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Refer to the glossary of words on the right if you ever get stuck!

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Meaning and Subject Matter

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Composition and Context

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As a class, let's talk over 10 words/phrases on composition, and 10 on context!

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Formal elements
Symbolism
Space

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As a class, let's talk over 10 words/phrases on meaning, and 10 on subject matter!

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A work of art can be analyzed by considering a variety of aspects of it individually. These aspects are often known as the "formal elements of art." They include form, shape, line, color, value, space and texture.

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For this unit we are going to be examining a selection of works to begin learning about the formal elements associated with art, and the kind of language that is used.

We will be looking at the styles, ideas, meanings, themes, and contexts of different works, as well as exploring how different types of media are used in art.

There will be an activity associated with each lesson (3 in total) to test our and master our knowledge so we can use it to unpick (analyse) future art works!

You are welcome to refer back to this Padlet to look up past lessons, but make sure you take notes during class! I will be talking through each point and there may be things I say which aren't included here!

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Composition is the way that something is made up or arranged.

There are different types of composition in art:

Tondo means "a circular work of art." It is an Italian Renaissance term, for round paintings that are normally over 60cm in diameter. Because the painting is a circle shape and not your standard vertical/horizontal rectangle, everything in the work needs to follow a circular shape.

Grids are a way of setting up a work into (imaginary) squares. Think of the viewfinder that appears in your camera app or on Instagram - this is a way an image can be composed using these invisible, imaginary lines.

For a pyramid composition, the things inside a work is set up in a triangle shape.

A focal point is the main part of the picture that draws the viewer's attention.

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Meaning refers to the ideas, messages and/or themes conveyed through the features of art works. In a nutshell, it is what the work is about!

What the work is about might not always be obvious just by looking at it. This is why we need to read about the work and the artist so we know what they were thinking about!

Note: often the title of an artwork can reveal what it is about. Use that as a starting point!

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Born 1990, Auckland
A Samoan photographer whose documentary photographs focus on examining her family and community.

Below: "Pie & Coke", 2011

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Born 1832, Paris
Edouard Manet was a French painter who depicted everyday scenes of people and city life. He was a leading artist in the transition from realism to impressionism.

Below: "Bunch of Asparagus", 1880

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You have 5 minutes to look up images from Edith Amituanai's "From the End of My Driveway" series. In your books, write down how the composition of all these images is similar.

In what way has Amituanai composed/placed the people in all of these pictures?
What is the common way in which she has laid out these pictures?

Follow this link to get started!

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Line is the use of various marks, outlines, and curves during artwork and design. It can act as the visual path that enables our eyes to move within a work!

Texture is a word used to describe how something feels or looks, often in reference to its surface.

Colours can be described as warm (red, yellow) or cool (blue, gray), depending on which end of the colour spectrum they fall.
Dark colours in a composition suggest a lack of light, as in a night or interior scene. Dark colours can often convey a sense of mystery or foreboding.

Light colours often describe a light source or light reflected within the composition.

Light has two words used often when describing art:

Chiaroscuro - Italian for light/dark. Shading forms with strong contrasts.

Sfumato -  Italian for "shaded off". A gradual, ever so slight transition of colour from light to dark.

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Let's stretch for a minute!

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1. The painting was a commission (paid request) by Charles Ephurussi for 800 francs

2. Manet sent this finished painting to him. Ephurussi liked it so much that he paid 1000 francs!

3. When he realised that he got this extra money, Manet quickly painted and sent a smaller painting of one asparagus sprig ("A Sprig of Asparagus", 1880) and attached a note saying "There was one missing from your bundle."

We could have only figured out the story and meaning from hearing about it, it would have be impossible to guess just by looking! This is why reading in Art History is so important

Below: "A Sprig of Asparagus", 1880

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Born 1445, Florence
An Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, known for his religious paintings.

Below: "Mary with the Child and Singing Angels", 1477

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What do you think "subject matter" means? Answer here
You have 3 minutes to complete this task!

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In pairs, find another circular tondo painting by Botticelli on the Internet. Write down the title, date, and describe in a few words how the figures in your chosen painting are composed in the box below.

What can you see in the painting you've selected?
How have the things/people in the work been fit into the painting?
Are they placed inside or outside of the picture frame?

You have 2 minutes to complete this task!

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Write up what tondo paintings you found here!

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Let's look over and have a short 1 minute discussion about what everyone wrote!

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Let's stretch for a minute!

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Context means the circumstances within which an artist works, and how this might influence what it is they're making. For example, if an artist was working during World War II, it is likely the work that they were making was influenced by the context of the destruction, violence etc around them.

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Born 1887, Blainville
A French artist who infamously broke down the boundaries between works of art and everyday objects.

Below: "Bicycle Wheel", 1913

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Marcel Duchamp was an artist famous for shaking up the art world.

He created the idea of a "readymade", where an everyday, ordinary object was placed within an art gallery environment. The argument was that it was the gallery that transformed the objects inside it into art. It was the CONTEXT of the gallery that made the object an artwork.

With this bicycle wheel readymade, Duchamp had made the idea of an artwork the most important aspect. Technique and tradition was seen as less important.

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Born 1968, Porirua Aotearoa
A sculptor of Ngā-Ariki, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki and Rongowhakaata descent whose work often deals with ideas around space, art history and national histories.

Below: "After Dunlop", 1989

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This is everything we can see in an artwork with our eyes. It is entirely visual - a painting of a face could be described as having subject matter that involves portraiture, faces, noses, eyes, hair, etc.

It may also include the ideas, narrative, story and/or topic dealt with in an art work; the person(s) depicted in a portrait or self-portrait; the function of a building.

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What would the subject matter and meaning of Manet's painting be? In pairs, come up with 10 responses for each

We will have 5 minutes to do this task and then we'll brainstorm/share with the rest of the class what we found!

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Born 1975, Samoa
An artist of Samoan and Japanese descent, Kihara’s work engages in a variety of social, political and cultural issues.

In her series A Study of a Samoan Savage, Kihara makes reference to the 19th century practice of photography and pseudo-scientific analysis of people from different cultures, colonised and treated like commodities.

Below: "A Study of a Samoan Savage", 2017

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In pairs, describe what you see (subject matter) in this work by Yuki Kihara and submit your responses to the Answergarden below! You have 5 minutes to complete this task before we review what you have written!

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AnswerGarden is a new minimalistic brainstorm tool for online brainstorming, real time audience participation and classroom feedback.

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Born 1931 Taikarawa & 1935 Port Chalmers

The painter Ralph Hotere and sculptor Bill Culbert were longtime friends who often collaborated on different art projects. Hotere was known for his use of black paint and text, and Culbert was a master of using fluorescent tubes as sculptural objects.

Below: "Pathway to the Sea - Aramoana", 1991

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Let's unpick one of Ralph Hotere and Bill Culbert's works. In pairs and on the Padlet below, create and write two boxes that describe the kind of lines used in the picture shown.
Are the lines curvy, straight, zigzagged? Where are the lines, are they big or small? What do you think it does to the artwork overall?
You have 5 minutes to complete this task!

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Symbols are signs that stand for something or represent something else.

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All of these are symbols we see everyday!

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In a pair, find 10 other examples of symbols online and paste it into this shared Google Doc! I've already got a few in there to help you get started.
You have 1 minute to complete this task!

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Born 1839, Aix-en-Provence
French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the groundwork for Modernism in the 20th Century.

Below: "Still Life with Skull", 1896-98

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Let's try to unpick what kind of different symbols Cézanne has used for this painting. Let's not worry about what the symbols might represent (we will cover this next), but try to submit as many things you can see and take a guess as to what they might represent! I've done a few already to help you get started!
We will go over our responses as a class once we are done.
You have 2 minutes to complete this task!

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AnswerGarden is a new minimalistic brainstorm tool for online brainstorming, real time audience participation and classroom feedback.

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- an example of a vanitas painting
- the skull and the fruits are classic vanitas symbols of life and death. The skull represents death (a person who was once alive), and the fruit represents life/decay (as the fruit slowly rots over time, just as our bodies do)
- these vanitas paintings were supposed to remind us about the certainty of death, that material possessions/wealth/pleasure do not matter (and are vain).

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The amount of room that an object or figure fills in a drawing, painting, or real life in the case of sculpture.

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Born 1985, Whangarei, Aotearoa
New Zealand painter whose work is often highly colourful and abstracted, making many references to Bauhaus, Cubism and Modernism. Much of her work is made in response to these different art movements that have historically been male dominated.

Below: "Beast with Two Backs", 2015

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Born 1954, New Jersey USA
An American photographer best known for her iconic portraits that show women as imagined characters from film and other media.

Below: "Untitled Film Still #21", 1978

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Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #21, 1978, gelatin silver print, 7.5 x 9.5 inches or 19.1 x 24.1 cm (MoMA) Speakers: Dr. Shana Gallagher-Lindsay, Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

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Fill in the blanks of the following document to test your knowledge of subject matter and meaning! This should take you 5 minutes to complete!

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This painting by Imogen Taylor is hanging from the ceiling, and placed in the middle of the room. A 2D work is made 3D!

In groups of three, come up with 3 reasons you might think Taylor has done this with her work. Why do you think she did this to the work? How does it make it different from a normal painting on the wall? We will share our thoughts as a class once we are done.
You have 2 minutes to complete this task!

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The final task to test your knowledge!

This task requires you compare and contrast two artworks that we have covered over the last three lessons.

Write one page that goes over how the two works are similar and/or different from each other.
Write up your comparison in this order:

1. What are the works called?  When were they made? What kind of works are they? Who made the works?

2. What is the subject matter of the works? In what ways are they similar/different?

3. How are the works composed? Is it a 2D or 3D work (if it's 3D, how has it used space?)
In what ways are their compositions similar/different?

4. What do you think the meaning is behind these works? Do you think there is any similarity or difference between the two in what they are trying to say?

5. Can you identify the context behind these works? In what historical period were they made? What was the artist concerned with saying? Are there any similarities or differences between the two?

***

Submit your responses to the Dropbox below! You have 20 minutes to complete this task!

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Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again!

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Now, let's look at the sculptor Michael Parekowhai's work "After Dunlop." Nearly 80 years after Duchamp's original Bicycle Wheel, Parekowhai lovingly made a replica of the sculpture, but using traditional carving techniques and native woods. He challenges Duchamp's idea of the readymade by making a "handmade readymade," arguing that the craft and techniques are just as important as the idea!

He trumped Duchamp through this work, and was able to add his own personal signature into it through the wood carving, showing his Māori heritage. He shifts the context of the work from being about Duchamp to being about Māori carving.

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In your opinion, what is more important in an artwork: the idea or the technique?

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Let's review this lesson with a Kahoot!

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This Padlet has been designed to show all columns for assessors to see, but in a real-life situation I would periodically publish each column and its cards lesson by lesson, task by task.

For any questions, please email me at tom@tomhackshaw.com

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This resource is designed with Year 12 Students in mind, but makes use of language and links included in the Art History Achievement Standards 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4. It also uses some definitions provided by the Visual Arts glossary page listed on NZQA's website.