Assembling the elements.

1. Class 2
VISUAL ATTENTION
Class 5.2
Formal Analysis:
Putting It All Together

2. agenda 9.22.16
• going over homework assignment

6. form vs. content
What is being expressed is the content. In visual art, we call
this the subject matter.
How it is being expressed in visual language, is the form.

7. checklist
1. Experiencing the effects.
2. What is the genre, if applicable?
3. What is the medium? (what are the actual materials from
which the work is constructed)
4. What is the actual size of the work?
5. Description.
6. Locate 3 qualities you think are central to understanding
the work's visual form. Analyze each in turn.

8. 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.

9. 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.

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

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

12. 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

13. Rackstraw Downes, Under the Off-Ramp from the George Washington
Bridge, 2009. Graphite on paper, 17 x 36 3/4 in.

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

15. Rembrandt van Rijn, A Bend in the Amstel at Kostverloren, undated drawing

16. Carlo Crivelli
Madonna with Child
Tempera on panel
c. 1470

17. Vincent van Gogh, Irises, 1889, oil on canvas

18. Robert Ryman
Untitled
1964

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

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

21. Brief Nod to Subject Matter
DESCRIBE the subject.
What subject is depicted? (Major features only, at this point it does
not need to be too detailed.)
Include the genre if applicable and if you know it.
history painting
portraiture
landscape
still life
are some examples of artistic genres.

22. COMPOSITION
composition: how the various elements of the work are
arranged in relationship to each other
things to look for:
spatial relationships:
• foreground
• middle ground
• background
where is the viewer positioned?
how are the objects or elements ordered? what is
emphasized? what is subordinate?

23. Edgar Dégas
Dancers at the Old Opera House
c. 1877
pastel over monotype on paper
8 9/16 x 6 3/4 inches

24. John Frederick Peto, Still Life with Cake, Lemon, Strawberries and Glass, 1890.

25. El Lissitzky, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, 1919

30. IN MATTERS OF STYLE…
…nuance is key. You are training your eyes to detect subtle
differences, rather than blatant ones.
The more fine-grained the differences you can observe, the
better you will have understood the artist’s style.
“God is in the details.”