Comparative study (C slide)

While understanding the physical properties and visual experience of art are important, today most art historical research focuses on the significance of works as cultural artifacts. This category of analysis is characterized by a variety of approaches, but all share the basic objective of examining art in relation to its historical context. Most often, this is the time and place in which a work was created—typically we want to know why and by whom it was made and how it originally functioned. But since works of art and architecture often survive for centuries, art historians may also study a work’s cultural significance at later historical moments.

The focus of the C slide is to contextualize the selected artwork in order to establish and evaluate its cultural significance for the original and a contemporary audience. 

Where to start?

• First start by researching the cultural and historical context of the artwork. Your research must be focused on the selected artwork rather than on the general life of the artist. So for example, if an artist has a particularly strong political viewpoint but the artwork you selected doesn't have anything to do with politics, it is irrelevant on this slide. 

• When considering the historical context, make sure you have a solid understanding of what art movements were happening at the time when your piece was created. Consider how that movement was received by its original audience. Do we think differently today about that art movement? Is the piece more or less significant today than when it was first created?

• Your goal is to look at how the artwork might be understood differently today compared to its original context. By comparing the original audience to the contemporary audience, you need to find out who had exposure to the work when it was made compared to how, who and where we see it today. 

• Find out how your artwork might have influenced the development of other artworks, individual/social ideas and perceptions.  An excellent resource is The Artstory website. See below.

• Often students use June King McFee’s conceptual framework to design this page, but there is no requirement to do so. There are suggestions for other visual organizing tools below.