Vocabulary for Chapter 2

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Vocabulary for Chapter 2 The Visual Experience
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• Philosophy of Art The study of art that involves
  asking and answering all kinds of questions about
  art, how people respond to it, and how it relates
  to our lives.
•  Design The plan the artist uses to organize the
  art elements (line, shape, for, space, etc.) in a
  work of art to achieve a unified composition.

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• Design
• The plan the artist uses to organize the art
  elements (line, shape, for, space, etc.) in a
  work of art to achieve a unified composition.

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Aesthetic Experience The theory of perceiving and
enjoying something for its beauty and pleasurable
qualities. This theory tries to explain and
categorize our responses to art forms.
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Art Criticism A systematic discussion of the
characteristics of an artwork, usually involving
four stages description, analysis,
interpretation and judgment.
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Description The facts of an artwork such as
objects, people, shapes, and colors.
Renoir
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• Elements of Art The building blocks of art
  space, line, shape, form, color, value, and
  texture. The tools the artist works with to
  create an artwork.
• Principles of Design Balance, emphasis, rhythm,
  movement, repetition, contrast, and unity. The
  methods or techniques the artists use to organize
  or design artworks by controlling and ordering
  the elements of art.
• Composition The act of organizing the elements
  of an artwork into harmoniously unified whole.

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AnalysisThe examination of the relationships
among the facts (objects, people, shapes, colors)
in an artwork.
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• Interpretation Explanation of the meaning of
  the work.

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• Evaluation Process to determine the quality or
  lasting importance of a work.

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• Formalism Way of using the elements of art and
  principles of design to evaluate work.
•  Expressiveness Refers to how effectively the
  work reflects a theme or world view.

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Van Gogh
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Brancussi
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Munch
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A Critique Of Mary Cassatt's Painting, The Bath
Step One, Description (What do you see in the
artwork? Literal (Subject) Qualities and
Elements?) This is a painting showing a woman
bathing a small child. They are in a bedroom with
a patterned carpet (green squares on a red
background with a flower in the center of each
square), flowered wallpaper and a
chest-of-drawers that has a painted flower design
on it. There is a washbasin on the floor in which
the woman is bathing the child's feet and next to
it is a water pitcher with a flower design. The
chest-of-drawers, washbasin and pitcher all have
shiny, gold-trimmed edges. The woman is wearing a
long dress with bold green, white and pinkish
stripes that covers all but her head and hands.
The child has a white towel wrapped around her
waist. Both people have black hair and light,
cream colors and bright pinks in their skin
color. The woman and the child are looking down
at the child's feet in the basin the woman has
her right hand around the child's right foot. The
room behind them is a much darker value than are
the people and there are fewer details in the
background objects. Even the flower decorations
are painted quickly with very simple shapes.
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A Critique Of Mary Cassatt's Painting, The Bath
Step Two, Analysis (How is the artwork
organized? Principles?) The artist has used value
to emphasize the child and the woman's face by
making the faces and the child's body and towel
much lighter in value than the rest of the
painting and by placing this lightest area
against the dark values of the room for greatest
contrast. The very light value of the skin next
to the very dark value of the hair also
strengthens this area of emphasis. There are
light values that run from the top left to the
bottom right of the painting. The light pitcher
in the bottom right is balanced by the light
value of the wallpaper in the upper left. The
dark values of the painting are also balanced
with about equal areas of very dark value on
either side of the painting. The artist has
created a path of movement for the viewer's eyes
that begins with the faces, (lightest area) and
continues down the woman's arm to the basin. The
basin becomes a second area of emphasis because
of its large, round, simple shape. Since both the
woman and child are directing their attention to
that area, that also gives it added importance in
the picture. The path of movement continues from
the basin to the pitcher that has colors and
textures that are very similar to the basin. The
vertical shape of the pitcher acts like an arrow
that directs the viewer's attention back toward
the top of the picture. The curves made by the
top of the pitcher, the woman's knees and the
child's bent elbow create a rhythmic movement
that brings us back to the faces of the people.
The picture is given unity (harmony) by the
repetition of flower shapes on the floor,
pitcher, walls and chest the repetition of gold
lines in the trim of the basin, pitcher and
chest and by the repetition of the reds, greens
and bluish whites throughout the picture. Variety
is created by using many different shapes to
represent flowers and by the difference between
the flower patterns, the striped pattern on the
woman's dress and the geometric block pattern of
the floor.
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A Critique Of Mary Cassatt's Painting, The Bath
Step Three, Interpretation (What is the artist
saying? What does the painting mean?) This
painting is a representation of a quiet, personal
moment between a mother and child. Both mother
and child seem very calm as they turn their
attention to a very intimate, day-to-day
activity. They are sharing a time to relax and
talk-maybe about things that have happened during
the day or about things that are going to happen.
They may be sharing a routine to get ready for an
afternoon nap. The colors give a warm, soothing
glow to a little snapshot of daily life. It's
almost as if the artist invites us to share in
this warm, tender moment.
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A Critique Of Mary Cassatt's Painting, The Bath
Step Four, Judgment (Is the artwork successful?
Why or why not?) This is a very successful
painting in terms of any one of the theories of
art. The artist's main concern is in presenting a
mood (emotionalism) that she does through her
choice of subject and through her choice of
colors for the painting. The artist is obviously
skilled in using the elements and principles as
the painting is very well organized. The painting
is arranged so that it points the viewer to those
things that the artist considers to be most
important to her message. She uses the visual
qualities to help make a stronger emotional
statement. The painting also shows much skill in
painting a realistic subject. The figures are
very well proportioned and many realistic details
have been painted into the face and hands of the
people. Yet, the background of the painting shows
little concern for exactness and detail. The
artist uses her ability to paint figures
realistically in a very formalist way to help
point the viewer's attention to the expressive
quality of the work. This painting satisfies each
of the three theories of art Imitationalism,
Formalism, Emotionalism.