The Art of the Critique

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The Art of the Critique

• H.C. JoAnn Park

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Content Area / Grade Level

• Art I, Grades 9th 12th

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Purpose.

• In order to push creative expression, it is
  essential to learn that justification and
  analysis are components that are as important to
  a piece of art as what is being depicted. Today,
  anyone can create a painting, drawing, or
  sculpture, but it is theory and purpose that
  separates art from simple craft. Learning how to
  evaluate artwork is imperative in making this
  determination.
• In this presentation, the student will role-play
  as new gallery owner/curator. In order to put a
  successful exhibition together it is necessary to
  learn how to evaluate, or critique, artwork.

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TEKS Objectives

• 117.52. Art, Level I.
• (4) Response/evaluation. The student makes
  informed judgments about personal artworks and
  the artworks of others. The student is expected
  to
• (A) interpret, evaluate, and justify artistic
  decisions in personal artworks and
• (B) select and analyze original artworks,
  portfolios, and exhibitions by peers and others
  to form precise conclusions about formal
  qualities, historical and cultural contexts,
  intents, and meanings.

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Your Mission

• You are a new gallery owner in charge of curating
  your own exhibition. People from far and wide,
  (some with large pocketbooks as well), will come
  to see what you have to offer in your brand new
  gallery space.

Robert Rauschenberg. Yellow Body, 1968. Solvent
transfer on paper with pencil, watercolor,
gouache, and wash, 22 1/2 x 30 inches.
Courtesy of the Guggenheim Collection.
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Where to begin??!!!

• Obviously, you want your inaugural exhibit to be
  a smashing success, but being fairly new to the
  business of art, you are not sure just where to
  begin.

Auguste Rodin. The Thinker (Le Penseur), model
1880, cast 1901bronze, 71.5 x 36.4 x 59.5 cm (28
1/8 x 14 5/16 x 23 7/16 in.)
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder A matter
of aesthetics.

• People often approach art thinking, I know what
  I like when I see it.
• With this thought in mind, various curators will
  have various aesthetic preferences as well.
• However, regardless of aesthetic preferences,
  certain observations can be made to evaluate
  works of art.

Composition, 1955. Oil, enamel, and charcoal on
canvas, 79 1/8 x 69 1/8 inches. Courtesy of the
Guggenheim Collection.
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Definition Critique.

• To critique is to critically examine a thing the
  thing in this case being art.
• To begin, we must first ask, What is art?

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What is art?

• Art can be broken down into two basic elements
• FORM and
  CONTENT.

Wayne Thiebaud. Bakery Counter, 1962.Oil on
canvas54 7/8 x 71 7/8 in (139.4 x 182.6 cm)
Courtesy of Mark Hardens Artchive.
Donald Sultan. Black Lemons May 20 1985, 1985.
Charcoal on paper. 39 ¾ x 48 inches. Courtesy
of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
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Form.

• Formal elements make up the physical aspect of a
  work which includes
• Medium- is it 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional?
  What materials are used?
• Scale- what is the size?
• Composition- how is a painting organized?
  Describe what is in it. starting from one side.
  (Left to right, top to bottom, ect.)
• Line- literal or implied lines. Do they create a
  sense of movement?
• Color- hue and value is it monochromatic?
  Polychromatic?
• Texture- actual or implied texture is it smooth?
  Is it rough?
• Balance- symmetrical or asymmetrical

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Content .

• Content refers to what a piece of artwork is all
  about. This usually answers questions concerning
  the whats and whys of a work.
• Elements include
• Subject matter- what is being depicted
• Style- is it representational? (The image is
  fairly easy to identify.) Is it realistic? Is it
  abstracted?
• Context- under what conditions was the work being
  created? Was it personally motivated?
  Politically motivated?

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The Critique.

• To systematically analyze these elements is to
  critique.
• Elements of form, subject matter, and style can
  all usually be determined by visual observation.
• Determining CONTEXT, however, requires extra
  work. Context, remember, involves circumstance
  and to determine this requires additional
  research.

Andy Warhol. Birth of Venus (after Botticelli).
Courtesy of Mark Hardens Artchive.
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Example!

• To demonstrate, we will critique Pablo Picassos
  Guernica, keeping the elements of FORM and
  CONTENT in mind.

Pablo Picasso. Guernica, 1937. Oil on canvas.
349.3 x 776.6 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid,
Spain. Courtesy of ArtCyclopedia.
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Pablo Picassos GuernicaFormal Elements.

• Guernica is a two-dimensional oil on canvas
  painting that measures 349.3 x 776.6 cm, making
  it a large scale painting.
• The scene is one of anguish. Starting from the
  left, there is a bull. Below the bull sits a
  distraught woman with her dead child. Various
  body parts litter the foreground and a horse
  seems to be crying out. Towards the right are
  ghostly figures and a man crying out as well.

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• There is an implied line that takes the eye from
  the bull to the woman, down to the foreground
  where the various remains lay across the bottom.
  The eye is then led upwards with the outstretched
  arms of the man and taken back across by the
  outstretched arm holding a candle to where the
  spotlit horse cries out.
• Guernica is a monochromatic work done in shades
  of grey and black. The overall texture of the
  painting is smooth. Although the painting is
  asymmetrical, it achieves a sense of balance.

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Pablo Picassos GuernicaElements of Content.

• The scene depicted seems to be the aftermath of a
  horrible tragedy.
• It is a representational painting wherein the
  figures are abstracted. (Depicts people, but in
  a way that is not realistic.)

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Pablo Picasso. Guernica, 1937. Oil on canvas.
349.3 x 776.6 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid,
Spain. Courtesy of ArtCyclopedia.

• Picasso was commissioned by the Spanish Pavilion
  in 1937 to create a work for the worlds fair in
  Paris.
• Shortly after accepting the commission, Nazis
  forces shocked the world with the first aerial
  civilian assault on the Spanish village of
  Guernica.
• The painting was created in reaction to this
  horrible atrocity and expressively depicts the
  anguish of not only the people of the tiny
  village, but the anguish of the artist and of the
  world during this time of war. (Marilyn
  Stokstads Art History.)
• The why part of this particular painting is
  integral in understanding it. Without really
  knowing what it is about, it is simply a painting
  in disarray. Knowing what we now know about it
  adds an enriching new element of understanding.

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Perspective.

• In addition to answering issues of FORM and
  CONTENT, also keep in mind your own personal
  reactions.
• What is your initial reaction?
• What is your reaction after further research?
• How has your opinion changed if at all?

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YOU are the critic!

• To Review

• When evaluating, or critiquing, work describe
  issues of FORM and CONTENT.

• Determining CONTEXT often requires further
  research and will ultimately enrich your
  understanding of not only a particular work, but
  of art in general. The question of why is
  sometimes more important than the what that is
  depicted.

• Dont forget to include personal reactions.
  Personal aesthetics vary and including your own
  thoughts is an important form of expression.

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Fin.

• Learning to critique will not only enrich your
  appreciation of art, but keeping the elements of
  FORM and CONTENT in mind will ultimately improve
  your own artwork as well.
• You are now finished with your training and may
  now go on to produce an exhibit that will astound
  the art world.

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Credits.

• Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. Rev. ed. New
  York Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1999.
• Freeland, Cynthia. But is it Art? New York
  Oxford University Press, Inc., 2001.
• Mark Hardens Artchive http//www.artchive.com/ft
  p_site.htm
• The On-line Picasso Project. Dr. Enrique Mallen.
  http//www.tamu.edu/mocl/picasso/
• Artcyclopedia. http//www.artcyclopedia.com/