history of art

Order Description

The paper:
In the first paragraph, introduce your choices – Provide artists’ names, titles, dates, size, medium, and subject (what will be the theme of your comparison?).

Consider the following:

• How do the works represent the period or time they were created? (important question)
• Compare composition, treatment of space (Is a third dimension created? How?)
• How is the human form articulated? What is happening?
• How is color and light handled? Distribution of color – quality and direction of light
• Point of view / use of perspective
• LOOK at painting – What can you see / notice in person: look at surface / medium / follow edges of painting around figures / notice possible changes
• Finally, how do they differ in total effect? (important)

Be specific. Refer to the works, not your feelings about them.

Format:
*Title Page indicate which “set” is your subject
your name
HA 116, Section 7 or 8

Text 4 pages—not counting the title page!

Footnotes: You may include footnotes at “foot” – bottom – of pages or as “end” notes at end of paper, or parenthetical notes–if you include page numbers. At least 2 footnotes must be cited.

Bibliography: Bibliography should include at least 2 books or articles – not from the Web (and not general textbooks; that is, not Stokstad, Janson, or Gardner).

Illustrations if you wish to include, they follow all text and bibliography (or can be on your title page).
• You must use at least 2 sources, and create 2 footnotes (must include page info).

• You got your information “somewhere”–you must cite it to avoid plagiarizing someone else’s work.

• The footnotes/endnotes may be quotes or paraphrases of your sources.

• In any case, you should document your case.

• You may also use these notes to carry on a dialogue on matters not directly related to the subject of comparison (spelling of a name, where someone worked, the actual measurements of the paintings, etc)
“Do:”
• Be concise.

• Be sure the first sentence of each paragraph is a topic sentence that explains the subject of the paragraph and introduces it—and that all other sentences in the paragraph relate to that. (If not, then it belongs in another paragraph –and even in another section.)

Do have a final paragraph that summarizes your findings

Some “Do Nots:”
• Do not include comments about why you chose the paintings.
• Do not jump from one point to another.
• Do not make long, meandering paragraphs.
• Do not just describe the works–bring them together.

The following books have been put on reserve for your use. You may consult them – or others. You are not confined to this list—they are reserved just to give you a head start, but you must use at least 2 books or articles.

They may be general books (above the “survey” level); they may be monographs, that is, books on individual artists; they may be books on the theme or the period, etc.

Do not use web sources—the exception is the Met site— www.metmuseum.org —but even here this may only be in addition to your requirements. Articles from Jstor and other vetted articles are fine; they are not considered web-sources.

Choose one set below as your subject: (note titles of paintings are italicized)

1A Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Flemish, Northern Renaissance) Room 642
The Harvesters, 1565 Number 19.164

1B Claude Monet (French, Impressionism) Room 819
Haystacks (Effect of Snow and Sun), 1891 Number 29.100.109

________________________________________

2A Titian and Workshop (Italian, Venetian, High/Late Renaissance) Room 607
Venus and the Lute Player, 1560s Number 36.29

2B Gustave Courbet (French, Realism) Room 811
Woman with a Parrot, 1866 Number 29.100.57

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3A Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, Baroque) Room 628
Rubens, His Wife, Helena Fourment and Their Son, Frans, c.1635 Number 1981.238

3B Eduard Manet (French, Realism) Room 818
Boating, 1874 Number 29.100.15

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4A Georges Seurat (French, Post-Impressionism) Room 823
Gray Weather, Grande Jatte, c.1886-88 Number 2002.62.3

4B Jackson Pollock (American, Abstract Expressionism) Room 920
Autumn Rhythm, Number 30, 1950 Number 57.92

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5A Baule Peoples, (African, Ivory Coast) African# 352-in case of monkey
Female Figure, 19th-20th C Number 1979.206.113

5B Kiki Smith (American, Contemporary) Wall of stairwell near 920
Lillith, 1994 Number 1996.27