Art (Fine arts, Performing arts)

The second writing assignment concerns historical information and context. On a basic level, this can be understood as investigating the “who, what, when, where, and how” of an artwork. This is a basic research paper that covers the details surrounding your chosen piece. You may investigate why and how it was created, such as provenance, commission, patronage; or, you may investigate how the historical understanding of the piece has changed throughout the years, using specific examples from other art historians. CITE ALL YOUR SOURCES.

The length of this paper should be between 750-1000 words, this comes to 3-4 pages. Please include the word count at the end of your paper.

Formatting

Font: Times New Roman or Helvetica, 12 pt.

Spacing: Double-spaced, with standard 1 inch margins.

Page Order: Title Page, Historical Context, Bibliography, Image

Title page: Please include a title page with your name, the date, the title of the assignment and the title of your paper.

Headers: Please include a page number in the upper right corner.

Citations: Citation is still paramount. You must follow Chicago format. Below are good online guides to Chicago Style if you are unfamiliar. As for citations, we want footnotes or endnotes, NOT parenthetical citations.

Visual Analysis: Choose one of the following works from the textbook and write a 500-750 words or 2 to 3 page paper that analyzes the work by discussing how the principles of design are used in it. For a thorough discussion be sure to include what you’ve learned about the visual elements. To begin, you might make a list of the principles of design and explain how each is used in the work you’ve chosen, then work up your list into essay form.

7th edition:
fig. #8-17, p. 163; Las Meninas by D. Velázquez 1656
fig. #4-25, p. 74; The Death of Socrates by J.L. David 1784
fig. #7-15, p.145; No. 29,1950 by J. Pollock 1950