Monday 26 September 2011
Art Timeline Essay
Final Project Overview Your final project provides the opportunity to apply formal analysis and evaluation skills developed in past weeks. In addition, you have the opportunity to engage in research regarding iconography or symbolism. Researching your theme and selecting works builds appreciation for art and critical thinking skills. The format for 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 school of art does it fall? Interpretation: Is there any symbolism? 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 In the final project, you assume the role of a museum curator who receives the following e-mail from the director of the museum: Following a meeting with our museum’s web design team, it is now my priority to improve the content of our museum’s website. We decided on an interactive timeline focused on one art medium. It is your responsibility to choose one art form such as a painting or sculpture for the timeline. You must also have a common theme for the artwork you select. If you were to choose sculpture, your theme might be 20th-century sculpture. Whatever your selected focus is, make sure you do not make the timeline too long. Ten works of art should suffice. After selecting the 10 works of art, write a short paragraph to accompany each one. You have approximately 9 weeks for this project before you turn over your selected artworks and content to the design team. • Select one art media on which to focus. Examples include: o painting, o architecture, o performance art, o film o others Whereas these are broad areas, you must select a single medium, then make your timeline focused on that single medium. • Research the Internet or Grove Art Online in the Oxford Art Online database in the Axia Online library, and find 10 representative examples of your chosen medium that are thematically connected. Examples of thematically linked art media include the following: o Linear perspective in European paintings o Black-and-white film noir o Greek figural sculpture o International video art • Organize, in a Microsoft® Word document, the 10 works in chronological order and include a 100-word paragraph for each in short essay form. Format your timeline consistent with APA guidelines.
