MIDTERMS 8 HOURS ALLOTMENT

LESSON 6
BECOMING AN ART REVIEWER

Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the learner must be able to:
1. Describe an artform using appropriate and strong adjectives;
2. Demonstrate understanding of elements and principles of art and design by analyzing
an artwork; and,
3. Select the right and suitable questions in analyzing an artwork by focusing on the
important and essential elements in the artwork.

Reading Materials
Lesson 5: Media of Art:Lesson 5: Evaluating Art
Part 1: Art Criticism: Reading and Writing About Art
Part 2:
Curating: Designing an Exhibition
Writing Art Reviews
Art Analysis Tips and Sample Art Essay

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Part 3: Required Text: Reading the Image by Alice Guillermo

This lesson focuses on the bulk of what this course on Art Appreciation is all about: reviewing an
artwork. The elements and principles of art and design are concepts we will use in studying the art
forms listed in your Categories of Art. For this class, however, our focus is 2D: Visual arts. More
specifically, you are being trained to study paintings.

Read the attached lesson and proceed to the Graded Task.

Graded Tasks
Task 1: Curating. 40 points.

Task 2: Art Criticism Essay. 80 points.

Task 3: Creative Notecard. 40 points.

Supplementary Materials

We recommend two videos in YouTube that you can also watch to

help you jumpstart your understanding of art criticism.

1/ How to Critique | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9neybpOvjaQ

2/ Feldman's 4 Steps to Art Criticism

There are many philosophies on how to analyses and interpreting Art.
Fortunately, Edmund Feldman created a simple 4 step structure of the
criticism of art consisting of description, analysis, interpretation and
judgment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFXQgRd4UZ0

You can also download a PDF of guide questions here:

https://www.inspiredlearningationa.org/uploads/1/2/6/5/12653584/feldmans-method.pdf

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EVALUATING ART
Reading and Writing About Art
What makes a work of art worthwhile? Is it
innovative? Does it move our feelings? Is it skillfully
done? Which criteria are relevant to judging art? Who
is qualified to make such judgments? As we consider
answers to these questions, we will find that there are
many ways of judging the quality of art. Further, we
will see that our assessments of quality are usually
connected to other values that we also hold about the
function of art in society; hence our preferences about
art generally embody other deeply held beliefs.

The creative experience is also a process of selecting and

evaluating. For the artist, the creative process involves
selecting and evaluating each component before deciding
if or how to include it in the final form. After the work is
complete, the viewer’s enjoyment comes from recognizing
the quality that has been achieved. How do viewers
evaluate art to determine whether it has quality?
Edvard Munch's The Scream is an icon of
Quality is relative. How a work of art is evaluated varies modern art, the Mona Lisa for our time. As Da
from person to person, from culture to culture, and from Vinci evoked a Renaissance ideal of serenity
age to age. In Mexico before the Spanish conquest, the and self-control, Munch defined how we see
Aztecs judged art to be good if it resembled the style of the our own age - wracked with anxiety and
Toltecs, an ancient neighboring people that the Aztecs uncertainty.
admired. In traditional Chinese art criticism, mere skill in
representation led to poor evaluations. A good artist could Edvard Munch, 1893. Oil, tempera, pastel and
understand and communicate the inner spirit or “life crayon on cardboard.
breath” of a subject. To call an artwork “skillful” was to give
it faint praise. In the European tradition, few famous artists
or styles have had unchanging reputations. For example, the Impressionist painters of the late
nineteenth century were ridiculed by most critics, museum curators, and the public of the time.
Their style differed too radically from that of their predecessors. Today, Impressionist paintings
have an honored place in museums and are eagerly sought by the public.

Conversely, many artists who were celebrated in their own time are forgotten today. Value
judgments about art necessarily involve subjectivity; it is not possible to measure artistic quality
objectively.

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Art Criticism
The term art criticism refers to making discriminating judgments, both favorable and
unfavorable. We all do art criticism, but professionals tend to follow one or more of three
basic theories:

•Formal theories, which focus attention on the composition of the work and how it
may have been influenced by earlier works;
•Contextual theories, which consider art as a product of a culture and value system;
•Expressive theories, which pay attention to the artist’s expression of a personality
or worldview.

Formal Theories
Critics who use formal theories look carefully at how a work is made: how the parts of
the composition come together to create a visual experience that may interest us, or
not. They generally believe that the most important influence on a work is other works
that the artist has seen or studied. Because the formal organization of the work is the
most important factor in evaluating it, the theories are called formal. The subject or
theme of the work is less important than how the artist presented it. Formalist critics
value innovation in style above all; thus they always want to know when a work was
done, so that they can compare it (at least mentally) with its predecessors and
contemporaries. They value such stylistic novelty because they believe that art can be
an important source of visual refreshment, unconnected to our complicated and strife-
torn world.

Contextual Theories
Critics who use these theories tend to look first at the environmental influences on a
work of art: the economic system, the cultural values, and even the politics of the time;
because the context matters a great deal, they are termed contextual theories. Just as
formalist critics will want to know the date of a work, contextual critics are likely to ask,
“What else was going on in the culture at that time?” Contextual critics tend to favor
works that either cogently embody important cultural values, or memorably express
resistance to them.

Expressive Theories
All artworks are made by people. The skill level, personal intent, emotional state,
mindset, and gender of the creator must play a role in the creative process. Artist-
centered theories are thus termed expressive theories. If formalists want to know dates
and contextualists want to know about the background culture, an expressive critic will
want to know “Who made it? And who is she or he?” Critics who favor this approach
tend to look for powerful personal meanings, deep psychological insight, or profound
human concern.

What Makes Art Great?

Artworks are bought and sold every day in our world, and every few months some work
makes news because of its high price at auction. Though a handful of private sales
have taken place at unverified higher amounts, at the time of writing, one of the versions

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of Edvard Munch’s The Scream holds the record for a public auction price, $119.9
million. Generally speaking, however, the art market and art auctions can tell us only
what a certain group of collectors wants to pay for a given work at a given time. Such
dollar values only loosely correlate with either the historical importance of an artwork, or
its degree of innovation, and is not a likely indicator of whether a work of art is great.

So what is the answer to the question? The most obvious one is, “It’s great if you
think it is!” And everyone has their own personal list of great artworks. However, with our
three theories in hand, we can now say how a work of art comes to be regarded as a
“masterpiece,” and command the place of honor in a museum. Some degree of
innovation, important cultural meanings, and a recognizable personal statement are key
ingredients. Not all three are necessary, but at least one must be strongly present. Most
works hanging in museums have been selected by the specialists on the staff because
they embody at least one of the three theories. Your judgments may not agree with
theirs, and that is fine.

But to go deeper is rewarding. The three theories of art criticism presented here
give us three standards of quality, and three ways of judging artworks. Often we apply
one or more of these without thinking, and we say something like, “I like art that I can
relate to.” Well, why do you relate to it? What are you looking for? A little self-
examination should help you to uncover what values are motivating your choices, and
can help open an interesting discussion about art with other viewers.

Evaluating Art with Words

Writing about art is an excellent way to understand it, because writing can channel our
thoughts and clarify our beliefs. Writing about art also involves us more deeply in the
process of creation.

Here is a three-step method that can serve for almost any work.
1 ) Get the facts. These include the name of the creator, title, date, subject, medium,
size, and location of the work. (Not all of these may be knowable for every work.)
Describe the work using as many of the facts as you can find. If you are looking at a
reproduction of a work, it is especially important to clarify its original medium and size.
2 ) Analyze. Look at the parts of the work and how they fit together.
How does the choice of medium affect the work?
What formal elements did the creator use?
Assess the work in its context: Does it fit into a movement or time period?
Does it lead the way to a new movement, or follow behind?
Consider also its place in the artist’s overall output.
If the work was created years ago, how was it received at that time
3 ) Evaluate. Use one of the three types of art criticism discussed above to assess the
quality or historical importance of the work. Is it innovative? Does it move your feelings?
Does it express a particular time period or artist’s personality? Does it communicate a
social vision or cause? Is it ravishingly beautiful, or challenging to the eyes? What function
might the work fulfill, and how effectively does it accomplish this?

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An essay on a work should include all three steps, seamlessly blended together. Steps
1 and 2 should be fairly objective; Step 3 should lead you to a debatable thesis or
position on the work. The three steps are not equal in weight or difficulty. Step 1 should
be the easiest. Step 2 requires study and background knowledge. Step 3, the most
important, requires practice and careful seeing.

WHEN YOU REACH THIS POINT, WORK ON WORKSHEET 6.1

CURATING
Designing an Exhibition

VOCABULARY
Curator. An art specialist responsible for a museum's collection and exhibitions.
Exhibition Designer. Designs exhibition spaces, paints walls, arranges artwork, usually under
the supervision of the curator.
Center Line. The imaginary line exhibition designers use to hang artworks. The middle of the
painting usually falls between 54 and 62 inches.
Accent Wall. A single wall painted in a contrasting color from the rest of the space. It focuses
viewer’s attention and directs people around the space.
Anchor Piece. Usually the largest or strongest pieces of an exhibition.
Wall Text. Information provided by the curator for each artwork. It is the curator’s choice as to
how much information is to be provided.

STEP WHAT TO DO AND SOME CONSIDERATIONS

SELECT A THEME Decide the theme for your exhibition. A theme is a

unifying idea or motif.

The broader the theme, the easier it is to find works

KNOW YOUR SPACE
PROVIDING INFORMATION
that fit the theme. The narrower it is, the more
cohesive your show will look and feel.
Know the parameters of your space, and let that guide
how many pieces should be exhibited.
Think of curating an exhibition like writing an essay—
you want to present your work in a certain way.

Consider:
• Would you like the work set up chronologically?
• If so, will you provide a timeline?
• Do you want to provide other content? (Photographs,
other artworks, historical objects, quotes from the
artist, etc.)

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STEP WHAT TO DO AND SOME CONSIDERATIONS

SELECTING ARTWORKS Start by choosing a lot (30 to 40) of artworks. Next,

narrow down your selection to best fit your theme.

When you do a research paper, you don’t use all of

those sources you read but choose what supports your
thesis the strongest.

Consider:
What artworks best tell the story of your exhibition?
WRITE A LABEL STANDARD LABELS

Name of the artist, Title of Work, Dimensions of the object,

What the artwork is made of (the media), Date of creation,
Owner of work
DIDACTIC (OR EXTENDED) LABELS

All of the information as a standard label PLUS

additional information on the work (e.g. history, reason
why it fits in the exhibition) related to the exhibition
theme.
EXHIBITION DESIGN When designing your exhibition, always keep your viewer in
mind. Just like in writing, you must ask yourself:

• Who is my audience?
• What do I want to communicate to them?
• How do I do that in the gallery space?
PICK A WALL COLOR The color of the walls can affect the mood and shape of the
space. White walls are clean and sterile and suggest the
experience is mainly about the work. Painting an entire room
can change the feel of the space.

• How will a wall color affect the mood of the space?

• What happens when I paint all the walls black? Bright
yellow? Deep Red?
• Should I use one color or more than one?
HANGING YOUR WORK CENTER LINE

The institutional standard.

Artworks are hung with the center of the artwork hitting
between 54” and 62”.
SALON STYLE

Artworks are hung from ceiling to floor.

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STEP WHAT TO DO AND SOME CONSIDERATIONS

GUIDE VISITORS AROUND Most people walk into a gallery and go to the right. As a
THE SPACE result, curators often use that fact and an accent wall to
lead their viewer into and through the space.

How can I lead my viewer into and through my show?

If my viewer went the wrong way, would my theme still
work? Why or why not?
When you start to arrange the artworks, certain pieces
will standout as anchor pieces(often the strongest or
largest artworks). Select three or four anchor pieces and
spread them out in the gallery. (Do not group them
together!) This will help steer your viewer through the
space.

What makes this artwork an anchor piece?

How will this anchor piece direct my viewer through the
space?

WRITING ART REVIEWS

Reviews are an important way of creating active critical discussion, and also of building
tomorrow’s art history. Basically, any given art review has two immediate purposes: (1) to tell
readers who haven’t seen the exhibition a little about it so they can consider going, and (2) to
document and critique the activities of a city’s art world.

THE BASICS
To establish a clear context, try starting with the journalist’s credo “who, what, when, where,
why.” For example:

The opening of Wangechi Mutu’s This You Call Civilization achieved record attendance
levels last Friday at the AGO. This exhibition, which includes a large number of drawings,
collages, and mixed media installations, is Mutu’s first solo exhibition at a major
institution.

Notice that in this example we get a lot of information very quickly: the artist’s name, the
exhibition title, the venue, the media included, and a sense of the scale and relevance of the
show. Once you establish basics such as these, you can go in many different directions, but
most reviews take the form of description and analysis. (To paraphrase art writer Susan Sontag,
the job of art criticism is simply to show what a work is and how it is what it is.)

DESCRIPTION
A description should allow your reader to form a picture of what you saw. Generally begin with a
basic overview and move on to more complex details.

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Sixteen small assemblages are arranged on the east wall in something resembling a
gravitational arc. Each work is about a square foot in size and constructed from paper,
foil, and acrylic paint. Each involves a great variety of colour, texture, and even depth.

The amount of detail you get into will vary depending on how complex the object is and whether
you have photos to support your review. The amount of detail may also be affected by what it is
you want to discuss later in more analytical terms.

HERE ARE SOME MAIN ELEMENTS OF DESCRIPTIVE OBSERVATIONS:

PHYSICAL QUALITIES: Material, colour, shape, texture, size, etc.
FORM: The relationship of the different parts of this thing (use prepositional phrases such as
inside, under, on top of, to the left of, etc.)
CONTENT: Some works are clear in what they depict, represent, narrate, argue, convey etc.
Other works are less straight forward and may have blurred, overlapping, or even conflicting
ideas and images. Still others seem to be entirely about form.
PRESENTATION: How a work is placed, displayed, framed, labeled, etc. has an effect on it and
how we understand it. Think about the exhibition setting, lighting, descriptive texts, other works
shown nearby and so on.
INTERACTION: Every work is interacted with differently. Some works we simply look at, some
we listen to, some we have to think about, some we may be immersed in.

ANALYSIS
If you’ve already put some effort into observation and description, your analysis has already
begun. To analyze means to break into parts or to loosen, so it’s a bit like loosening the screws
of an object to see how it goes together – and how it falls apart. For a work of art, this means
identifying the relationships between the parts, and speculating on the relationship between the
work of art and the rest of the world. To begin thinking analytically, here are some questions you
might ask:

MATERIAL / MEDIUM: What is unique, interesting, or challenging about this material or

medium? Where does it come from? What is the cultural or historical context for this material?
For example, is presenting a skull encrusted with diamonds (Damien Hirst) different from
presenting a skull marked with graphite (Gabriel Orozco)?

FORM: How is it built? How is it held together? How does the scale of one part affect the way
you see another part? How does the speed of x affect the speed of y?

PROCESS: How is the work made? How does it come into being? Is this process visible in the
end product, or is it hidden? How is it different, for example, to make something by hand or to
have something manufactured? How is burning something different from melting something;
how is scratching a copper plate different from painting a wall?

ACTION: What is the work doing in the world? What are some verbs associated with it? Does it
stand, jump, teeter, fall, float, rest, recede, remove, return, emerge, aggress, or something else?
How? What is its opposite? What does it refuse to do?

SPECTATOR RESPONSE: What are people doing when they encounter the work? What do
they say about it? What effects does it have? What does this work exclude, prevent, or prohibit?
Does everyone have equal opportunity to “experience” or “get” this work?

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ART AND WORLD HISTORY: What art work of the past does this relate to? Does it explicitly
refer to previous artists or cultural figures? How does it relate to the artist’s past work? Does it
offer any new conceptions or practices to what we think of as art? How does it present or
consider gender, race, class, power, media, and so on?

RESOURCES
As you ask yourself these kinds of questions, don’t forget that there are many different sources
of information available to help. For example:
•The work itself
•The exhibiting gallery or institution (artist statement, catalogs, gallery attendants, curators)
•The artist (he or she may be available locally or virtually)
•Previous exhibitions at other venues (check the artist’s CV for info)
•Publications (books, exhibition catalogs, websites etc.)

________________________

Cover a range of different visual elements and design principles. It is common for
students to become experts at writing about one or two elements of composition, while
neglecting everything else – for example, only focusing upon the use of color in every
artwork studied. This results in a narrow, repetitive and incomplete analysis of the
artwork. Students should ensure that they cover a wide range of art elements and design
principles, as well as address context and meaning, where required. The questions
below are designed to ensure that students cover a broad range of relevant topics within
their analysis.
Write alongside the artwork discussed. In almost all cases, written analysis should be
presented alongside the work discussed, so that it is clear which artwork comments refer
to. This makes it easier for examiners to follow and evaluate the writing.
Support writing with visual analysis. It is almost always helpful for high school students to
support written material with sketches, drawings and diagrams that help the student
understand and analyse the piece of art. This might include composition sketches;
diagrams showing the primary structure of an artwork; detailed enlargements of small
sections; experiments imitating use of media or technique; or illustrations overlaid with
arrows showing leading lines and so on. Visual investigation of this sort plays an
important role in many artist studies.

Finally, when writing about art, students should communicate with clarity; demonstrate subject-
specific knowledge; use correct terminology; generate personal responses; and reference all
content and ideas sourced from others.

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Composition analysis: a list of questions

The questions below are designed to facilitate direct engagement with an artwork and to
encourage a breadth and depth of understanding of the artwork studied. They are intended to
prompt higher order thinking and to help students arrive at well-reasoned analysis.

It is not expected that students answer every question (doing so would result in responses that
are excessively long, repetitious or formulaic); rather, students should focus upon areas that are
most helpful and relevant for the artwork studied (for example, some questions are appropriate
for analyzing a painting, but not a sculpture). The words provided as examples are intended to
help students think about appropriate vocabulary to use when discussing a particular topic.
Definitions of more complex words have been provided.

Students should not attempt to copy out questions and then answer them; rather the questions
should be considered a starting point for writing bullet pointed annotation or sentences in
paragraph form.

CONTENT, CONTEXT AND MEANING

Subject matter / themes / issues / narratives / stories / ideas

There can be different, competing, and contradictory interpretations of the same artwork.
An artwork is not necessarily about what the artist wanted it to be about. – Terry Barrett,
Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary6

Our interest in the painting grows only when we forget its title and take an interest in the things
that it does not mention…” – Françoise Barbe-Gall, How to Look at a Painting8

• Does the artwork fall within an established genre (i.e. historical; mythical; religious;
portraiture; landscape; still life; fantasy; architectural)?
• Are there any recognisable objects, places or scenes? How are these presented (i.e.
idealized; realistic; indistinct; hidden; distorted; exaggerated; stylized; reflected;
reduced to simplified/minimalist form; primitive; abstracted; concealed; suggested;
blurred or focused)?
• Have people been included? What can we tell about them (i.e. identity; age; attire;
profession; cultural connections; health; family relationships; wealth; mood/
expression)? What can we learn from their pose (i.e. frontal; profile; partly turned;
body language)? Where are they looking (i.e. direct eye contact with viewer;
downcast; interested in other subjects within the artwork)? Can we work out
relationships between figures from the way they are posed?

What do the clothing, furnishings, accessories (horses, swords, dogs, clocks, business ledgers
and so forth), background, angle of the head or posture of the head and body, direction of the
gaze, and facial expression contribute to our sense of the figure’s social identity (monarch,
clergyman, trophy wife) and personality (intense, cool, inviting)? – Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide
to Writing About Art2

• What props and important details are included (drapery; costumes; adornment;
architectural elements; emblems; logos; motifs)? How do aspects of setting support
the primary subject? What is the effect of including these items within the

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arrangement (visual unity; connections between different parts of the artwork;

directs attention; surprise; variety and visual interest; separates / divides / borders;
transformation from one object to another; unexpected juxtaposition)?

Wider contexts
• Supported by research, can you identify when, where and why the work was created
and its original intention or purpose (i.e. private sale; commissioned for a specific
owner; commemorative; educational; promotional; illustrative; decorative;
confrontational; useful or practical utility; communication; created in response to a
design brief; private viewing; public viewing)? In what way has this background
influenced the outcome (i.e. availability of tools, materials or time; expectations of
the patron / audience)?
• Where is the place of construction or design site and how does this influence the
artwork (i.e. reflects local traditions, craftsmanship, or customs; complements
surrounding designs; designed to accommodate weather conditions / climate; built
on historic site)? Was the artwork originally located somewhere different?
• Which events and surrounding environments have influenced this work (i.e. natural
events; social movements such as feminism; political events, economic situations,
historic events, religious settings, cultural events)? What effect did these have?
• Is the work characteristic of an artistic style, movement or time period? Has it been
influenced by trends, fashions or ideologies? How can you tell?
• Can you make any relevant connections or comparisons with other artworks? Have
other artists explored a similar subject in a similar way? Did this occur before or
after this artwork was created?
• Can you make any relevant connections to other fields of study or expression (i.e.
geography, mathematics, literature, film, music, history or science)?
• Which key biographical details about the artist are relevant in understanding this
artwork (upbringing and personal situation; family and relationships; psychological
state; health and fitness; socioeconomic status; employment; ethnicity; culture;
gender; education, religion; interests, attitudes, values and beliefs)?
• Is this artwork part of a larger body of work? Is this typical of the work the artist is
known for?
• How might your own upbringing, beliefs and biases distort your interpretation of the
artwork? Does your own response differ from the public response, that of the
original audience and/or interpretation by critics?
• How do these wider contexts compare to the contexts surrounding your own work?

Line
• What types of linear mark-making are shown (thick; thin; short; long; soft; bold;
delicate; feathery; indistinct; faint; irregular; intermittent; freehand; ruled;
mechanical; expressive; loose; blurred; dashing; cross-hatching; meandering;
gestural, fluid; flowing; jagged; spiky; sharp)? What atmosphere, moods, emotions
or ideas do these evoke?
• Are there any interrupted, suggested or implied lines (i.e. lines that can’t literally be
seen, but the viewer’s brain connects the dots between separate elements)?
• Where are the dominating lines in the composition and what is the effect of these?
Can you overlay tracing paper upon an artwork to illustrate some of the important
lines?

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• Repeating lines: may simulate material qualities, texture, pattern or rhythm;

• Boundary lines: may segment, divide or separate different areas;
• Leading lines: may manipulate the viewer’s gaze, directing vision or lead the
eye to focal points (eye tracking studies indicate that our eyes leap from
one point of interest to another, rather than move smoothly or predictably
along leading lines. Lines may nonetheless help to establish emphasis by
‘pointing’ towards certain items);
• Parallel lines: may create a sense of depth or movement through space within
a landscape;
• Horizontal lines: may create a sense of stability and permanence;
• Vertical lines: may suggest height, reaching upwards or falling;
• Intersecting perpendicular lines: may suggest rigidity, strength;
• Abstract lines: may balance the composition, create contrast or emphasis;
• Angular / diagonal lines: may suggest tension or unease;
• Chaotic lines: may suggest a sense of agitation or panic;
• Underdrawing, construction lines or contour lines: describe form (learn
more about contour lines in our article about line drawing);
• Curving / organic lines: may suggest nature, peace, movement or energy.
• What is the relationship between line and three-dimensional form?
Are outlines used to define form and edges?
• Would it be appropriate to use line in a similar way within your own artwork?

Shape and Form

• Can you identify a dominant visual language within the shapes and forms shown (i.e.
geometric; angular; rectilinear; curvilinear; organic; natural; fragmented; distorted;
free-flowing; varied; irregular; complex; minimal)? Why is this visual language
appropriate?
• How are the edges of forms treated (i.e. do they fade away or blur at the edges, as if
melting into the page; ripped or torn; distinct and hard-edged; or, in the words of
James Gurney, do they ‘dissolve into sketchy lines, paint strokes or drips’)?
• Are there any three-dimensional forms or relief elements within the artwork, such as
carved pieces, protruding or sculptural elements? How does this affect the viewing
of the work from different angles?
• Is there a variety or repetition of shapes/forms? What effect does this have (i.e.
repetition may reinforce ideas, balance composition and/or create harmony / visual
unity; variety may create visual interest or overwhelm the viewer with chaos)?
• How are shapes organised in relation to each other, or with the frame of the artwork
(i.e. grouped; overlapping; repeated; echoed; fused edges; touching at tangents;
contrasts in scale or size; distracting or awkward junctions)?
• Are silhouettes (external edges of objects) considered?

Value / Tone / Light

• Has a wide tonal range been used in the artwork (i.e. a broad range of darks,
highlights and mid-tones) or is the tonal range limited (i.e. pale and faint; subdued;
dull; brooding and dark overall; strong highlights and shadows, with little mid-tone
values)? What is the effect of this?
• Where are the light sources within the artwork or scene? Is there a single consistent
light source or multiple sources of light (sunshine; light bulbs; torches; lamps;
luminous surfaces)? What is the effect of these choices (i.e. mimics natural lighting

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conditions at a certain time of day or night; figures lit from the side to clarify form;
contrasting background or spot-lighting used to accentuate a focal area; soft and
diffused lighting used to mute contrasts and minimize harsh shadows; dappled
lighting to signal sunshine broken by surrounding leaves; chiaroscuro used to
exaggerate theatrical drama and impact; areas cloaked in darkness to minimize
visual complexity; to enhance our understanding of narrative, mood or meaning)?

One of the most important ways in which artists can use light to achieve particular effects is in
making strong contrasts between light and dark. This contrast is often described
as chiaroscuro. – Matthew Treherne, Analysing Paintings, University of Leeds

• Are representations of three-dimensional objects and figures flat or tonally modeled?

How do different tonal values change from one to the next (i.e. gentle, smooth
gradations; abrupt tonal bands)?
• Are there any unusual, reflective or transparent surfaces, mediums or materials
which reflect or transmit light in a special way?
• Has tone been used to help communicate atmospheric perspective(i.e. paler and
bluer as objects get further away)?
• Are gallery or environmental light sources where the artwork is displayed fixed or
fluctuating? Does the work appear different when viewed at different times of day?
How does this affect your interpretation of the work?
• Are shadows depicted within the artwork? What is the effect of these shadows (i.e.
anchors objects to the page; creates the illusion of depth and space; creates
dramatic contrasts)?
• Do sculptural protrusions or relief elements catch the light and/or create cast
shadows or pockets of shadow upon the artwork? How does this influence the
viewer’s experience?
• How has tone been used to help direct the viewer’s attention to focal areas?
• Would it be appropriate to use value / tone in a similar way within your own artwork?
Why / why not?

Color / Hue
• Can you view the true color of the artwork (i.e. are you viewing a low-quality
reproduction or examining the artwork in poor lighting)?
• Which color schemes have been used within the artwork (i.e. harmonious;
complementary; primary; monochrome; earthy; warm; cool/cold)? Has the artist
used a broad or limited color palette (i.e. variety or unity)? Which colors
dominate?
• How would you describe the intensity of the colors (vibrant; bright; vivid; glowing; pure;
saturated; strong; dull; muted; pale; subdued; bleached; diluted)?
• Are colors transparent or opaque? Can you see reflected color?
• Has color contrast been used within the artwork (i.e. extreme contrasts; juxtaposition
of complementary colors; garish / clashing / jarring)? Are there any abrupt color
changes or unexpected uses of color?
• What is the effect of these color choices (i.e. expressing symbolic or thematic ideas;
descriptive or realistic depiction of local color; emphasizing focal areas; creating the
illusion of aerial perspective; relationships with colors in surrounding environment;
creating balance; creating rhythm/pattern/repetition; unity and variety within the
artwork; lack of color places emphasis upon shape, detail and form)? What kind of
atmosphere do these colors create?

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• Would it be appropriate to use color in a similar way within your own artwork?

It is often said that warm colors (red, orange, yellow) come forward and produce a sense of
excitement (yellow is said to suggest warmth and happiness, as in the smiley face), whereas
cool colors (blue, green) recede and have a calming effect. Experiments, however, have proved
inconclusive; the response to color – despite clichés about seeing red or feeling blue – is highly
personal, highly cultural, highly varied.
– Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing About Art

Texture / surface / pattern

• Are there any interesting textural, tactile or surface qualities within the artwork (i.e.
bumpy; grooved; indented; scratched; stressed; rough; smooth; shiny; varnished;
glassy; glossy; polished; matte; sandy; grainy; gritted; leathery; spiky; silky)? How
are these created (i.e. inherent qualities of materials; impasto mediums; sculptural
materials; illusions or implied texture, such as cross-hatching; finely detailed and
intricate areas; organic patterns such as foliage or small stones; repeating
patterns; ornamentation)?
• How are textural or patterned elements positioned and what effect does this have (i.e.
used intermittently to provide variety; repeating pattern creates rhythm; patterns
broken create focal points; textured areas create visual links and unity between
separate areas of the artwork; balance between detailed/textured areas and
simpler areas; glossy surface creates a sense of luxury; imitation of texture conveys
information about a subject, i.e. softness of fur or strands of hair)?
• Would it be appropriate to use texture / surface in a similar way within your own
artwork?

Space
• Is the pictorial space shallow or deep? How does the artwork create the illusion
of depth (i.e. layering of foreground, middle-ground,
background; overlapping of objects; use of shadows to anchor objects;
positioning of items in relationship to the horizon line; linear perspective – learn
more about one point perspective here; tonal modeling; relationships with
adjacent objects and those in close proximity – including the human form – to
create a sense of scale; spatial distortions or optical illusions; manipulating scale
of objects to create ‘surrealist’ spaces where true scale is unknown)?
• Has an unusual viewpoint been used (i.e. worm’s view; aerial view, looking out a
window or through a doorway; a scene reflected in a mirror or shiny surface;
looking through leaves; multiple viewpoints combined)? What is the effect of this
viewpoint (i.e. allows certain parts of the scene to be dominant and overpowering or
squashed, condensed and foreshortened; or suggests a narrative between two
separate spaces; provides more information about a space than would normally be
seen)?
• Is the emphasis upon mass or void? How densely arranged are components within
the artwork or picture plane? What is the relationship between object
and surrounding space (i.e. compact / crowded / busy / densely populated, with
little surrounding space; spacious; careful interplay between positive and negative
space; objects clustered to create areas of visual interest)? What is the effect of this

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(i.e. creates a sense of emptiness or isolation; business / visual clutter creates a

feeling of chaos or claustrophobia)?
• How does the artwork engage with real space – in and around the artwork (i.e. self-
contained; closed off; eye contact with viewer; reaching outwards)? Is the viewer
expected to move through the artwork? What is the relationship between interior
and exterior space? What connections or contrasts occur between inside and out?
Is it comprised of a series of separate or linked spaces?
• Would it be appropriate to use space in a similar way within your own artwork?

Finally, remember that these questions are a guide only and are intended to make you start to
think critically about the art you are studying and creating.

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SAMPLE STUDENT ART CRITIQUE ESSAY

Art is something that expresses from context—background, setting, motivations, and other historical data. How
does this help shape three important works in narrative art: Bayeux Tapestry (ND), Guernica (1937) by Pablo
Picasso, and The Rape of Proserpna (1962)? Narrative relies on details that are initiated by the source or form. If it
is a work of fiction, what is the more important detail to be emphasized? If it is from real life, how is it supposed to
be interpreted into a tactile form, and can political or social ideologies be integrated to it? Narrative art reflects and
makes sense out of a textual or verbal source. It eventually and ultimately transforms the stories into a more
dynamic form—shaped, colored, sculpted—and wills itself for interpretations. by IVAN JIM LAYUGAN.

HISTORY AND STORY IN THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY, PICASSO’S

GUERNICA, AND BERNINI’S THE RAPE OF PROSERPINA:
AN ANALYTICAL COMPARISON
In realizing what art is, one must also concern himself with the importance of the inspiration and
motivation that shapes the artist, the origin and orientation of the subject, and the history and story
revolving around the work. The circle where the artist comes from as a creator and producer speaks
volumes about the work he has done. Some of the most well-known and most preserved pieces in
art today include the Bayeux Tapestry (ND), Guernica (1937) by Pablo Picasso, and The Rape of
Proserpina (1962) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. These are, in a matter of speaking, labelled as “narrative
art”. Narrative art tells a story. It can be a snippet from a point in time, an episode, or an unfolding of
elements and scenarios. Such is the beauty and quality of narrative art, that despite its verisimilitude
and faithfulness to its real event or counterpart, it still evokes emotion and depth.

Such is the context upon which The Rape of Proserpina is built upon. Freezing the
epic, famous climax of the eponymous title, this large Baroque marble reflects both cruelty and
tenderness: a duality. Binary oppositions, originating in Saussurean structuralist theory, operate like
binary codes. They belong in the same context, but they are not actually opposites—in actuality, they
are complementary. This is seen in the marble work, starting especially with the fact the two subjects
are male and female. The male, Hades, the god of the underworld, is shown as a brute. He is
muscled and heavyset, anchoring the whole painting, while the female, Proserpina, daughter of Zeus
and Demeter, is shown with an expansive, almost graceful body language. She is attempting to
escape the kidnapping (in Bernini’s time, this is called a “rape”), and what critics note most
impressive with this work is the deepness of the verisimilitude. Hades’ fingers are grabbing deep into
the female’s thigh and waist. An observer can see the pressure in the marble, as if it really is flesh.
The dual concepts make up for a great narrative: of innocence and vileness, of bad intentions and
purity, of the smoothness of female skin upon the muscled, tensed masculine proportions. When
these two extreme dualities combined, Bernini immortalizes this unforgettable mythological scene, as
it imitates the roles in gender which causes an uneasiness, and therefore, a “war” in the dyadic
sense.

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This vehemence is shared in Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937), where colors, shapes, and the
jambalaya of faces in a crammed space extended a wider analysis of violence. It exposes remnants
and symbols of chaos—a dissection of a collective notion about the horrors of war. Depressing and
jammed, it may be, to paraphrase Roman Jakobson on his idea of literature, an “organized violence”
committed on ordinary colors. The narrative in this painting can be studied through the use of space
—the geographical one, represented by the name itself, Guernica, a city bombed by Nazi planes
during the Spanish Civil War, the hub of Basque culture and the base of the Republican resistance;
and the mural itself, the defined area set on four sides of the panel, the painting. By encapsulating
bodily experiences (this story was picked up by Picasso in an article in the New York Times by
Georges Steer), the final painted product doubles as an account of history. In fact, the lack of color,
the quasi-dull structure of Guernica, turns it into an almost photographic record of this dark moment
in history. Picasso takes on the role of an artist-as-historian-as-documenter. Where Picasso serves
as a recorder of such event, Bernini is an illustrator of a fictive experience developed and eternalized
by myths and oral tradition. Picasso relies on the factual to give a message and a meaning; Bernini
uses the imaginative mind’s product to shape the marble. Even until this day, the symbols Picasso
embedded in the work may be ambiguous, but it is undeniable that this rectangular space is a
snapshot of a moment in time—and it tells us a very strong and potent antiwar statement that
resounds until this day.

If Guernica lacks color, the Battle of Hastings, the most famous battle in English history
immortalized in what is known as The Bayeux Tapestry (ND), screams in a cartoon-type picture story.
To put it in simpler terms, the effect of this war in history cannot be undermined: it made England the
closer part to Europe, and for the next three hundred years or so, the monarchs and nobilities spoke
not in English, but in French. Consisting of seventy-five scenes with Latin inscriptions called tituli, the
conclusion to the textile has gone missing, but it is speculated to probably reveal the coronation of
William as King of England. The Bayeux Tapestry is not actually a tapestry—it is an embroidery,
something sewn, not woven. Who the artist/s is/are, it is not yet known. Critics however, have noted
that due to the masterly kind of needlework executed, it may be the Anglo-Saxon embroiderers. The
work has three horizontal zones, making it easy for the eye to transition from one part to the other.
The more significant parts are in the larger middle zone, with the lower and upper zones containing
images of people and animals, episodes of husbandry and hunting. These images render this
material a form of an extended scroll—a book of documentation and visual evidence. Like Guernica,
this is a representation of space, a chronicle of a historical narrative recorded in aesthetic means.
They differ in scope however. Picasso throws in images and symbols in a smaller space, defining a
narrative that is more open to interpretations. There are more ideas leading to more ambiguities. For
The Bayeux Tapestry, it is fixed. The story moves from one point to the other, scene to scene, its
essence secondary. Where Picasso succeeds at using art, as museologist Rene G. Cepeda wrote,
“as a weapon for social change”, the embroidery works more as a historical account of a passage in
time. If Picasso’s is a snapshot, and Bernini’s an illustration, the embroidery is a film.

Narration is details in an order. These three art pieces, regardless of medium and devoid of
context, are aesthetic representations by their creators. Common among all of them are their end to

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produce a visual and tactile image of the imaginary—the worded, the verbal, the story. By putting the
symbols, setting, and plot together, the representative art becomes more meaningful. The Bayeux
Tapestry, for example, becomes less of a record, more of history, for its honesty and precision. It puts
scenes together like a jigsaw puzzle, revealing a suspenseful and exciting journey that ends, eerily
and more interestingly so, with a lost portion. A narrative is also, like literature where it borrows
context, symptomatic of themes. It must mean something, while making a political and social marker.
Picasso’s Guernica successfully does this. It reflects a moment in time, a deep and unforgettable
event, but he intervened in the storytelling by inserting himself—his ideas, his thoughts against war,
and his value of human life. In the end, like The Rape of Proserpina, Picasso turned to art to
represent an epic narrative. For in Bernini’s work, we can see how fiction becomes a good
springboard for an inspiration. It is by understanding the upsurge of motives and intentions (or the
lack thereof) that we find the important parts to highlight within a story. Selecting a portion of a story
to tell is a choice in itself, and an art in itself. When these pieces were crafted, it was because of
stories that have to be told, that needs to be immortalized, and must create meanings to make
people come to terms with their own existence and humanness—their own narratives.

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Bayeux
Tapestry,
ND

Guernica, Pablo Picasso, 1937

The Rape of Proserpina, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1962

WHEN YOU REACH THIS POINT, WORK ON WORKSHEET 6.2

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____________________________________________________________________________

Required Reading:
READING THE IMAGE
By Alice Guillermo

We begin with the basic premise that there are two interrelated aspects in the study of art. The first is
that art has its specificity: that is, its particular language or vocabulary that has to do with the
mediums, techniques, and visual elements of art that constitute it as a distinct area of human
knowledge and signifying practice. This is not just what is commonly called the formal aspect of art,
but it is what constitutes art as a particular human activity different from the others. The other aspect
is that art, while it has its specificity, is at the same time historically situated and shaped by social,
economic, and political forces. Both these aspects need to be taken into account so as to be able to
fully understand and appreciate art. For a study of the formal elements alone will not lead to a full
understanding of the work, in the same way that the exclusive study of the social determinants risks
collapsing the artistic into the sociological. A visual work as an iconic or pictorial sign has a unique
and highly nuanced meaning, and this uniqueness and semantic richness arises from the original
use of the elements and resources of art. Needless to say, the meaning, signification, or system of
significations of a work is not statemental, nor is the understanding of a work a reductive process
which reduces meaning to a summary, statement, or single insight. Meaning in art is a complex of
intellectual, emotional, and sensory significations which the work conveys and to which the viewer
responds, bringing in the breadth of his or her cultural background, artistic exposure and training,
and human experience in a dialogic relationship with the art work. One may speak of a work's
"horizon of meaning" (Eagleton) which implies a range of possible significations that a work may
accomodate, at the same time that it suggests semantic parameters.

The analytic study of how the various elements and material features of the work produce meaning
should lead to a more stable and consensual field of meaning, away from erratic, whimsical, purely
subjective and impressionistic readings.

Having taken note of the information provided by the basic documentation of the work, we then
proceed to four planes of analysis: the basic semiotic, the iconic, the contextual, and the axiological
or evaluative planes.

A. THE BASIC SEMIOTIC PLANE

Semiotics is the study of "signs"--here the work of art is the iconic or pictorial sign. A sign consists of
a "signifier" or its material/physical aspect and its "signified" or non-material aspect as concept and
value. Related to these is the "referent" or object as it exists in the real world. A visual work. A visual
work, whether it be a two-dimensional pictorial space or a three-dimensional body, is an embodiment
of signs in which all physical or material marks and traces, elements, figures, notations are signifiers
which bear a semantic or meaning-conveying potential and which in relation to each other convey
concepts and values which are their signifieds. Their semantic potential is realized in the analysis or
reading of the integral work.

The basic semiotic plane covers the elements and the general technical and physical aspects of the
work with their semantic (meaning-conveying potential). It includes:
1. The visual elements and how they are used: line value, color, texture, shape, composition in
space, movement. Each element has a meaning-conveying potential which is realized, confirmed,

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and verified in relation to the other elements which form the text of the work. While the elements
usually reinforce one another, there can also exist contrasting or contradictory relationships which
may be part of the meaning of a work. The elements and all material features are thus to be viewed
in a highly relational manner and not isolated or compartmentalized.

2. The choice of medium and technique. In contemporary art, medium enters more and more into the
meaning of the work. While the European academies or salons of the nineteenth century decreed the
choice of medium, today the artist exercises free choice in this respect, a choice determined less by
its availability as by its semantic potential. For instance, handmade paper with its organic allure,
irregularities of texture, and uneven edges is favored by a number of artists because it bears
significations conveying the uniquely personal, human, and intimate, in contrast to mass-produced
standard paper. Technique, of course, goes hand in hand with the nature of the medium. Likewise,
there are techniques which valorize the values of spontaneity and play of chance and accident, while
there are those whch emphasize order and control.

3. The format of the work. The very format of the work participates in its meaning. Again, in
contemporary art, format is no longer purely conventional but becomes laden with meaning. For
instance, the choice of a square canvas is no longer arbitrary but enters into the meaning of the work
as a symbolic element, the square signifying mathematical order and precision.

4. Other physical properties and marks of the work. Notations, traces, textural features, marks,
whether random or intentional, are part of the significations of the work.
The elements of the visual arts derive their semantic or meaning-conveying potential from two large
sources: a) human psychophysical experiences (psychological and physical/sensory) which are
commonly shared; and b) the socio-cultural conventions of a particular society and period (Matejka
and Titunik 1976). As human beings, our sensory and physical experiences in general are intimately
fused with our psychological conditions and processes. Among our basic psychophysical
experiences are those of day and night, of warmth and cold, of weight or gravity, relative distance,
pleasure and pain, with the complex intellectual and emotional associations that go with these.
Because of these humanly shared experiences, it is possible to arrive at a general agreement of
what these elements and their usage convey in a work of art.

The semantic potential of line, for instance, does not merely lie in its orientation as horizontal,
vertical, diagonal, curvilinear, but also in its very quality, its thickness or thinness, density and
porosity, regularity or irregularity, its production by even or uneven pressure on a surface, as well as
qualities determined by the instruments producing it. A line made by a technical pen signifies a set of
concepts and values different from that made by a stick of charcoal. Likewise, the different
orientations of line derive their meaning from the positions of the body. At rest, one is horizontal, in
readiness, vertical, and in action, diagonal. In dance, one creates curved lines in space with one's
body and limbs.

Our sense of tonal values from light through shades of gray to dark comes from our experience of
the cycle of night and day, from early dawn through the gradual series of light changes in the course
of the day until evening to darkest night. These changes in the light and dark of our environment
have always affected us psychologically; in general, dawn ushers in bright optimism, while night
creates a sense of mystery, melancholy, and respite. In our perception of color around us, warm hues
that seem to advance are associated with human warmth, congeniality, openness and spontaneity,
while cool hues which seem to recede are associated with remoteness, self-containment, quietness,
and restraint. Shapes are also linked to our physical experiences; geometric shapes, whether two- or
three-dimensional are measurable and circumscribed; organic shapes are drawn from natural living

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and growing forms, while free shapes project, expand, and contract in all directions. Texture is
associated with experiences of pleasure and pain, pleasantness and unpleasantness, in tactile
sensations of hard and soft, smooth and rough, silky and gritty. Movement in the visual art, whether
implied or actual, parallels human experiences of movement within our own bodies or in relation to
things around us. Rhythm is part of the body's processes as an organic whole. Our sense of
composition is affected by gravity and the relative weights of things, as well as our physical
experience of bodies massing, crowding or in isolation and apartness; it is also determined by our
sense of the relationship between figures or objects, as well as between figures or objects and their
intervals or intervening spaces within a given field.

Just as important, the meaning-conveying potential of the elements also comes from their socio-
cultural context with its conventions and traditions. As to social conventions, these have to do with
symbolic systems commonly understood by members of a society or group. These systems include
those of color, for instance, where apart from the signfications drawn from the basic psychophysical
associations, they acquire socially derived meanings. For the various hues possess differential
semantic inflections in different societies. A common example is black which is the color of mourning
in western or western-influenced societies, while it is white in many Asian societies. Likewise, groups
and societies have their own chromatic codes which have to do with the range of hues with their
tones and saturations that operate in their art and with prevalent or favored color combinations. For
instance, the chromatic code used by artists in urban areas is determined by the standard sets of
colors industrially produced in the west. On the other hand, the chromatic codes of the cultural
communities are determined by their lore of local dyes derived from available plants and minerals.
Each cultural community has its own particular chromatic code because it has its own lore of dyes,
although there may be general similarities between a number of communities. By bringing out the
distinctiveness of each, one does not lump indigenous qualities into one homogenous category.
Conventions may also include formats, as in the Chinese horizontal or vertical hanging scroll. The
different writing conventions in different societies may influence composition in space. Also important
are cultural conventions in the use of space which is linked with world views. There is, for instance,
the dialogue between figure and space in the arts of China and Japan, on one hand, and the
phenomenon of horror vacui in the arts of India and Southeast Asia, on the other. In abstract art, it is
the basic semiotic plane which alone operates, but in figurative art, one proceeds to two other
planes.

According to de Saussure again, meaning is produced from the interplay of the signifiers of the work.
Following this, a number of observations arise. The first is that artistic analysis takes into account not
only the elements but also other material aspects, such as dimension, format, medium, frame, and
techniques, as signifiers or conveyors of meaning. The second is that there is developed a finer and
more sensitive perception of the elements as they are specifically and materially found in a particular
work. Line, for instance, is not just seen in its vertical, horizontal, or diagonal orientation, but is
examined in its particular properties of density, porosity, relative sharpness, etc. Third, the elements
are not studied in a sequential and compartmentalized manner but in a highly relational and
interactive way in which the use of line, color, texture, composition in space confirm or verify
meanings or create semantic relationships of similarity or contrast. And fourth, the signifiers go hand
in hand with their signifieds, and thus one does not limit oneself to a description of the elements in
the way they are used but links their particularities of usage with their primary significations, as well
as with their intellectual and emotional associations within the society. In the images of art and the
media, the use of the elements affects us subliminally or unconsciously and, especially in the media
are part of what have been called the "hidden persuaders" that influence choice and behavior.
However, it is through art criticism that we become highly conscious of the means and their effects
and what they signify. It is also in semiotic analysis that we work within the specific language of art. In

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contrast, the classical approach often overlooks the basic language of art and bears heavily on the
image, its iconography and descriptive details, as well as its iconology and its narratives.

B. THE ICONIC PLANE OR THE IMAGE ITSELF

This is still part of the semiotic approach since it is still based on the signifier-signified relationship.
But here it is not that material elements of the work that are dealt with as in the basic semiotic plane,
but this has to do with the particular features, aspects, and qualities of the image which are the
signifiers. The image is regarded as an "iconic sign" which means, beyond its narrow associations
with religious images in the Byzantine style, that it is a unique sign with a unique, particular and
highly nuanced meaning, as different from a conventional sign such as a traffic or street sign which
has a single literal meaning.

The iconic plane includes the choice of the subject which may bear social and political implications.
An example in art history is the French realist artist Gustave Courbet's choice of workers and
ordinary people in his paintings, instead of the Olympian gods and goddesses or heroes from Greek
and Roman antiquity that were the staple of classical and academic art up to the nineteenth century.
We can ask the question: Is the subject meaningful in terms of the socio-cultural context, does it
reflect or have a bearing on the values and ideologies arising in a particular place and time?

One proceeds to consider the presentation of the image and its relationship to the viewer. If the
subject is a human figure, does it address the viewer directly; is it self-contained or self-absorbed?
What kind of subject-viewer relationship is implied by the subject through his facial expression, body
language, costume and accessories, natural or social background? Is it a relationship of peers or one
of dominance and subordination? Is it a friendly, ironic, aggressive, or hostile relationship, and all
possible nuances thereof? Most examples of Philippine genre, for instance, are based on the
concept of the stage or tableau which is oriented towards a large public audience which it is aware of
and directly addresses—a mark of the social cohesiveness of rural peasant society as well as the
extended Filipino family system in which all members of society have their kinship appellations. John
Berger in his Ways of Seeing has an engrossing study of paintings with the female nude as subject,
many of which he demonstrates as stemming from sexist attitudes reifying (reducing to object status)
or commodifying women with respect to the implied male viewer.

Also part of the iconic plane is the positioning of the figure or figures, whether frontal, in profile, three-
fourths, etc. and the significations that arise from these different presentations. Does the painting
show strong central focusing with the principal figure occupying the center space or is it decentered
and the painting asymmetrical in composition? How do these presentations contribute to different
meanings? Does the subject or subjects have a formal or a casual air? How does one describe the
central figure's stance: poised, relaxed, indifferent, provocative, or aloof? How much importance is
given to psychological insight into character? to costume and accessories? to the setting, natural,
social or domestic? What is the relative scaling of the figures from large to small? What bearing does
this have to the meaning of the work? Luna's Tampuhan brings to the fore the artist's sensitivity to
body language. How do the postures of the man and the woman convey their emotional attitudes?

In portraits, where is the gaze of the subject directed? This is important not only in defining the
relationship of subject and viewer but also in describing pictorial space. Degas' painting Woman with
Chrysanthemums shows a middle-aged woman beside a large vase of flowers. More importantly, her
intense and scheming look projects an imaginary line to a figure or figures that are the objects of her
gaze outside the pictorial field of the painting into an implied open and expanded space. This work
deconstructs the classical conventions of portraiture.

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Is there cropping of the figure or figures? What is the significance of the kind of cropping used?
Some kinds of cropping are intended to create a random, arbitrary effect as against the deliberate
and controlled. Other kinds isolate a segment of the subject, such as the hand or the feet, in order to
draw attention to its physical qualities--when a part stands for the whole, a peasant's bare feet can
tell us about an entire life of labor and exploitation. Some artists use cropping as a device to imply
the extension of the figure into the viewer's space.

Here one also takes into account the relationship of the figures to one another, whether massed,
isolated, or juxtaposed in terms of affinity or constrast. A painting may expand or multiply its space by
having not just one integral image but several sets of images in montage form, from the same or
different times and places. These may occur in temporal sequence to constitute a narrative or may
take the form of simultaneous facets or aspects of reality. Serial images which show an image
multiplied many times, as in Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe or Campbell Soup Cans, convey
significations arising from the blatant consumerism of the advanced capitalist societies of the First
World.

The style of figuration is an important part of the iconic plane. The figurative style is not mere caprice,
passing fashion, or the artist's personal ecriture; beyond these, it implies a particular re-presentation
or interpretation of the world, a world view, if not ideology. Classical figuration basically follows the
proportion of 7 1/2 to 8 heads to the entire figure in its pursuit of ideal form, as in a formal studio
portrait with the subject enhanced by make-up, all imperfections concealed. Realist figuration is
based on the keen observation of people, nature, and society in the concern for truth of
representation, thus creating true portraits of individuals or exposing the poverty and squalor that
arise from social inequities. Impressionist figuration is fluid and informal, often catching the subject
unawares like a candid camera. Expressionist figuration follows emotional impulses and drives, thus
often involving distortion that comes from strong emotion. However, the viewer should not be too
anxious to find precise stylistic labels, for contemporary art has seen the development of highly
original styles that have gone far beyod the School of Paris. It is important to be sensitive to the
meaning-conveying potential of highly individual styles. In the basic semiotic plane which deals with
the material aspect of the work and in the iconic plane which deals with the features of the image
itself, one can see that as the signifier cannot be separated from the signified, concrete fact or
material data cannot be divorced from value; in other words, fact is value-laden and value or
ideological meaning is derived from material fact.

C. THE CONTEXTUAL PLANE

Here one proceeds from the basic semiotic and iconic planes and the knowledge and insights one
has gained from these into the social and historical context of the work of art. Resituating the work in
its context will bring out the full meaning of the work in terms of its human and social implications.
The viewer draws out the dialogic relationship of art and society. Art sources its energy and vitality
from its social context and returns to it as a cognitive force and catalyst for change. If one does not
view the work in relation to its context, but chooses to confine analysis to the internal structure of the
work, one truncates its meaning by refusing to follow the trajectories of the work into the larger reality
that surrounds it. One prevents the work from reverberating in the real world.

As has been said earlier, the meaning of a work is a complex that involves concepts, values,
emotions, attitudes, atmospheres, sensory experiences that arise from the three planes. The
experience of a work cannot be reduced or paraphrased to a statement, such as a moral lesson or
message, but is a total experience involving the faculties of the whole person--not just his eyes or his

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senses, but his mind and emotions as well. The work of art has its horizon of meaning which is
narrower or larger depending on the degree of cultural literacy, cultural breadth, art exposure and
training, and intellectual and emotional maturity of the viewer. Art involves cognition or learning; it is
an important way of learning about people, life, and society. Does the work expand our knowledge of
reality as a whole? Is its experience liberative artistically, psychologically, humanly, or socially?

A broad knowledge of history and the economic, political and cultural conditions, past and present, of
a society is called upon in the contextual plane. With this comes a knowledge of national and world
art and literatures, mythologies, philosophies, and different cultures and world views. The work of art
may contain references and allusions, direct or indirect, to historical figures and events, as well as to
religious, literary, and philosophical ideas and values which are part of the meaning of the work.

The different symbolic systems which are culture-bound also come into play. Although we have been
strongly influenced by western symbolic systems, we have to move towards a greater awareness of
our many indigenous and Asian/Southeast Asian, Malay animist and Islamic symbolic systems which
must be given even greater value for they are part of our social context. These systems may have to
do with color, shape, design, as well as cultural symbols associated with the belief systems of the
different ethnic groups. Figures may also bear rich and distinct intellectual and emotional
associations built around them in the course of the history of a group.

The contextual plane likewise situates the work in the personal and social circumstances of its
production. The work may contain allusions to personal or public events, conditions, stages, as well
as influences, such as persons and literary texts, that have been particularly meaningful to the artist.
Themes and sub-themes may be derived from biographical experiences significant to the artist and
particular biographical data may play an important part in understanding the work and its view of
reality.

The work is firmly situated in a particular society and time, "in its social and historical
coordinates" (Wolff 1983). The work is viewed or studied in relation to its epoch, to the prevailing
world views, ideologies, issues, concern, trends, and events of the day. It situates the artist with
respect to the debates of his time. The work may have allusions or references to the personalities
and events of a particular period, and convey attitudes of espousal, approval, indifference, or
rejection with respect to these. For the work of art conveys values, artistic, religious, social or
political. Art then is not value-free. All art contains values of one kind or another. Abstract art,
likewise, may express world views and values, as Mondrian's abstraction conveyed his neo-
platonism, as he considered his paintings symbolic of the underlying harmony and order in the
universe. On the contrary, Pollock's gestural abstraction valorizes spontaneity and the release of
kinetic energy and non-rational impulses. Values such as spontaneity as against discipline and order,
mystery and elusiveness as against clear definition, informality as against the formal, transitoriness
as against permanence--these may be found in abstract art, at the same time that these can be
viewed in the light of the events and intellectual trends of the time.

Finally, a single work of art is often more completely understood when it is viewed in the context of
the artist's entire body of work, when it is juxtaposed and compared on the semiotic, iconic, and
contextual planes with works of the artist in the same period, in different periods of his/her career,
and then with the work of contemporaries. This is because the meaning of one work may become
part of a larger body or work or of an integral artistic vision. In comparative intertextuality, the work of
art reveals its numerous ramifications of meaning.

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D. THE AXIOLOGICAL OR EVALUATIVE PLANE

The axiological plane has to do with analyzing the values of a work. After the understanding of the
work is the difficult task of evaluating it. Often, it is facile to say that evaluation involves the two
aspects of form and content. But this division is theoretically conservative because the two are
conceptually separated. It is semiotic analysis involving the basic semiotic plane, the iconic plane
and the contextual plane that shows how meaning is produced through the interrelationship of the
signifiers (material features) and signifieds (concepts, values) in the unique pictorial sign that is the
work of art. At all points, meaning is anchored in material form. Again, empirical, physical fact is
value-laden and value ensues from material fact. Thus, the first consideration in evaluating would be
to what degree the material basis of the work conveys meaning or particular intellectual/emotional
contents.

The evaluation of the material basis of the work (form) reckons with standards of excellence in the
use of the medium and its related techniques. Some questions may be posed. Is the medium (which
includes surface, ground, or material block, instruments, tools, pigments calling for appropriate
techniques) used with a high degree of skill? Is the particular medium chosen in view of the semantic
potential of its combined properties which is realized in the completed work? With respect to
medium, the viewer/critic rejects the traditional hierarchies laid down by the 19th century academies
in which oil on canvas and sculptures in marble were valorized over other media. For all visual forms,
whether paintings, prints, posters, illustrations, cartoons, and comics have their standards of
technical excellence to which a work may be on par or below par. Understanding and evaluating the
technical side of the work requires a familiarity with and sensitivity to the properties of medium. Thus
the viewer/critic should devote time to researching on and observing art-making, even doing
exercises of his or her own. At the same time, one makes allowance for the transgressing of
conventional processes and norms in the quest for new creative and expressive resources.

The usual consideration of form also touches upon the principles of organization which are
traditionally identified as rhythm, harmony, balance, and proportion. However, one has to bear in
mind that these tenets were laid down by the 19th century European academies established by the
royal courts to preserve the hierarchic order based on unchanging principles. In their philosophical
framework, the classical ideals of harmony, balance, and proportion were not only aesthetic values
but also socio-political values divinely decreed as "in the nature of things." The problem is that these
values, while they retain a continuing but limited validity, are often erroneously absolutized as the be-
all and end-all of art itself. Meaning may suffer in the interest of these values when, in fact, the
validity of their application is only relative to the semantic requirements of the work.

As has been stated, the meaning of a work is a complex of concepts, values, and feelings which
derive from reality and have a bearing on it. Because of this, the evaluation of a work necessarily
includes the analysis and examination of its axiological content constituted by values which become
fully articulated on the contextual plane although these had already been shaping on the basic
semiotic and iconic planes. And since values are expressed in the work which holds a dialogic
relationship with reality, the assessment of these values is a necessary part of critical evaluation. It
then becomes possible that the values of the artist and the viewer do not quite coincide or may even
be contradictory. Of course, there exists a whole range of attitudes on the part of the viewer/critic to
the work, from full espousal and enthusiastic endorsement at one pole, through degrees of
appreciation and indifference growing towards annoyance and to vigorous rejection at the opposite
pole.

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It becomes clear that, on one hand, the artist is not or should not be a mere technician but expresses
a view of life in his or her work. On the other hand, the viewer/critic is also not a mere technical
expert confined to the analysis of the elements, techniques, and processes alone. The mature viewer
or critic is one who must have, after long expression and experience, arrived at the formulation of his
own value system, his or her view of the world and humanity which he or she has come to feel
deeply and strongly about. As the artist enjoys artistic independence, the critic/viewer also enjoys a
measure of autonomy. For, to be sure, the critic is not an appendage of the artist or a promoter or
publicist, but one who vitally contributes to the dynamic dialogue, interaction, and debate in the field
of art and culture as these intersect with other human concerns, among them the political, social, and
economic. The viewer/critic, as also the artist should, places a value on the capacity of art to
influence and transform society.

An underlying premise then is that the viewer of art, in particular the art critic, needs to have thought
out fully his own values or the guiding principles by which he or she lives as a total human person.
The artist likewise creates his or her art not as a fragmented human being or purely technical
specialist, but as a total thinking and feeling individual. If the critic simply describes and appreciates
the work's technical excellence (if it is indeed worth appreciating on this level) and stops short of
making value-judgements, then he or she is a formalist critic who isolates the work from its larger
social environment--in which case, she or she divorces art from life and its concerns and promotes
the condition of art feeding upon itself. But when the critic makes evaluations of the work relative to
his or her own philosophy and vision of life and the world, he or she is only fully realizing the dialogue
between the work and the viewer, after completing the process of semiotic reading, understanding,
and contextualizing the meaning of the work.

Since art directly or indirectly conveys meaning and seeks to influence one's ideas and vallues in
subliminal ways, then it is but an essential role of the viewer/critic to be able to recognize these
subtle devices and assume the prerogative to articulate and evaluate them in relation to his own
world view. As the critic/viewer fully recognizes and respects the prerogative of the artist to express
his or her ideas and feelings, the former also reserves the right to agree, disagree, or have
reservations in relation to his own values and view of the world. It is to be pointed out, likewise, that it
is possible for a critic to truly understand and appreciate a work viewed in its socio-cultural context
without necessarily espousing its ideas, in the same way that one can appreciate a zen work of art
without being a Zen Buddhist oneself. But in contemporary art produced in the context of our time
and place, the expression of the critic's dissenting view is not to be construed as a manipulative
strategy or an imposition on the artist but as only bringing out the oppositional stance in the dialogic
relationship or art and viewer, art and reality.

Indeed, the responsible viewer/critic must draw from a rich fund of knowledge and humanism. The
Filipino art critic may uphold nationalist values in art reflecting national identity and the people's
interests vis-a-vis foreign interests that seek to maintain their domination in all fields. The
democratization of art may be promoted in themes that enhance the sense of human dignity
especially of those engaged in basic production and that espouse their liberation from exploitation.
Democratization can also be in the use of popular forms and mediums that make art accessible to
the larger number. There is likewise a liberative thrust in themes that espouse the cause of traditional
minoritized sectors, such as women and children, animist and non-Christian ethnic groups. The critic
may uphold the role of art as an emancipating influence rather than as pure commodity or decoration
catering to elites.

But what if, as may often be the case, interpretations of the work by different critics do not coincide or
are contradictory? Does this mean then that our critical process is unreliable? There may be a

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general consensus on the basic semiotic and iconic planes or in the analysis of form, but differences
may lie in the contextual and axiological analysis. This is because in all societies riven by opposing
interests such as ours it is only to be expected that artists and viewers/critics adhere to different
value systems which affect the way that they look at art. In the long run, these differences which are
basically ideological stem from the different positions, that is, their class sympathies and affinities,
that artists, critics, and people in general take in a society's relations of production.

Thus, after the critic/viewer has gone through the three planes, the semiotic, the iconic, and the
contextual, it is possible to determine the semantic focus and parameters of the work and, from
these, project its horizon of meanings, its boundaries and limitations, its semantic implications and
ideological orientations, its progressive or conservative tendencies with respect to human
development. The critic thus arrives at a sharper understanding of the work of art which, while it has
a semantic core has parameters that are fluid and continually being expanded and modified. Art
projects a horizon of meanings relative to both the artist and the critic/viewer in terms of intellectual
background, emotional maturity, and cultural range in the humanly enriching dialogic experience of
art. (From Image to Meaning: Essays on Philippine Art)

WHEN YOU REACH THIS POINT, WORK ON WORKSHEET 6.3

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