A
      GUIDE FOR THE SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF A WORK OF ART

      FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT

      BOSTON COLLEGE

Much of the follong is taken from B. E. White
Suggestions for a Visual Analysis

The categories listed below are not comprehensive. Not all of them will apply to any single work of art.
This is only a guide, and it is not our intention that you should always follow the sample outline. However,
this guide may help you to ask some of the relevant questions when writing museum papers. 

AIM: To give you a chance to study one or two original worksin detail and to show how much enjoyment
can be derived from this investigation. Making sketches ortracings is often an aid to understanding a work
of art. Such diagrams should be included with your written paper (you will not be graded on their artistic
merit).The following are some suggestions and questions that may guide your thinking and feeling about the
works.  First, identify the subject precisely. Then analyze in detail the formal arrangement and the stylistic
characteristics of the work(s). Be precise in your observations, but expand your ideas so that your paper
will be more than mere description. 

SAMPLE OUTLINE: 

I. OBJECT 

     Identification - Title, museum, museum number, provenance, if known.
                                 (Provenance refers to the history of ownership of the work.)

    Subject Matter - Bible, mythology, historical, genre, portrait, landscape. 
                                  Give source if known, such as a quotation from the Bible.

    Technical Information - Material, size, condition, etc.


II. FORMAL ANALYSIS OF PAINTING (composition and formal organization)

    A. Line Organization: How does the system of lines and outlines relate to each other? To the whole picture?
         What is their inherent nature and effect? 

    B. Surface Plane: What is the decorative quality of the two-dimensional organization? Symmetry?
        Asymmetry? What kind of rhythm?

    C. Spatial System: How is the illusion of space created? Or is it denied? Does the artist use a system of
         perspective, or is spacs suggested through overlapping forms? 

    D. Function of Color: Describe the use of color, if any. Is color here primarily representational
        (descriptive) or expressive (primarily formal)? In monochrome painting consider variations in tonal
         values.

    E. Light: Where is the source of light? In whaS direction does light fall into the picture? Is light present
         as such? What is its intensity and character? What does light do for the picture or for the forms in the
         picture? 

    F. Brushwork: Is it visible? Is it independent of the objecSs it depicts?Does it produce tight forms, or free,
         irregular spots? How is it related to texture, light, color, plasSic form, and rhythm?

    G. Organization of figures: Their construction, proporSions, drapery, stance, action. Are they idealized,
         or realistic in their forms?


III. FORMAL ANALYSIS of SCULPTURE

    A. Type of sculpture: Is it low relief, high relief, a free standing figure, a group of figures, or a combination
         of these?

    B. Technical means: Is the sculpture carved out of wood, sSone? Is it assembled from many kinds of
         material? Or is it modeled in clay orwax, and then cast in bronze?

    C. Volumes: WhaS kind of volumetric forms are basic to the sculpture? Geometric ones - conic, cubic,
         pyramidal? Irregular ones - jagged, smooth, organic? How are these forms organized?

    D. Line: How is line used in the sculpture: Does it have an open or a closed silhouetSe? Are the dominant
         linear elements seen in the forms themselves, or are they incised onto the surfaces of the forms? Is there
         a conflict between the linear and volumetric elements?

    E. Space: To what degree does the figure displace space? Do the forms and space interpenetrate? Is the
        work a relief? What creates an illusion of space within it? Is the figure meant to be seen in space in a
        particular view? Is it frontal? Does it turn in space? Can its composition be undersSood from one view
        only? From many views?

    F. Color: Is color added to the sculpture? Is the color of the material itself important? Does the color have
         an iconographic significance? Does it have a descriptive or expressive function?

    G. Light: Has the artist considered the effect of light upon his work? Are the forms arranged so that a
         particular effect of light and shade will be attained?

    H. Relation of technique and material to form: Are some of the forms inherent to the carving process,
         or the modeling process?


IV. ICONOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS

    A. Subject: What subject is represented? Does it come from the Old or New Testament; from classical
         literature, hagiographical writings (lives of the saints) or traditions; renaissance literature, etc.? Is it
         a scene from the artist's own life? Check the text where known and give the sources (be sure you have
         read the relevant passage). Has the artist changed the meaning of the original source?

    B. History of Subject: Is the subject treated in the same way in other contemporary works? Has this been a
        constant tradition or has the theme varied over the centuries? Is it a new theme without an established
        iconography?

    C. Relationship of iconography and form: Do the iconographical demands affect the formal elements?
         Has the artist felt he/she must inctude some details which have primarily iconographic, not formal,
         significance? Does the artist ignore iconographic traditions in order to assert formal ideas?


V. FUNCTION OF THE WORK

         Was the work part of a larger decorative program? Was it intended for public viewing or for private
         study or devotion? How might the function have affected the form?


VI. CONTENT

What mood or interpretation has the artist expressed through the formal and iconographic elements ?


VII. STYLE

          Style is a broad term which includes all the foregoing elements, when they are considered primarily
          historically.

          1. The Period Style: (Early or High Renaissance, Baroque, Gothic, Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, etc.)
 
          2. Style of the School: (National and geographic variations of a style. For instance, Italian vs. Flemish,
              or German Expressionism vs. Fauvism.)

         3. Style of the Artist: 
                 a. The permanent characteristics of an artist. (What are the non-changing features of an artist's style
                     that reveal his or her authorship? For instance, special ways of handling the brush or cutting the
                     stone, or specific use of perspective modes, or specific color choice, etc.) 

                 b. The changing aspects of an adist's st,vle. (How does his mature work differ from the early work?
                     What are the features of this late work? What changes occur as the artist grows and different
                     influences and issues seem to be come more important to him or her?


VIII. A CAVEAT: THE FOREST OR THE TREES

This guide shows you how you can analyze a work of art by looking closely at its component parts. This will
certainly help you to understand it and the artist's working methods better.

However, a series of unconnected observations on isolated aspects of a work is seldom satisfying. What is
important is how these separate factors all work together toward a common goal, such as the
communication of an idea, the expression of an emotion, orthe solution of a formal or technical problem.
Once you have finished writing, step back from the work and look at it afresh. Try to see it as a whole once
again. As you write your paper, bear in mind that the ideal essay would evoke for the reader as vivid and
as unified an impression as the work of art has created for you. This is not easy, but it is success on this level
which separates an outstanding essay from a merely competent one.

(Please note that improperly prepared papers may be returned to the student for corrections before grading.)