

4. How does it make you feel when you look at this picture?

Evaluation, the final step, is often the first statement that is expressed about an artwork before it has really been examined. Judgment in that case is neither informed nor critical but simply an opinion. This is time for your opinions to shine through.

1. What did you like or dislike about this art work?

2. How successful do you think the artist was?