Understanding Art Criticism Art criticism is studying, understanding, and judging works of art. Henri Matisse, The Dessert: Harmony in Red, 1908, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Solving art mysteries is one of the jobs that art critics set out to accomplish. What if you don’t know what an artwork is communicating? How can you figure it out? Following the steps of art criticism can help you discover lots of clues to really understand and appreciate a work of art.

The Steps of Art Criticism In each step of art criticism, you are answering a different question. The four steps of art criticism are: Description: What do I see? Analysis: How is the work organized? Interpretation: What is the artist trying to communicate? Judgment: Is this a successful work of art?

Description Look at the work of art here: What do you see?

Red room Wall paper Chairs, wooden, cane seat Table, table cloth Woman Fruit & wine Cut flowers in vase Window Landscape Trees, bushes, flowers, building Colors- red, blue,green, yellow, white, black

Analysis Look again at the painting by Henri Matisse How is the work arranged? Break down the painting into its composition, or the way the art principles are used to organize the art elements.

ELEMENTS OF ART/DESIGN Line= Shape= Form= Space= Color= Texture=

ELEMENTS OF ART/DESIGN Line=straight-outline table, chairs / curvy- flower pattern Shape=geometric / organic Form= flattened Space=crowded space, flattened plane Color=red- jarring color blue, yellow, green, black, white Texture=patterns

PRINCIPLES OF ART/DESIGN Unity= Balance= Contrast= Focal Point= Movement= Pattern= Proportion=

PRINCIPLES OF ART/DESIGN Unity= organic shapes Balance= informal/asymmetrical Contrast= red-green, black-white pattern-solid, curve-straight Focal Point= woman arranging fruit Movement= blue lines draw your eye up from the bottom Pattern= repeated- curved pattern (wall paper, cloth, trees), dots of color (lemons/flowers) Proportion= accurate/normal

Interpretation What do you think Matisse is trying to communicate? Give your opinion based on the clues you have collected. What ideas, moods, emotions, and stories do you think the artwork communicates?

How does the predominant redness make you feel? In Matisse's Harmony in Red (Red Room) 1908-9, red is the predominant color in the painting. How does the predominant redness make you feel?

The color red usually makes one feel warm because it is associated with the sun and fire, but also because the color red has a physiological affect that excites and stimulates.

Artists understand the power of color in affecting the viewer's feelings. Throughout art history, artists have used color to convey and heighten the emotional content of a painting. In the early twentieth century, artists began to focus on color as a direct translation of their feelings, and to use color as an emotional force. This group of artists was called the Fauves (or the wild beasts in French) and they included Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958), and Andre Derain (1880-1954.)

How would you feel about the painting if it was mostly green How would you feel about the painting if it was mostly green? Or overwhelmingly blue instead of red? This painting went through three successive stages. First it was green, then blue, after it hung at an exhibit in 1908. It was finally delivered in scarlet to a Russian art collector to decorate his dining room.

Matisse also limits his perspective in this work. He. makes Matisse also limits his perspective in this work. He makes breaks in the line around the table, frames the chair, the window, and the little house in an innovative manner by cutting them off, and encloses two of the planes, the green and the blue in a window.

Judgment Do you think this work is successful? Why or why not? What reasons can you give for your idea of why this is a good or bad artwork?

Now look at the painting by Marc Chagall: Paris Through the Window. Answer each of the criticism questions on your own: Description: What do I see? Analysis: How are elements and principles of art used? Interpretation: What is the artist trying to communicate? Judgment: Is this a successful work of art?

Description: What do I see?

Analysis: How are the elements and principles of art used? Elements: line, shape, form, space, color, value, texture Principles: Unity, Balance, Contrast, Focal Point, Movement, Pattern, Proportion

Interpretation: What is the artist trying to communicate? (story and mood)

Judgment: Is this a successful work of art? Why or why not? (use your analysis!)

TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING! Look at the painting by Marc Chagall called Paris Through the Window and choose the Art Criticism step that each statement belongs in.

1. I see a city in the background with a cat on a ledge in the middle ground and a man with two faces in the foreground. a. description b. analysis c. interpretation d. judgment

This seems like a magical place. a. description b. analysis c. interpretation d. judgment

The artist uses neutral colors to contrast with the bright primary colors. a. description b. analysis c. interpretation d. judgment

The artist is depicting his vision of Paris. a. description b. analysis c. interpretation d. judgment

5. The artist used informal balance. a. description b. analysis c. interpretation d. judgment

6. The artist successfully uses confusing imagery to intrigue the viewer. a. description b. analysis c. interpretation d. judgment

7. The cat represents the artist looking out at Paris. a. description b. analysis c. interpretation d. judgment

Answers: a. description c. interpretation b. analysis d. judgment