Art Appreciation: Visual Literacy and Analysis Skills

Elements of Art

This painting (below), Mary Cassatt's Young Girls from 1867, shows effective use of the elements of art.
Cassatt was an impressionist painter, and she used visible brushstrokes with soft edges to capture moments in time. Cassatt used yellows and orange-reds in the girls' dresses and greens in the background. The warm colors advance, whereas the cooler colored background recedes and helps the subjects stand out.
The warmth of the colors in the skin tones gives life and vibrancy to the young girls. The rougher brushstrokes of the dresses, hair, and background show an implied texture. The implied lines surrounding the subjects in the foreground are softened and blurred, giving a softer feel to the subject.
Cassatt used a wide range of light and dark values to give depth to this artwork. The darker background serves as negative space, whereas the subjects are the positive space. Mary Cassatt used the elements of art to successfully portray the soft, tender nature of youth and innocence in this painting.


Gustav Klimt's The Kiss from 1907–1908 is a painting with gold leaf added. It depicts a couple embraced and entwined in a kiss.
Klimt used asymmetrical balance in this painting, although the figures are centrally located. The patch of meadow underneath them is mainly on the left of the painting, and the darker squares in the clothing are also on the left. This is balanced by the emphasis, or focal point, of the woman's face, which draws the viewer's eye. There is contrast throughout, with circles, rectangles, and solid areas of color. There is also the contrast of the bright gold with the darker background, causing the figures to stand out.
The clothing of both figures, as well as the flowers in the meadow, show different patterns. The repeated yellows and golds throughout the painting give a unity to the piece. Klimt successfully used the elements of art to create this eye-catching painting.

Romantic Landscape

In Wassily Kandinsky's Romantic Landscape from 1911, he used the principles of design to successfully organize the elements of art.
Although the artwork contains mainly darker and muted tones of color, such as darker blues and reds, as well as browns, grays and greens, he used one area of brighter orange in the top left. This small area of brighter color contrasts with the darker, more muted values, and it serves to balance the painting, while providing emphasis as a focal point to draw the eye. The
lines and implied lines show movement in a triangle shape, leading the eye around the painting, from the upward sloping brown shape in the bottom left, leading up to a blue and whitish line at the top, then back down with a dark-gray line. He uses some dots of dark gray in different places to create rhythm, and the repeated colors throughout the painting provide unity to the artwork.

Using Experience to Analyze an Artwork
Using experience to analyze an artwork can help the viewer relate to and understand the artwork by relating to the context surrounding it. Experience can help the viewer feel what the artist is trying to convey. In this example, Snap the Whip by
Winslow Homer from 1862, children are playing a game outside in a grassy field.
The game is called snap the whip; the children hold hands and the main player tries to run and spin to throw the children off at the end of the chain. If a viewer has experienced this game, or even a similar game such as 'red rover,' they will have a greater understanding of the fun and excitement conveyed by the artist. Someone who grew up in the city without playing in grassy fields will not be able to relate as closely to this image. Relating to an artwork with experience can help the viewer decide and analyze whether the artist as successfully conveyed their ideas.


Using Observation to Analyze an Artwork
Analyzing art can be done in many different ways. By observing artwork in various ways, the viewer can get a greater overview of the artwork and its message. Viewers can begin by standing back and taking in a wide view of the entire artwork. They can observe what catches their eye and how the artwork leads their eye around. After noting their initial impressions, viewers can take a closer look, observing details such as brushstrokes, use of color, lines, and blending or glazing. Viewers should also consider the subject and messages that the artist is trying to convey, deciding whether the portrayal is successful. In a sculptural form, viewers would look closely at the materials and walk around the sculpture to observe how their view changes from all sides. Keeping in mind the elements and principles of art and how the artist is using them, careful observation of the artwork can help the viewer analyze the success of the art.

Experience, Observation, Memory, and Imagination
Artists will often use their own experiences and observations of their surroundings as sources for their artwork. An artist growing up by the ocean might use the beach as inspiration for their artwork, painting beach scenes and ocean life. A person who grew up in a crowded city might choose to portray the bustle of city life, tall buildings, or even homeless people because this is what they experienced. An artist can observe their surroundings and find the beauty in it, like the Hudson River School painters did when painting beautiful American landscapes. An artist could also draw on memories for inspiration, painting things that they remember from their past or their childhood. Imagination is a rich source of ideas too, and an artist can use their imagination to create new scenes, like surrealist painters often did.
Surrealists used their imaginations to combine images in new ways, or even bend or distort ordinary objects. Experience, observation, memory, and imagination are all sources that artists use for their artwork.

Experience and Perception
A person's experiences can affect their perception of an artwork by influencing their ideas of what is, or isn't, art. This is an example of street art by Banksy, a well-known street artist whose work has become desirable to find and see. His identity is still unknown, and this mystique adds to the appeal of his art. Street art does have a negative connotation for many. Street art, or graffiti, is generally painted illegally on buildings and is often covered over. The illegal and unwanted aspect could make many people think that it is not an art form. If someone has experienced vandalism on their home or business, they would be less accepting of street art as an art form. If someone's neighborhood has been filled with unwanted graffiti, they might not want to see it on their own building or in other public places. On the other hand, people who are involved in creating street art view it as a positive experience, and they are accepting of it as an art form.


Improving Composition
Although there are many ways to compose an artwork and lead the viewer's eye around the work, there are certain considerations that can improve the composition of a work. It is jarring to the eye to see two edges in a painting touch, but not overlap. In this case, the edge of the jug is touching the fruit, but they do not overlap.
This causes a spatial ambiguity and does not make it clear that one object is in front of the other. Lines that are known, in the mind, to be straight should be made straight in the artwork. The edge of the table, in the back, does not make a straight line. From the perspective this artwork is composed, the table is tilted farther than the edges of the objects show, and this conflict makes it seem that the objects may slide off the table. The artwork is somewhere in between symmetrical and asymmetrical balance, with the objects placed in the center with similar sizes on each side, carrying similar visual weight, but slightly different. This composition could be improved by creating a purposeful asymmetrical balance, using three different-sized objects instead.


Use of Media

In this work by J. M. W. Turner from 1801, it is evident that the medium used is watercolor paint. Watercolor is by nature transparent, and painting with watercolor involves letting the white of the paper show through for lighter values. Darker colors are made by using less water for a denser color or by building up layers of colors upon each other. In this landscape painting, Turner used washes for the large areas of color in the top two-thirds of the painting. The colors are delicately built upon each other. A wet-on-wet technique, adding watercolor to already-wet paper, will yield soft edges for the colors. To achieve the edges of the mountains and cliffs, the layer beneath can dry before adding another color on top. These colors were thinned with a lot of water to let the white of the paper show through and create lighter hues. The details at the bottom of the painting would be done with a smaller brush and less water to achieve more detail and sharper lines.

Tilted Arc by Richard Serra
Richard Serra's site-specific sculpture from 1981, titled Tilted Arc, was installed in Manhattan in Foley Federal Plaza. This sculpture consisted of a 120-foot-long, 12-foot-high leaning plate of steel. This work, although seemingly nondescript, was actually described as ugly and an eyesore by critics. At the same time, it was deemed significant for its placement because it transformed the location it was placed in. By placing the sculpture in this plaza, Serra disrupted many people's daily routines as they walked through the area, causing them to change paths and walk around the sculpture. The sculpture was purposely located where it would redefine the space. Many people petitioned for its removal, but Serra countered that to move the sculpture would be to destroy it because it was created specifically for the site. Serra was able to successfully transform the space with his strategic sculpture placement. The sculpture was dismantled and removed in 1989

Brushstrokes and Impasto
Vincent van Gogh often used impasto, or thick layers of paint with prominent brushstrokes, in his paintings. Using this painting technique can add texture to a painting, and it can add to the other visual elements present in the artwork. In Starry Night (1889), van Gogh used the impasto technique and visible brushstrokes to create movement throughout the artwork. The swirls in the sky lead the eye throughout the painting, and the circles of brushstrokes around the stars and moon accentuate their presence in the sky. The prominent brushstrokes consist of colors placed next to each other, with dashes of color repeated throughout. This creates a repetition of pattern, as well as a visual texture, in addition to the actual texture of the thick paint. The brushstrokes add a visual interest and sense of movement that would be much different if he had simply painted the background in solid colors or blended the colors gradually. The brushstrokes and impasto technique are a significant part of the artwork, transforming a night scene into a vibrant, expressive work of art.

The Deconstruction Criticism Theory
The criticism theory of deconstruction focuses on examining the many potential meanings within an artwork, including ones that are possibly even conflicting with each other.
This theory was first used in the 1970s by French philosopher Jacques Derrida.
Deconstruction involves finding and recognizing the underlying meaning and implied messages within artwork. When delving into artwork in this way, it is difficult to find and agree upon just one meaning, and it can even challenge preconceived notions and previously agreed upon ideas. This aesthetic theory seeks what is hidden, omitted, or repressed to show how the initial impression is not the only interpretation nor is it necessarily the generally accepted meaning. There could be many unanswered questions within the artwork, such as the intentions of the artist, the significance of the objects or location, or the identities of the subjects, and this leads to ambiguity of meaning.
Stereotypes must be set aside to look for a true meaning.

Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe
Andy Warhol's screen printed images of Marilyn Monroe perpetuate the image of her well-known Hollywood persona. Marilyn Monroe was famous for being a beautiful and talented cultural icon, and the repeated image used by Warhol reinforces this image of her celebrity. To use the critical perspective of deconstruction to analyze this artwork, one must go past the initial impression and stereotypes, seeking what is hidden or omitted, looking for other meanings and interpretations. In addition to Monroe's exuberant celebrity personality, there was a darker, troubled side that eventually led to her suicide. The initial impression of this artwork is the superficial, smiling celebrity paparazzi image, with bright colors, repeated as it would have been seen everywhere in media. Delving further past this initial impression yields another possible interpretation, and it reinforces the idea that there is more than one possible way to view and understand this artwork.

The Formalism Aesthetic Theory
The formalist criticism theory deals with analyzing the visual aspects of an artwork, including the elements and principles used. This theory attaches meaning in the artist's use of materials, focusing on how the artwork is made and how it looks, not the narrative it is attempting to convey or any social or historical context. Formalism is useful for analyzing nonrepresentational and abstract art, looking at the artist's use of elements, principles, composition, and media rather than trying to find meaning in the subject matter. With this approach, the critic is looking at the same things in a realistic, representational, or abstract painting, analyzing it in the same way to see if the artist successfully used media and visual elements in their artwork. An extreme form of formalism believes that everything necessary to analyze a work of art is already present in that work and no context or history is applicable to the analysis of artwork.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler's Nocturne in Black and Gold

James Abbott McNeill Whistler's Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875) captures the excitement of fireworks in the night sky. This is a loosely painted, abstracted work, getting away from realistic representation. From a formalism perspective, Whistler successfully used composition, as well as the elements and principles of art, in this work.
For the composition, he used the rule of thirds and placed the horizon line at roughly one-third from the bottom of the painting. The emphasis, or focal point, is the brightest yellow in the lower left. Whistler used strong contrast to help the bright lights and fireworks stand out from the dark background. He used repetition of colors to create a unity throughout the work and lead the eye from each colored area. The brighter and lighter colors in the lower third are balanced by the darker hues and splatters of color higher in the painting.

The Cultural Perspective Aesthetic Theory
The cultural perspective aesthetic theory looks at an artwork with consideration to the cultural and social norms that are associated with it or the artist. Instead of focusing on the elements, principles, and form, or the hidden meaning in an artwork, this theory analyzes how an artwork expresses or fits into the cultural or social viewpoint. The concept of culture includes the customs, beliefs, and traditions of a group of people during a certain time. The cultural perspective aesthetic theory could be used on an American artwork, for example, and explain the perspective that is conveyed with consideration of the origin of the artwork. An artwork from another culture will convey different messages depending on its social norms and cultural ideas and looking at the artwork in this way can reveal these messages. Artists will often express themselves and their culture through their

African Mask

Using the example of an African mask, analyzing this from a cultural perspective of aesthetic theory is much different than using a formalist or deconstruction theory. Instead of finding hidden meanings or analyzing only the visual components, the cultural perspective looks at the connection between the artwork and the culture in which it was made, analyzing how it expresses the culture. African masks were used in ceremonies for religious and social events. The combination of human and animal elements, in this case a human face with animal horns, symbolizes the closeness of humans with the natural environment. In some cases, the person wearing the mask is thought to either communicate with or become the figure that the mask represents. They can represent totem animals, or even the deceased. Masks are an important part of African culture, and they express the significance of cultural ideas through this art form.

The Expression Aesthetic Theory
The expression aesthetic theory focuses on art as the artist's expression of emotions. It sees art as a process of expressing emotion, and the artist does not necessarily know what emotions they will be expressing before creation. Expression is not a calculated process; rather, it is something that occurs from how the artist created their work. To analyze artwork in this manner, the viewer should imagine the artist's process and attempt to experience the emotion that is being conveyed. As artists create the work, they are thought to move from a feeling of oppression to a sense of clarity and freeness by expressing their emotions. They figure out their own emotions while in the process of expressing them, turning it from a feeling into a visual expression. In evaluating artwork with this in mind, the viewer is looking for and understanding what the artist is expressing emotionally.

Wassily Kandinsky's Yellow-Red-Blue

Wassily Kandinsky's Yellow-Red-Blue (1925) is an abstract painting filled with shapes and colors. To analyze it using the expression aesthetic theory, one would imagine the artist's process and think about what emotions are being expressed through this artwork. According to the theory, the artist is working out their own emotion while creating the artwork, and this emotion is not fully expressed until the artwork is completed. In this painting, Kandinsky used a combination of bright primary colors, abstract and geometric shapes, and a variety of lines. The eye is led throughout the piece with these lines, and the bright colors catch the eye as well. Primary colors give a sense of simplicity and straightforwardness, and the lines go back and forth from order to a more chaotic feel. The brighter yellow is balanced by the large, darker hues of red and blue, and emotionally the more geometric and brighter left side contrasts with the organic shapes and squiggles on the right, suggesting a contrasting inner turmoil.

The Feminist Art Movement
The feminist art movement sought to establish a fair and equal place for women artists in the art world and to bring to light the accomplishments of prior women artists. These artists sought to transform stereotypes and change cultural attitudes about women, and they tried to do so through their artwork. The feminist art movement expanded the definition and scope of art, the artists we recognize, and who is included in the conversation of art making. Feminist artists gave credit to artists before them, and they introduced new media in their artwork. Because of the accomplishments of this movement, women artists no longer necessarily feel the need to identify themselves as such, or to specifically create artwork that addresses the perspective of women. Women artists began to express their individual concerns and feelings, rather than trying to address and contribute to the feminist viewpoint.

The Impressionist Movement
The impressionist movement marked a departure from the traditional notions of art. At the time, the narrow ideals of art were controlled by institutions such as the Salon and the French academy. These institutions also held control over the careers of artists. The impressionists cast the old rules aside and painted how they wanted to, capturing the changing qualities of light in new ways and scenes as they looked at a particular moment. They captured scenes as they saw them, on the spot, rather than taking sketches back to the studio to complete a painting. Impressionism also began when photography was catching on, and it served as an imitation of and reaction against it. Impressionism imitated the capturing of fleeting moments, while reacting against a faithful photographic reproduction of a scene. This art movement transformed landscape painting, and impressionism influenced artists to later express their artistic freedom and experiment with methods and media.

The Postimpressionist Movement
Postimpressionist artists rejected the ideas of depicting the world around them, as the impressionists did, and instead sought to explore their emotions and memories to depict highly personal meanings through their artwork. Instead of showing scenes from life, as the impressionists did, postimpressionist artists wanted to go further and show their feelings through abstracted forms and new uses of color. They used symbolism and attempted to evoke emotion in their viewers. Postimpressionist artists did not seek to create a cohesive style; rather, the movement was more about the departure from a faithful depiction of the world or events, and it was about beginning to relay information from the artist's subconscious mind. Postimpressionists used saturated colors and unnatural hues to express emotion in their artwork, taking a new, imaginative approach to representing their subjects. The painterly quality and distinct brushstrokes added to the notion that this was not a faithful representation, but rather an interpretation.

Minimalist Art
The minimalist art movement, like many other movements, sought to challenge the boundaries and conventions of art. By removing themselves and their feelings from their artwork, minimalist artists distanced themselves from the work of the abstract expressionists who came before them. They were interested in creating a new kind of artwork that was unlike any other previous fine art, minimized to its simplest form. Minimalist artwork used prefabricated and construction-related materials, and it showed a preference for simple geometric forms. These artists wanted their art to show no evidence of the artist who created it and stand on its own instead of having personal elements.
Paintings lacked brushstrokes and had flat fields of color, and sculptures had clean, straight lines and geometric shapes. The minimalism label referred to artists using a minimal number of colors, shapes, or forms in their artwork and the artwork was stripped of decoration and refined to its simplest form.

Kara Walker's Silhouette Artwork
Kara Walker is an African-American artist known for her black-and-white silhouette artwork on gallery walls, exploring themes of gender, race, violence, sexuality, and identity. Walker is motivated by exposing racial stereotypes and historical narratives that have been glossed over by time. Through her artwork, she questions how skin color defines a person and how black people are represented in culture. From early on, as an artist she felt pressure to represent the 'black experience' in a positive light; instead, she to represent it truthfully and expose historical issues.
Her artwork has a tendency to make people uncomfortable, and she seeks to create this uncomfortable feeling, to take people out of their comfort zone of what they believe of race, gender, or identity. Her work has been called negative and revolting, and she has even had work covered due to its controversy. Despite the negative attention from some, it has not deterred
Walker from portraying difficult subjects.

The Dada Art Movement
The Dada art movement sought to reject the traditional methods and ideas of art creation and essentially to redefine art on its own terms. This wasn't so much of a cohesive style as it was a group of artists looking to collaborate and create art with spontaneity. This group actually mocked the established art scene, and they started debates about the definition of art. The 'readymade' concept contributed to this debate because it was a departure from what was previously considered art. Some Dada artists also sought to debate politics with their artwork, especially rallying against the horrors of war. They issued publications and created photomontages to stand up against political ideas. Dada art critiqued society, politics, and previously established rules for art, and their penchant for the strange, satirical, and irrational was later picked up and used by surrealist artists.

Andy Warhol and Pop Art
Andy Warhol explored the connections between popular culture and art, and he gained international attention for his artwork and for himself.
He used many different media types, including painting, screen printing, and even computers, to create iconic pop art. The allure and mystery of his personal life, combined with his public persona, helped to keep him in the spotlight and create interest in him and his work. He reproduced images from mass media that nobody had thought to use before for artwork, and he successfully became synonymous with pop art. His work appealed to a large audience, and he created some the most widely recognized artworks ever made.
Warhol also changed the concept of being an artist by using his factory concept to produce artwork. He predicted the quick rise and fall of celebrities with his '15 minutes of fame' concept, which became the new norm in popular culture.

The Social Realism Movement
Social realism began in the early 1900s with the aim of portraying everyday life, especially that of the working class. It became an important art movement in the 1930s in the United States during the Great Depression. At this time, urban areas were growing, and slums also grew. Social realism artists were motivated by reacting against the idealism of the romantic period. These artists revealed the realities of contemporary life, and they sympathized with the poor and working class. They recorded the realities of what they saw, without glorifying scenes or heightening emotions. While documenting the realities of the poor and working class, social realists were also critical of the government and structures that created these conditions.
They wanted to use this new style as a weapon to fight against the government and capitalism, as well as the exploitation of workers, while transforming society.

Self-Critique of Artwork
Self-critique of artwork is useful for analyzing artistic processes and outcomes in order to improve the process and the final product.
Self-critique involves thinking about what is successful in an artwork, as well as what could be improved. When doing a self-critique, artists can look at the composition, use of elements and principles, how they portrayed their subject, whether they expressed their ideas effectively, and their use of media. It is helpful to stop often in the artistic process and stand back to critique the work, to see how it is progressing and decide if it is going in the right direction. Sometimes it is also helpful to stop for a while and put the work away, and then look at it again with fresh eyes later. With self-critique, artists become more aware of their progress and improvements and will also learn how to critique other artists' work objectively. They will focus on improving their artwork and on finding ways to grow, rather than repeating mistakes and becoming frustrated.