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Tips for Paper #1 Writing About Art

Tip #1: Use ctrl + F (command + F)

This shortcut enables you to find a key term or a phrase in your pdf document or a webpage.

Use terms and ideas from the readings in your papers. It is OK to forget a definition; you can quickly find what you need using ctrl + F (command + F).

Tip #2: describe the composition of the work of art by referring to geometric forms

As you know, composition is the arrangement of visual elements in a work of art.

The outlines of the objects/figures in the middle of the picture plane form a strong diagonal that leads the viewer's eyes from the bottom left to the top right of the painting.

The artist arranged the objects in a pyramidal composition.

Tip #3: I you want to be super cool, use the term mimesis :)

Derived from the Greek mimesis, the term means imitation. You can use it to describe to what extent the art reflect the real life.

Examples:

Both Realism and Naturalism are mimetic systems or practices of representation.

The artist employed an anti-mimetic approach in this non-figurative work of art.

If you combine example sentences from the last two sections, you have the beginning of the descriptive paragraph:

The artist employed an anti-mimetic approach in this non-figurative work of art. The outlines of the objects/figures in the middle of the picture plane form a strong diagonal that leads the viewer's eyes from the bottom left to the top right of the painting. [continue by describing other relevant visual elements]

or

In this painting, the artist used the mimetic system of representation. The outlines of the objects/figures in the middle of the picture plane form a strong diagonal that leads the viewer's eyes from the bottom left to the top right of the painting.

Credits:

Created with images by eluela31 - "art colorful color" • Zorro4 - "pansy violet purple"