How does the photographer compose his or her work?

1. Description
a) Describe ONE work of art: not a few works of art at the museum, not the history of the artist or his/her
other works of art, not the museum itself.
b) Pick an original. Write about an original work of art, not a copy. The Timken Museum of Art has a copy of
Giovanni da Bolognas Mercury in its lobby area. Dont write about that.
c) Include in your first paragraph: all of the factual, objective information, such as museum, artist, title, date
(give the date the work was made, not the artists birth and death dates), material, and size, all written in
complete sentences. For example, you may start off your paper by writing, A work of art that really impressed
me was the Getty Bronze (Statue of a Victorious Athlete) from c. 310 B.C. This life-size, bronze sculpture was
probably made by Lysippus and can be seen at the Getty Villa in Malibu… Do not simply put these facts in list
form (Getty Bronze. By Lysippus. Bronze. c. 310 B.C. Lifesize. Getty Villa, Malibu.). After giving the facts,
go into a description of the subject matter and style of the work in your next paragraphs.
d) Go from general to specific. In your description, start off broad and general, then focus in on the details.
For example, if you are going to write about a painting that shows a battle with many figures, dont start off by
describing each soldier in detail. Rather, describe the bigger picture first (In this painting of a battle, two
armies are massed on a plain, about to engage in combat in the center of the painting. In the background, there
is a town in flames. Behind the town a mountain range rises toward a stormy, cloudy sky…). Now that youve
set the scene, go into greater detail (The army on the left is composed of foot soldiers with swords in the front
lines, then archers behind them, and finally knights in armor on horseback. The knights are holding lances.
The artist has shown these figures with great detail and realism. Red is the dominant color for this army, which
can be seen in the archers cloaks, the knights shields, and the banners held by the horsemen in front of the
knights…). As you write, imagine youre watching a movie (your work of art) that starts off with a wide shot
of a scene (your general description) and then zooms in for close-ups (the details of your piece).
e) Be detailed: assume I know nothing about the work of art. For example, if you pick a painting called Still
Life with Apples, dont assume that I know what the painting looks like. There are many Still Life with
Apples, so you need to describe your work. How many apples are shown? Are they fresh or rotten? What
color are they? How are they lit? How are they arranged? What type of bowl are they in? What color is the
bowl? Whats in the background (dont forget to describe the background, students sometimes forget this)?
Describe, describe, describe!
f) Organize! Remember to organize your paper. A well-organized paper will receive a better grade than one in
which elements of the work of art are simply listed without any clear focus or progression.
g) Use art terms. Use at least five Art History terms from class in your paper. Its a good idea to use more
than five to ensure you get full credit! Put each term in bold font so that you get credit. These can be terms
from formal analysis, terms from our quizzes, or just terms that we use regularly in class. If youre unsure
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about whether a word counts, you can always check with me, or ask yourself if it has a different use in Art
History than it does just in the English language.
h) A warning about photographs. One of the museums you may visit is the Museum of Photographic Arts.
Photographs that are on display at this museum are works of art. In describing and analyzing a photograph, you
need to approach it with the same criteria you would use in looking at a painting. In other words, what is the
subject matter? How does the photographer compose his or her work? Is this a close-up? If so, how does this
effect the mood of the piece? Why has the photographer picked this particular angle to shoot from? How has
the light been manipulated? Is there a range of blacks, grays, and whites, or are there only extremes of light and
dark? Is color used? Is there a sense of abstraction in the work? Is the print something other than a
straightforward depiction of a scene? All of the same considerations that go into making a painting also go
into making a photograph. The problem that Ive seen students run into is when they assume that the object
in the photograph is the work of art, and not the photograph itself. At a museum, if you see a photograph of an
ancient temple, the photograph is the work of art, not, in this case, the temple. Therefore, you wouldnt want to
go into detail describing the architecture of the temple, since that isnt the work of art for the purposes of this
assignment.

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