This document provides information about six paintings and instructions for evaluating a critique assignment. The paintings described are: Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Peasant Wedding from 1567; David Hockney's Woldgate Lane to Burton Agnes from 2007; Fra Angelico's The Virgin of Humility from 1433-35; Takashi Murakami's The Castle of Tin Tin from 1998; Albert Bierstadt's The Rocky Mountains, Landers Peak from 1863; and Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun's Portrait of Marie-Antoinette from 1778-79. The document also includes a rubric that outlines the criteria and point values for the critique assignment, such as properly formatting

1. Painting Choices----Fall 2012
Peasant Wedding, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1567, oil paint on
wood panel
Woldgate Lane to Burton Agnes, David Hockney, 2007, oil on
canvas, two panels
The Virgin of Humility, Fra Angelico, 1433-35, tempera on
wood panel
The Castle of Tin Tin, Takashi Murakami, 1998, acrylic on
canvas mounted on board
The Rocky Mountains, Landers Peak, Albert Bierstadt, 1863, oil
on canvas
Portrait of Marie-Antoinette, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, 1778-79,
oil on canvas
Rubric for Evaluation of Critique #1
Critique #1 will be graded according to the rubric below. The
number to the left is the highest number of points given for each
section of the critique.
Points
5
Title Page: Followed the example of the title page; include all
information in the example. (Your name, Art 100, due date,

2. Critique #1, Professor’s name, Analysis of :)
15
Description: Described the work of art in your own words so
that someone could visualize it from your description.
10
Medium: Described the medium (type of paint and surface
material) and why you think the artist chose this particular
medium.
10
Style: Identified whether the painting you chose to write about
is representational, abstract, or non-objective and explain why
you chose that description. Discussed the historical time it was
painted.
20
Four Elements/ Principles: Discussed at least four (4) elements
and/or principles of design in your critique explaining how each
is used in your chosen work of art. Used the vocabulary
discussed in class and in your text.
10
Personal: Explained why you chose this particular work of art
from those available. Discussed such matters as: What is it
about this work that appeals to you or displeases you? How does
the painting make you feel? What does it remind you of?
15
Content: These points reflect the overall success of your
critique. Did it flow easily from one point to the next? Did
your sentences make sense? Did you have redundant ideas?
Did your critique make sense?
15
Editing: Points will be deducted for errors in spelling,

3. grammar, and punctuation. Please edit your paper carefully.
100
Total points possible
Please scroll down for Points Taken Off For:
POINTS TAKEN OFF FOR:
-100
Papers not turned in as an attachment in the correct format. Do
not write your critique directly onto Bblearn!
-100
Any papers found to be copied from any source is also
considered a failure. This is plagiarism! This is easy to check
on!
-10
Lack of in-text citation (-5) or Works Citation Page (-5) using
the MLA format: When you use a quotation or information
from a book or Internet site, you must include in-text citations
and a works cited page with your critique citing the source of
the information or quotation. This includes paraphrasing. It is
necessary to do research to write an excellent critique. When
you do research, it must be listed on a Works Cited page in
MLA Style.
-5
Using Wikipedia as a cited source.
-20
Number of Pages: The written portion of your critique (not
including the title page or works cited page) must be at least
1.5-2.5 pages long, double-spaced, in 12 point Times New
Roman font (no bold type), with no extra space at the top or
bottom of the page or between paragraphs. If the critique does
not meet these criteria, 20 points will be deducted from your
overall critique grade. Please do not exceed four (4) pages in
length (not including the title page or works cited page).

4. THE FORMAL ELEMENTS
Line –
· Includes actual lines, implied lines, lines formed by edges,
directional lines, and lines forming pattern, texture, shading,
and contour lines creating modeling
· Strictly defined: a line is a path traced by a moving point
· Can be organic or straight
· Popular among artists utilizing contour lines such as Matisse
Shape –
· A two-dimensional area having identifiable boundaries,
created by lines, color or value changes, or some combination
of these
· Form: deals with composition and the physical appearance of a
work of art relating to materials and style
Mass –
· Three-dimensional form, often implying bulk, density, and
weight
Light –
· Actual light, illusion of light
· The contrasts created by light and darkness (related to value)
· The origin of light and how that effects the interpretation of
the work
· Rembrandt is well known as a painter of light. He uses small
beams of light as emphasis in his paintings, creating shadows.
He plays with light in such as way so that the light itself
actually becomes a character in the painting.
Value –
· Refers to light and dark, chiaroscuro (movement or gesture of
light and shade)
· The gradation of a gray scale or hue, tint and shade

5. Color –
· Local color, emotional qualities of color (the mood), color
schemes
· Analogous color, monochromatic color, triads, polychromatic
color, absence of color
Texture –
· Can be actual or implied through medium, style, composition,
value, color, pattern, etc.
Pattern –
· Any decorative, repetitive motif or design
· Can create visual texture
Space –
· Can be 2- or 3-dimensional, may refer to the illusion of space
or depth on a 2-dimentional surface (i.e. perspective)
· The area behind the shape, the background
· Architecture: appreciating the sculptural masses from the
outside, while walking through the shaped space from the inside
· The void within boundaries
· “The works of art take their character from the ways in which
they carve out volumes of space within and around them.”
(Gilbert’s Living with Art – 6th ed.)
Time –
· Variations of light to indicate a time of day
· Popular with Impressionists like Monet (He enjoyed making
studies of the same environment or object at different times of
day. He believed that each shift in light created a different
subject, as though there were no continuing reality but only a
collection of moments.)
Motion – Implied or actual kinetic energy, dynamism Popular
with Futurists in the early 20th century such as Balla, Calder,

6. and Boccioni due to inventions such as the automobile and
airplanes.
PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
Unity –
· A sense of oneness, a coherent whole
· Appears almost always with Variety. Artists strive to find just
the right point on the spectrum – the point at which there is
sufficient visual unity enlivened by sufficient variety.
Variety –
· Differences that create interest
Balance –
· Can refer to symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial, or actual
physical balance, such as in sculpture
· Also refers to the visual weight of a piece, the distribution of
parts around an axis or point
Emphasis and Focal Point –
· Can be a center of interest, an area emphasized by directional
forces, color, proportion, etc.
· Works with Subordination
Subordination –
· Certain areas of the composition are purposefully made less
visually interesting, so that the areas of emphasis stand out
· Can be just as visually stimulating as the Focal Point, but
fades to create an atmosphere or backdrop to the subject matter
Proportion –
· Relative sizes of objects within the image itself
Scale –
· Size of the work of art in relation to external objects in its
environment
· Outrageous scale is evident in the work of Claes Oldenburg
and Coosje van Bruggen – Plantoir.
Rhythm and Repetition –

7. · Refers to visual rhythms, repetition of elements in color,
shape, size, etc.
· Can be related to Pattern
· An example would be to try to paint music, what kind of
patterns and rhythms would need to be present to convey that
message? – Lorna Simpson’s Easy to Remember
How to Write an Art Critique
Tips for Earning an A
This is an example of the painting critique but the basic rules
apply to the sculpture critique too.
The Painting:
Title Page: What to Do
Title Page: What NOT to Do
Description: What to Do

8. Description: What NOT to Do
Medium: What to Do
Medium: What NOT to Do
Style: What to Do
Style: What NOT to Do
Elements & Principles: What to Do
Elements & Principles: What NOT to Do
Personal: What to Do
Personal: What NOT to Do

9. Citation: What to Do
Citation: What to Do
Here are some common features you should try and find before
citing electronic sources in MLA style. Not every Web page
will provide all of the following information. However, collect
as much of the following information as possible both for your
citations and for your research notes:
Author and/or editor names (if available)
Article name in quotation marks (if applicable)
Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember that
some Print publications have Web publications with slightly
different names. They may, for example, include the additional
information or otherwise modified information, like domain
names [e.g. .com or .net].)
Any version numbers available, including revisions, posting
dates, volumes, or issue numbers.
Publisher information, including the publisher name and
publishing date.
Take note of any page numbers (if available).
Medium of publication.
Date you accessed the material.
URL (if required, or for your own personal reference; MLA
does not require a URL).
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics
Archive. Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, 13 Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008.
‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.
Citation: What NOT to Do

10. Do NOT simply put:
Google.com
Wikipedia.org
Art Book
Internet