A Short Guide to Writing About Art

Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 3
Copyright Page......Page 4
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 16
Contents......Page 7
Preface......Page 13
What Is Art?......Page 19
Why Write about Art?......Page 26
The Imagined Reader as the Writer’s Collaborator......Page 27
The Functions of Critical Writing......Page 29
Some Words about Critical Thinking......Page 31
Douglas Lee “Whistler’s Japanese Mother”......Page 32
The Essay Analyzed......Page 36
A Checklist for a Thesis Statement......Page 37
A Note on Outlining......Page 39
Interpretation and Interpretations......Page 40
Who Creates “Meaning”—Artist or Viewer?......Page 41
A Note about the Word “Art”......Page 44
When We Look, Do We See a Masterpiece—or Ourselves?......Page 45
The Relevance of Context: The Effect of the Museum and the Picture Book......Page 47
Arguing an Interpretation: Supporting a Thesis......Page 50
Expressing Opinions: The Writer’s “I”......Page 52
Standing Back: Kinds of Writing (Informing and Persuading)......Page 55
Generating Ideas......Page 60
Revising a Draft......Page 63
Checklist of Basic Matters......Page 65
What Formal Analysis Is......Page 66
Formal Analysis Versus Description......Page 67
Opposition to Formal Analysis......Page 68
Style as the Shaper of Form......Page 70
Sample Essay: A Formal Analysis......Page 72
Stephen Beer “Formal Analysis: Prince Khunera as a Scribe”......Page 73
Behind the Scene: Beer’s Essay, from Early Responses to Final Version......Page 75
Postscript: Thoughts about the Words “Realistic” and “Idealized”......Page 78
Cautionary Words about Digital Images......Page 85
Seeing and Saying......Page 87
Jessica Emkay “Michelangelo’s David: An Analysis”......Page 89
The Analysis Briefly Analyzed......Page 91
Subject Matter and Content......Page 92
Form and Content......Page 93
Getting Ideas for Essays: Asking Questions to Get Answers......Page 95
Basic Questions......Page 96
Drawing and Painting......Page 98
Sculpture......Page 115
Architecture......Page 127
Photography......Page 137
Video Art......Page 147
Another Look at the Questions......Page 148
Comparing as a Way of Discovering......Page 150
Two Ways of Organizing a Comparison......Page 151
Rebecca Bedell “John Singleton Copley’s Early Development: From Mrs. Joseph Mann to Mrs. Ezekial Goldthwait”......Page 156
Checklist for Writing a Comparison......Page 163
Keeping the Reader in Mind......Page 164
A Sample Entry......Page 168
Checklist for Writing a Catalog Entry......Page 171
What a Review Is......Page 172
Drafting a Review......Page 174
A Note on Reviewing an Exhibition of Non-Western Art......Page 177
A Note on Reviewing a Highly Controversial Exhibition......Page 178
Checklist for Revising a Review......Page 182
Phyllis Tuchman, “Mark Rothko”......Page 183
8 VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS: WRITING TEXT PANELS AND OTHER MATERIALS......Page 188
Kinds of Exhibitions......Page 189
Kinds of Writing Assignments......Page 190
The Basic Strategy......Page 200
Looking Closely: Approaching a First Draft......Page 201
Revising: Achieving a Readable Draft......Page 204
Checklist for Revising a Draft......Page 207
Checklist for Peer Review......Page 208
Preparing the Final Version......Page 210
Principles of Style......Page 211
Denotation......Page 212
Concreteness......Page 213
A Note on the Use of “This” Without a Concrete Reference......Page 214
A Note on Technical Language and on Jargon......Page 215
The Writer’s Voice: Tone......Page 218
Repetition......Page 219
The Sound of Sense, The Sense of Sound......Page 220
Economy......Page 221
Wordy Beginnings......Page 223
Passive Voice......Page 224
Variety......Page 225
Subordination......Page 226
Unity......Page 228
Coherence......Page 233
How Long Should a Paragraph Be?......Page 235
Introductory Paragraphs......Page 237
Concluding Paragraphs......Page 240
Checklist for Revising Paragraphs......Page 242
A Note on Tenses......Page 243
Connoisseurship......Page 244
History and Criticism......Page 246
Accounting for Taste......Page 247
Arguing about Values......Page 258
Historical Scholarship and Values......Page 259
12 SOME CRITICAL APPROACHES......Page 262
Social History: The New Art History and Marxism......Page 263
Gender Studies: Feminist Criticism and Gay and Lesbian Studies......Page 270
Biographical Studies......Page 279
Psychoanalytic Studies......Page 280
Iconography and Iconology......Page 282
13 WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER......Page 288
A Concise Overview......Page 289
Primary and Secondary Materials......Page 290
From Subject to Thesis......Page 291
Checklist for a Thesis Sentence......Page 292
The Library Catalog and Delivery and Discovery Services......Page 293
Browsing in Encyclopedias, Books, and Book Reviews......Page 296
Subscription Databases Indexing Published Material......Page 298
Other Guides......Page 301
Art Research and the World Wide Web......Page 303
Museum Directories......Page 304
Finding, Viewing, and Downloading Images......Page 305
Evaluating Web Sites......Page 306
Referencing Web Pages......Page 307
Checklist for Electronic Documentation......Page 308
Citations for Electronic Materials......Page 309
Keeping a Sense of Proportion......Page 310
Reading and Taking Notes......Page 312
Checklist for Note-Taking......Page 316
Incorporating Your Reading into Your Thinking: The Art of Synthesis......Page 317
Drafting and Revising the Paper......Page 318
Checklist for Reviewing a Revised Draft of a Research Paper......Page 323
Basic Manuscript Form......Page 325
Capitalization......Page 330
Foreign Words and Quotations in Foreign Languages......Page 331
Left and Right in Describing Pictures......Page 332
Names......Page 333
Avoiding Sexist Language......Page 334
Avoiding Eurocentric Language......Page 335
Spelling......Page 339
Titles......Page 340
Quotations and Quotation Marks......Page 341
Borrowing Without Plagiarizing......Page 345
“But How Else Can I Put It?”......Page 349
Documentation......Page 351
Kinds of Notes......Page 352
Chicago Manual of Style......Page 353
Books......Page 354
Journals and Newspapers......Page 356
Secondhand References......Page 357
Electronic Citations......Page 358
Bibliographic Style......Page 359
What Examinations Are......Page 363
Writing Essay answers......Page 364
Last Words......Page 368
B......Page 369
C......Page 370
D......Page 371
F......Page 372
H......Page 373
K......Page 374
M......Page 375
P......Page 376
R......Page 377
S......Page 378
V......Page 379
Z......Page 380
SYMBOLS COMMONLY USED IN ANNOTATING PAPERS......Page 385
BRIEF GUIDE TO INSTRUCTION IN WRITING......Page 386