(remember, a single artwork can have more than one!)

(For a more visual overview have a look at the diagram Easy Visual Analysis that synthesizes the points below)

This is the visual analysis part, an informed, effective discussion of the the Formal Qualities of art, line, shape, color, etc

The top markband descriptor reads: The work provides a consistent, insightful and informed identification and analysis of the formal qualities of the selected pieces.

Why was the work made? What function does it have? An art work can have a purely expressive function or it may have a ceremonial or political or religious, function. Why was it made, what might it mean? For some art works this will be very important, others less so. The emphasis here is on an informed and appropriate interpretation. Go to Function and Purpose page for more on this topic.

Top markband descriptor reads : The work provides a consistent, insightful and informed analysis and demonstrates thorough understanding of the function and purpose of the selected pieces from at least two contrasting cultural contexts.

Where and when was it made, what was happening at the time and place? An informed, appropriate consideration of work within a cultural context: i.e historical, geographical, religious and other relevant contexts.

The ability to make logical and coherent comparisons between the works discussed

Using Art Vocabulary and terminology is always important. Balance of text and visuals, an clear, engaging visual presentation is desirable, layout is considered, writing is legible, artists names are spelled correctly, with sources cited and images referenced correctly. Go to Building Art Vocabulary and Referencing and Citing Sources

HL students reflect on how the work under consideration impacts, influences or otherwise connects to their own art making. This can be quite revelatory and meaningful for some students.

According to Ben Dutton "What Makes Art Art?"

Here is a brief summary of Dutton's annotated cluster-criteria definition of art.
Direct pleasure - Art is "a source of immediate experiential pleasure in itself."
Skill and virtuosity - The making of art requires and demonstrates "specialized" skill
Style. Objects and performances in all art forms are made in recognizable styles, according to rules of form, composition, or expression."
Novelty and creativity -  These qualities, as well as "the capacity to surprise," are integral to art in Dutton's view.
Criticism:"Wherever artistic forms are found, they exist alongside some kind of critical judgment and appreciation, simple or, more likely, elaborate."
Representation - "Art objects . . . represent or imitate real and imagined experiences of the world."
Special focus -  All art is "bracketed off from ordinary life, made a separate and dramatic focus of experience"
Expressive individuality -  A work of art possesses this trait (but so does "[a]ny ordinary activity with a creative component--everyday speech, lecturing, home hospitality" and so on)
Emotional saturation - Art is "shot through with emotion"
Intellectual challenge -  Art "tends to be designed to utilize the combined variety of human perceptual and intellectual capacities to the full extent."
Art traditions and institutions - Works of art "gain their identity by the ways they are found in historical traditions, in lines of historical precedents."
Imaginative experience - The chief defining characteristic of art may be that its objects "provide an imaginative experience for both producers and audiences." 

FUNCTION

Some different functions that art can have

(remember, a single artwork can have more than one!)

Expressive function – expresses the artists’ feelings

Descriptive function – records the likeness of a place or person or other subject.

Conceptual function –the idea or concept behind the work is more important than the object

Practical function-has a practical use, such as clothing, vessels, furniture, a building

Religious function – tells a religious story or is an object of devotion.

Historical narrative function- tells a story of an event in history

Commemorative function – made to honour someone (like a statue of a famous person)

Political function- serves a political purpose, such as propaganda.

Symbolic function – symbolizes certain beliefs or ideas without representing them.

Decorative Function- used to adorn the body, a room, a building etc.

Ritual function – used as part of a ritual or ceremony, or has magical powers.

Shock function – intended to shock or upset the viewer

Medium/ technique:Is it done in an additive or subtractive technique ( “ built up,” as with clay and plaster, or carved it away, as with wood and stone)? Texture/surface Is there intentional evidence of the process and materials, can you see chisel marks in the stone or wood, or feel the texture of modeled clay in the bronze? Or does the artist wish you to “see” the material as something else (i.e.marble as having the material qualities of drapery: soft, flowing, etc.).?

Scale/Placement consider the scale of the sculpture relative to the viewer and the space it is in. Is there a relationshop to the architectural context or the landscape if it is outdoors? Do we know where the sculpture was originally located? From what vantage point was the image to be viewed – from below? from the front? Is there a main view? Could the viewer walk entirely around the object? Did the sculptor plan for it to be viewed from all sides?

Shape/ Space/ Movement How does the sculpture occupy the physical space it inhabits? Does it reach out into it, look or gesture outwards? Does it have holes or voids? (open form) Or is it self-contained and turning inwards (closed form). What is the shape of the space, and does it progress or have implied movement (does it spiral upwards or outwards, does a group seem to move from left to right, etc.)? Does the sculpture actually move? (kinetic), is it interactive ( requires viewer participation)?

Color and Lighting. What colors or tones are present? Was the sculpture originally painted? Has the sculptor created effects through contrasting shadows and highlights? Are there deeply cut areas that create deep shadows? Are the figures modeled vigorously, creating a play of darks and lights, or modeled very smoothly? If we know the original location, did the sculptor take into consideration the lighting of that space?

Function and purpose What was it made for? How has the style and subject of the image been affected by its original function?

Shape/movement the contrapposto pose shifts the weight to one side of the narrow slab and figure is twisting in a graceful upward spiral, which imparts a sense of implied movement and energy, but the form is also closed upon itself, bound rather than open. His face is buried in his arm, almost hidden, emphasizing the inward struggle.

Light plays across the monochrome surface of the stone, creating deep shadows under the arm and knee and evidencing the rough texture of the chisel marks.

Scale/ placement The figure is larger than life ( 256 cm) and this imparts a sense of power and strength. The sculpture can be viewed form all sides but there is definitely a "front view". It was originally intended for a niche in the tomb of Julius II, part of a series of bound figures " i prigioni" ( prisoners). In the Accademia the figure is placed in a corridor with three of these other "prigioni", which came to be known as "slaves", also in various stages of emerging from their marble slabs.

Purpose/ Interpretation It is claimed that the artist deliberately left these figures incomplete to represent the struggle of man to free the spirit from matter.