Section 1: Learning to Look I

Part 1: Formal Analysis of a painting

Edward Hopper. Automat. 1927.

What does Taylor mean when he poses the question: "How can the visual aspects of a painting in itself have meaning?" (p.51)

Distinguish between subject matter and expressive content.

What is the effect that the painting gives? Does it have a positive or negative feel to it?

What are the artistic devices that give the work of art its visual form and expressive content (color, hue, saturation, value, tone, chiaroscuro, line, mass, depth, plane, texture, perspective, volume, proportion, scale, movement, etc.)

Part 2: Comparing two paintings using formal analysis

Jan van Eyck. Adam and Eve, detail of Ghent Altarpiece. 1432.

Titian. Venus of Urbino. 1538.

Can the subject matter be determines without knowing the titles? What identifies the one nude female as Eve and the other as Venus?

How do the artists treat the figures? Note the different use of line, modeling, color, etc..

How does the use of depth, or lack of, effect the painting?

What is the difference of location and function for the two works? (sacred vs. secular, and how this may influence the artist)

Part 3: Comparison of two architectural facades

Alberti. S. Maria Novella. Florence. c.1456-70. T&H 465.

Le Corbusier. Notre Dame du Haut. Rochamp, France. 1950-4. T&H 866.

Issues to consider for the facades:

• How do you read the facade? Can you even tell if it is a facade?
• Is there a hierarchy to the building's organization?
• Does the architect use proportion and symmetry?
• Do the churches seem to be more vertical or horizontal? What effect does this have on the feeling of weight and mass?
• How do the architects emphasize the buildings entrance?
• How is color used on the churches, and what is its effect?
• What effect does ornament have? Can you distinguish it from structural elements?
• Does the exterior (facade) tell you what is inside the building or mask it?