In this module we discuss the experience of art and the artist's desire to make a direct connection with the viewer,.

1. MODULE 5.1
UNDERSTANDING FORM

2. There are so many flavors of art! Give them all
a try and see which kinds are especially great.
Then experience to the fullest and enjoy.
Hint: You might like them all.

3. Morris Louis, Tet, 1958, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 95 x 153 in, WMAA

4. Olafur Eliasson, Your strange certainty still kept, 1996
Water, strobelight, plexiglass, recirculating pump, foil and wood
Base 20 x 204 3/4 x 10 inches
Top 173 1/4 inches long

5. Bruce Nauman, Self-Portrait as Fountain, 1970, c-print, 20 x 24 inches

6. Nam June Paik, Magnet TV, 1965, 17-inch black-and-white television set with
magnet, 28 3/8 × 19 1/4 × 24 1/2 in.

7. Duane Hanson, Woman with Dog, 1977.
Cast polyvinyl polychromed in synthetic polymer, with cloth and hair
46 × 48 × 51 ½ in

8. Charles Ray
Puzzle Bottle
1995
painted wood, glass, cork, 13
3/8 x 3 3/4 dia

9. Joseph Kosuth, Five Words in Green Neon, 1965,
neon tubing, 62 x 80 x 6 in

10. Jack Pierson, Desire/Despair
metal, glass, plexiglas and wood, 117 1/2 x 56 1/4

11. Willem de Kooning,
Door to the River, 1960
Oil on canvas,
80 × 70 in

12. Brice Marden, Summer Table, 1972–73.
Oil and wax on canvas in three parts, 60 × 105 5/16 in.

13. Doug Aitken, Untitled (Shopping Cart), 2000.
Chromogenic print mounted on plexiglass, 48 5/8 × 56 5/8 in

14. Jean-Michel Basquiat, “LNAPRK”, 1982.
Synthetic polymer and oil stick on canvas, 73 1/2 × 72 1/4 in

15. Catherine Opie, Self-Portrait, 1993
chromogenic print, 39 5/8 × 29 15/16 in

16. You’re allowed to—
supposed to!—respond
personally to artwork.
The artist wants you to have an experience—an
emotional, physical, spiritual, intellectual, moral
(some combination of these or all of them)
experience of the work.

17. SO, HOW DO WE EXPERIENCE
ART TO THE FULLEST?

18. experiencing art
 Experience, with your eyes, mind,
feelings, memories, body. What does
this piece do to me?
 Examples: Does it make me happy?
Uncomfortable? Sad? Upset? Does it turn
my stomach? Does it make me shiver?
Worry? Sweat?

19. experiencing the effects
 1. Experience comes first. What do you
SEE and how does it make you FEEL in
your bones.
 At this point, it doesn’t matter who made
it, when, or why. The point is to try to
figure out, as completely as possible, the
effect the work is having on you.
 So let’s sum this up as “experiencing the
effects” of the work. This process can
take a while. It is not necessarily simple. In
fact, one definition of art could be work
that takes the viewer some time and
trouble to experience.

20.  One way we try to experience art
more fully is by understanding how it
creates the effects it has on us.
experiencing art

21. accounting for the effects
Now that you have a handle on what
you’ve experienced, you want to know
how the piece made you feel that way. Cf.
driving a car to learning how it actually
works.
This is where formal analysis can be helpful.
How did this piece make me feel (x, y, and
z) way? How is it structured to achieve
those specific effects?
This is where purely personal, idiosyncratic
responses can be weeded out if you are
writing to share with an audience.

22. Effects 1
Bruce Nauman
Hanging Heads #2, 1989, wax and wire
two heads, the first is 10 3/4 x 9 1/2 x 7 ¾, the second is slightly
smaller, both suspended approx 6' above the floor

23. Wayne Thiebaud, Cakes, 1963

24. John Singer
Sargent
The Daughters
of Edward
Darley Boit
1882
87 3/8 x 87 3/8
inches

25. formal analysis
 The next step is formal analysis.

26. What will
happen in this
movie?
How do you
know?
http://prezi.com/
sazemrmsx16b/
what-is-a-
genre/

27. Advertisers work hard to create
visual messages that can be
decoded in a rapid glance.
“This is a
romantic
comedy with
two young
stars.”

28. Edgar DEGAS
Edmondo & Thérèse Morbilli
circa 1867
Oil on canvas
45 7/8 x 34 ¾ inches
What is going to happen
to these two people?
What is their relationship like?
We aren’t sure. We’re not sure
at first, and even after long
observation, we may not be able
to answer these questions definitively.

29. Art is much slower and typically cannot be
understood at a glance. Learning to “read”
the formal vocabulary of art will go a long
way toward helping you understand it better.

30. To help us, we can make a distinction
between subject matter and form.
Arnold GENTHE
Portrait of Helen Cooke in a
Field of Poppies
1907

31. Paula Modersohn-Becker
Old Woman with Poppies
1906

32. Paula Modersohn-Becker
Old Woman with Poppies
1906

33. Georgia O’Keeffe, Oriental Poppies, 1928

34. Claude Monet
Fields of Oats and Poppies, 1890
Oil on canvas, 25 x 36 inches

35. Stuart Franklin (Magnum photo)
Peter Melchett’s
organic farm in
Ringstead, with
poppies and
cornflowers growing
alongside organic
wheat
2008

37. What is Formal Analysis?
 Breaking a work down into
component parts for purposes
of systematic observation and
understanding.
 When the parts are put back
together, you do so with a
richer understanding of each
part and how they fit together.

38. TO BEGIN a formal analysis
IDENTIFY the materials and medium.
What is the work physically made of: oil
on canvas, charcoal on paper? Be sure
you know.

39. MATERIALS
 EXAMPLE: art made of paper will have
a different resonance than art made
of steel
 Materials can have a strong expressive
content.
 Even similar materials can be handled
quite differently, resulting in different
nuances of meaning.

40. David Smith
Cubi XVIII
1965
Polished steel will have
a very different feeling from
Cor-Ten steel, which weathers
naturally (see next slide).

41. Richard Serra, Mozarabe, 1971, Cor-Ten steel

42. What is the MEDIUM of the
work?
1. What is the medium of the work? Is it 2-
dimensional?
drawing—charcoal on paper
painting—pigment on a prepared
surface
print—lithograph, silkscreen, etching
photograph

43. Rembrandt van Rijn, A Bend in the Amstel at Kostverloren, undated drawing
pen and ink wash
drawing

44. PAUL NOBLE
Volume 6, 2007
Pencil on paper
39 3/8 x 27 5/8 inches
drawing

45. Rackstraw DOWNES
Under the Off-Ramp from the George Washington Bridge, 2009
Graphite on light blue paper with blue threads, 17 x 36 3/4 inches
drawing

46. David SHRIGLEY
Untitled
ink on paper
14 5/8 by 10 3/8 inches
2010
drawing

47. Carlo CRIVELLI
Madonna with Child
Tempera on panel
c. 1470
painting

48. Gustave Courbet Woman with a Parrot, 1866, Oil on canvas, 51 x 77 inches
painting

49. Karen Kilimnik
A Madonna from an
Italian church on the
Lost Island
2008
water soluble oil on
canvas
11 x 14 inches
painting

50. Robert RYMAN
Untitled
1965
oil on linen
10¼ x 10¼ inches
painting

51. Diego RIVERA
The Flower Vendor
1941
Oil on masonite
48 x 48 inches

52. Henri Matisse
La Gerbe
Cut paper
1953

53. Henri Matisse
Blue Nude
paper cutout
1952

54. Robert
Adams
Colorado
Springs,
Colorado
1968
Gelatin-silver
print
14 x 14
inches

55. BILL BRANDT
Hands on the beach, 1959
Gelatin silver print, 9 x 7¾ in

56. What is the MEDIUM of the
work?
Is it three-dimensional=existing in space?
 Sculpture
 Relief (bas-relief or low-relief)
 Sculpture in the round
 Installation
 Architecture and landscape architecture
 (4th Dimension—time)
 Film
 Video