The Met Museum of Art and the Different Work of Arts

Please write exactly as required.
Four works on Metropolitan museum in New York.
GUIDELINES FOR ANALYSING VISUAL ART PAPER

As with all written assignments, this paper is to be written in an academic fashion: introduction, body and conclusion.

Use the following as criteria to help with your discussion.

Remember that this is a response paper- write in the 1^st person, give your views and why?

Who is the artist, if known?

The date of the work or approximate time period

The country or origin

The materials used to create the work

The subject matter (CONTENT)

How does the artist use the visual elements to create the work? (FORM)

-          Materials used

-          Space (illusionism, perspective, flatness, symbolism etc.

-          Composition (the arrangement of shapes, space, color, directional etc)

-          Color (hue, value/tone, intensity/saturation)

-          Scale (size of the work, relative sizes of forms within the work)

-          Style (from a particular style? period of time? is it representational? Abstract?

Why? (CONTEXT) What is the meaning or purpose of the work in terms of the time and place it was created? How does it relate to us (you) now? You DO NOT have to answer each of these questions- they are a guide to explaining what you see:

-          Is the work purely decorative

-          Is the work a reflection of religious or spiritual beliefs

-          Is the work a reflection of social values? Economic values

-          Does the work reveal injustice(s)

-          Is the work an educational tool

-          Is the work political propaganda

-          Is the work a precious object

-          Is the work an expression of aesthetic value

-          Does the work create an environment

-          Is the work an expression of the artist’s psyche

• This guideline is courtesy of E. Albert

****Important -In your discussion of a work of art, include your reaction to it and why.

                                            MUSEUM VISIT

Metropolitan Museum of Art or Any Art Museum (The Frick, MoMA, The Whitney, The Guggenheim etc.

(The Met is LOCATED 1000 5^TH AVENUE BETWEEN 80^TH AND 84^TH STREETS)

Choose 4 works to discuss- you may choose other works than the ones suggested.  4 pages.

This is to be written as an academic paper and not as a list of works. Integrate your choices into a unified paper, including introduction, body and conclusion.  

*****CITE ALL SOURCES FOR INFORMATION THAT IS NOT FROM YOUR OWN PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE

You do NOT Need to include pictures- your description should be enough for the reader to visualize the work you are discussing.

 Metropolitan Museum of Art - 1000 5th Avenue @ 82nd Street

Read admission policy carefully- there are discounts for NYC residents and Students 

Monday- Thurs: 9:30- 5:30)

Friday, Saturday- 9:30- 9:00PM

Sunday- 9:30-5:30

There are free music concerts on Friday and Saturdays. Check website for details

Get a plan of the Museum at the information center in the main entrance area, the Great Hall. You will need to ask the many guards that are around for directions to different areas as the plan is confusing.

The following are just some suggestions; you are free to choose your own works:

1.      Egyptian Art: Ground level, right of entrance

          Look for 9-10C Dynasties, 2160-2010 BC.

                            Hieroglyphics- papyrus from Book of the Dead

                            Jewelry

                            Mummies from any period

     **Relief fragments depicting Attendants of the Royal Family Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten. ca. 1353-1336 B.C.  Dancers with a tamborine (near Sackler Wing- ground level

2. Greek and Roman Art - ground level

             Terracotta vases and vessels. 

    ** Terracotta Column-Krater (vessel for mixing wine and water)

                       31.11.11  Dionysos and followers.

   ** Terracotta Panathenaic Prize Amphora of Foot Race 14,30.12

Greek and Roman statues

        ** Marble Relief with Dancing Maenad Roman 27 BC

           330 BC Armor for man and horse

3.Medieval Art- ground level

    ** tapestries- Shepherd and Shepherdess making music  1500-1530

                             Shepherd and Shepherdess dancing

4. Arms and Armor - ground level

                 -Armor of Henry II of France or    - decorated weapons

5. Sculpture Garden- Ground

          ** Leda and the Swan 2 different sculptures

         **The Burghers of Calais

         **Perseus with the head of Medusa

2nd Floor-

European Painting and sculpture:

6. Auguste Rodin:

         ** “Adam”

        **  “The Thinker” (small bronze)

        ** The 3 Shades

7. Vincent Van Gogh

     ** “Irises”

8.Henri J.F. Rousseau

   ** “The Repast of the Lion”

9. Claude Monet

** “Rouen Cathedral”

10.  Edgar (Hilaire Germain) Degas

    ** “The Dance Class”

    **”The Dance Lesson”

   ** “Dancer”

    ** Bronze statues of dancers

11. Georges Seurat-

    Choose “Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of Jatte”

         Or “ Circus Sideshow”

12. Francisco de Goya y Luciente

     Find a painting you like

13. Musical Instruments

       ** the oldest piano

        ** Double Virginal

Modern Art section:

15: Alexander Calder

     ** Mobile, 1942

16. Piet Mondrian

    ** “Composition with Yellow, Blue, Black, Red and Gray”

17. Pablo Picasso

  ** “The Actor” or any other painting by him

18. Andy Warhol

     Choose one or:

   ** “Skull”

19. Henri Matisse

  ** “Study for Dance”

20. Jasper Johns

  ** White Flag

21. Joan Miro

  **”Animated Landscape”

22. Yves Tanguy

  **”The Satin Tuning”

23. Jackson Pollock

  ** “Autumn Rhythm 30”

24. Roy Litchenstein

  ** “Stepping Out”

25. New exhibitions

VISUAL ART VOCABULARY

Information and definitions from: Perceiving the Arts by Dennis Sporre, Prentice Hall Inc., NJ. 2000.

Visual arts such as painting, photography, prints etc are 2 dimensional for the most part. Sculpture is 3 dimensional.

ELEMENTS OF ART:

1.      Line- the basic building block of a visual art design. Line can be imaginary. It identifies the form of the image. Used to control the viewer’s vision, create unity.

2.       Form – is the shape of the image/object. Form is the shape described by the line.

3.      Color – color characteristics such as Hue (primary colors; red, yellow, blue and secondary hues; green, orange, violet – basic hues of the spectrum)

4.      Value – the range of possibilities between black and white.

5.      Mass (space)- only 3 dimensional objects have mass as in sculpture, but 2 dimensional objects can give the illusion of mass within the picture

6.      Texture – the feel- apparent roughness or smoothness and everything between the 2 extremes.

MEDIUM:  is the material used to create the work of art such as oil paints, watercolors, acrylics, fresco, gouache, and ink. The medium can also be bronze, marble, clay, wood or any other material used in the creation of the work.

a.       oils- used from the beginning of the 15^th century. Possibly the most popular medium.

b.      Watercolor –broad category of color medium using water as a thinner.

c.       Tempera – opaque watercolor medium used for centuries from ancient Egypt to present.

d.      Acrylics – modern synthetics, but most are water soluble (dissolve in water)

e.       Fresco- wall painting technique – pigments (substances used as coloring) are applied to plaster as in Michelangelo’s fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

f.       Gouache- watercolor medium mixed with gum. Final product is opaque

g.      Ink – similar in characteristics to watercolor.

PRINCIPLES:

A.    Repetition – how the design may be structured – are the basic elements repeated or alternated.

             Rhythm – as in music- the recurrence of elements in a composition. Regular or irregular.

            Harmony – the logic of the repetition. Harmony appears when the elements work in a natural sense.

            Variation- as in music, relationship of the repetition and variations on the theme.

B.     Balance –

             Symmetry – balancing like forms in a composition

            Asymmetry – unequal in the use of forms in the composition

C.     Unity – striving for a sense of completeness in the artwork. All the elements of the composition working together.

PERSPECTIVE:  tool used to indicate spatial relationships in a picture.

a.       Linear perspective- use of line to demonstrate diminishing size

b.      Aerial perspective – special relationships through the use of atmosphere and light as in objects in the distance being less detailed.

SUBJECT MATTER:

How the subject is treated – verisimilitude (the quality of appaearing to be real) to non-objectivity and everything in between; Expressionism, Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism etc.

SCULPTURE

Three-dimensional art form using Full Round – intended viewing from all sides/angles.

Relief- work is attached to a background

Linear- emphasis on construction using wire or tubing.

Employs same elements are other visual arts- Line, Form. Mass (space), Color, Texture.

Principles of proportion- relationship of shapes to other shapes

Principle of repetition