Objectives

Your final project provides you with the opportunity to apply formal analysis and evaluation skills developed in past weeks. In addition, you engage in research regarding iconography or symbolism. Researching your theme and selecting works builds appreciation for art and critical thinking skills. The format for each of your 10 selected works of art in your final project must be the following:

Image of artwork (if possible)

Fig. #

Year created

Title of artwork

Artist’s name(s)

Medium

Museum or institution who owns the work

Paragraph in short essay form that includes the following:

Formal analysis: Describe what you see and the design as a whole.

History: In what art style does it fall?

Interpretation: Is there any symbolism?

Consider the following example:

 Fig. 1

1987

Landscape with Tree

George Smith

Oil on canvas

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with Tree by George Smith is an example of American realist painting of the 20th century. The realist style has origins that trace back to the 19th-century French artist Gustave Courbet. Smith is one of the few American artists still engaged in the realist manifesto, which rejects abstraction as a corrupt, elitist form of art. Landscape is an asymmetrical composition. The work achieves a sense of balance through counterbalancing the tree and moon on either side of the picture plane. Although composed in stark black-and-white, Smith’s work achieves an expressive force created by the use of a dynamic, fluid line. The tree in art is often associated with life, renewal, and growth (Grove Art Online, 2007). Smith establishes a contrast between the tree’s symbolism and the quarter moon.

On your reference page, images found online must be cited as follows:

Example electronic image citation:

Author (Role of Author). (Year image was created). Title of work [Type of work]. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from: website address

Example electronic image citation with no author:
Title of work [Type of work]. (Year image was created). Retrieved Month Day, Year, from: website address