A Guide to Writing about Art

To gain an insite in how to write this essay properly I have taken out 'A short Guide to Wriiting about art by Sylvan Barnet' from the library. This has been an interesting read, here are just a few notes I have taken from it.

Subject matter and context
Before I can go on and analyse images I need to know the difference between subject matter and context or meaning. The subject could be the same but the meaning could be completely different. 

Form and Context
The meaning or context of a work of art is not the opposite of form. What medium paintings and drawings are on reflect the context. Everything conveys a message and is done for a reason. For example, Andy Warhol's Gold Marylyn Monroe. 

"The reason I'm painting this way is because I want to be a machine." This printing method that warhol uses is not meant for high details, Warhol wants more impact. Warhol didn't begin with a live model but with a publicity image that the colours have been miss angled. The image of Monroe just her head is printed on a canvas that is almost 7 feet tall and almost 5 feet wide, to which gold paint has been applied in somewhat a slapdash manner. The message that Marylyn is the star in heaven a place, but in a tacky tinsel town heaven. 

This is a piece I saw in Leeds Gallery today by Andy Warhol, called 'Mao' created in 1973 using the same screen print method with only 5 colours. 

To get the context the meanings of work we usually need to interpret: 

• the subject matter
• the material and the form (shape, size, texture, colour and the like)
• the sociohistoric context
• the artists intentions (if known)

I have also read pages on how to write a formal analysis, I think this will be a good book to refer back to while writing my essay to make sure I'm on track and not just babbling on and on. 

Formal Anaylsis assumes a work of art is :

• a constucted object 
• with sable meaning 
• that can be ascertained by studying the relationships between the elements of the work