Analysing Art Works

The following questions and categories can be used to help you structure your research:

• What is it about? What is the subject/subject matter?
Describe everything in the photograph, explain what is in the image. Discuss the subject matter, is the subject matter realistic or illusion? (How are these illusions implied or achieved?) Into which category or genre does the image fit (still life, landscape etc?)
Was the subject set up or observed naturally?
• How is the image read?
-Are the objects in the photograph symbols?
How many levels of meaning exist in the photograph?
- Is the photograph sensory?
About texture, light, colour, space etc?
-What feelings are involved?
(tactile, intellectual, humour etc)
-What is the meaning?
How is it expressed in the photograph?
-Is the treatment important because of the subject,
or the treatment of the subject?
• How is light used? Can be direct, diffused, direct diffused or reflected – light is the relationship of light and dark patterns on a form. Are there shadows or reflection utilised? What is the direction and distance of the light?
• How is form developed? By outlining, silhouette, tone etc?
• Describe the composition. Is there a focal point? Is it balanced? Asymmetrical or symmetrical? Are there any eye leading devices? Echoing shapes? Angle of camera? Viewpoints? Distance of picture plane from subject? How close was the photographer to the subject?
• How is colour used? Dominant colours, monochromatic, natural or non-naturalistic, vibrant, cold, warm, symbolic, bright, complimentary, primaries?
• How is space/depth treated? Natural or not? Illusionistic? Stagelike? Is there a vanishing point? What is the foreground/background relationship? Deep or shallow space? Is there negative space described? What kind of depth of field is used?
• How is detail handled? Fine details? More detailed in front, less detailed in background (depth of field?) Or is it equally detailed all over?
• Is there reference to a specific time/place/location? Is there reference to, or appropriation of, another artists work?
• Can you describe the mood? (mysterious, tense, calm etc) What features contribute to this mood?
• Is there a sense of motion, or is the image static/still?
• What is the quality of the photograph? Sharp, blurred, fogged or grainy? What style of printing has been used? Is toning used? What lens was used? What format is the negative? What kind of manipulation has the photographer used?


Principles

Scale refers to the size of objects relative to their surroundings.
Balance is the visual weight of the subject matter and can be the result
of the use of dark and light, colour or shape.
Structure refers to the way the objects have been arranged within the
format.
Placement refers to the location of objects in the relation to other objects
and the space they occupy.
Proportion is the comparative relationship between parts of a whole and
between the parts and the whole.
Focal Point is the area of a composition that the eye is drawn to.
Perspective is a technique for giving the illusion of space to flat surface. It
can be linear or atmospheric (aerial.)


Devices

Grid a series of straight lines used to divide up a given format.
Angles are the hard edge geometric shapes or lines in an object.
Format or framing is the shape and size of a work.
Lighting can be direct, diffused, direct diffused or reflected. Light is the
relationship of light and dark patterns on a form.
Shadows are one of the six categories of light; highlight, light tone,
shadow, core of shadow, reflected light, and cast shadow.
Reflection is one of the six categories of light. The replicating of an image
from a reflective surface.
Repetition is the repeating of something more than once.
Movement can be suggested in many ways e.g. blurring, repetition etc,
but it can also be the way the eye is led around the composition.
Symmetry refers to the quality of being made up of exactly similar parts
facing each other or around an axis – the opposite of asymmetric
Transparency is the ability to see through a surface to another layer.
Viewpoint is the location the viewer sees the subject matter from.
Rule of Thirds is a mathematical approach to dividing up the format into
thirds, both horizontally and vertically, to locate four focal points.
Figure/Ground refers to the relationship between foreground and
background.

Elements

Line can be visually present and have different qualities, e.g.
lyrical, contour, blurred, etc but it can also be implied or suggested.
Tone refers to the quality of light and shade.
Form is the presentation of various shapes, but not the subject
matter itself.
Space , a variety of devices can be used to create the illusion of depth
on a two dimensional surface. It can be suggested through both flat or
volumetric elements.
Surface the appearance of the outside or outermost layer.
Shape a two dimensional, closed or implicitly closed configuration.
The two categories are organic and geometric.
Rhythm refers to a particular type of arrangement or pattern that
suggests movement.
Pattern an arrangement or sequence.
Texture is the tactile quality of a surface or its representation.

Technique/Genre

Traditional
Abstract
Digital/Analog
Documentary
Manipulations
Figurative
Multimedia
Portraiture
Contemporary
Still Life
Composites
Landscapes

Pictorial Issue/Meaning

Political message
Personal biography
Social narratives
Iconography – symbols, metaphor
Religious message
Historical references
Conceptual