FELDMAN’S METHOD

4 Art Critique Elements

• To write a perfect art critique paper, use the four elements mentioned
before: description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment.
Understanding these elements will allow you to evaluate any artwork
thoroughly and objectively.
• When you start writing a critique, remember that a useful analysis
provides your view of the object’s strong and weak attributes.
DESCRIPTION

• First of all, describe the artwork. At this stage, you don’t have to analyze anything. You just
answer the question: what do you see?

• Here are some essential questions that you might want to answer in your artwork description:
❓ What is the work’s title and the artist’s name?
❓ What is the artwork made of?
❓ What colors, shapes, and textures did the artist use?
❓ What techniques were used by the artist?
❓ What are the objects you see in the artwork? Does it depict people, plants, or abstract
forms?
ANALYSIS
• ❓ Do the features of the piece complement each other?
• ❓ Do they create chaos or harmony?
• ❓ Are there any artwork elements, such as balance, proportion,
similarity, and contrast? What are the most prominent?
• ❓ Search for historical underpinnings that became a basis for the
artwork under analysis. How does it tell the story of its time?
• ❓ Are there any exciting effects, such as movement or soft focus?
• ❓ What is your emotional reaction to the artwork?
INTERPRETATION
• ❓ How does this art object make you feel?
• ❓ What do you think of when you’re looking at the artwork?
• ❓ What did the artist want to tell you as a viewer?
• ❓ What do you think about the title of the work? Does it influence
your interpretation?
JUDGEMENT
• ❓ What do you think: is the work successful or not?
• ❓ Does this art object seem original or not?
• ❓ What do you feel when looking at this piece of artwork?
• ❓ Go back to your first impression. Has anything changed? What did
you learn?
• ❓ What have you learned from this work that you might apply to
your artwork or your thinking?