To help you out for when you are conducting your research for your papers, I want to spend a few minutes talking about four of the major areas of art criticism: Description, Analysis, Interpretation and Judgment. Of course it will vary depending on the art form being critiqued but here are a few questions that you will want to consider when researching your topic.

 

Description – Think of ways to describe the work without using value words such as "beautiful" or "ugly". For example:

 What is the title and who is the artist or artists?

 When and where was the work created?

 Describe the elements of the work (i.e., color, line movement, light, space, etc.)

 Describe the technical qualities of the work (i.e., tools, materials, instruments, etc.)

 Describe the subject matter. What is it about? What was the purpose?

 

 

Analysis – Describe how the work is organized as a complete composition:

 How is the work constructed or planned (i.e., acts, movements, lines)? Describe the composition (color, line, shape). Is it balanced? Is it symmetrical or asymmetrical?

 Identify some of the similarities throughout the work (i.e., specific scene, figure movement).

 If the work has subjects or characters, what are the relationships between or among them?

 What does the piece say about the time and place in which it was made?

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