Analysing Art: Relevance and How-To

By LINDA YIP, Guangzhou, China.
​Questioz Researcher, art and Art History aficionado, Linda will attend Washington University in St. Louis this Fall.
Read her paper here: ​http://www.questioz.com/articles/art-tyranny-terror

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At a time when there is so much discussion about the Humanities’ relevance in education, University of Rochester Trustee Dr. Bernard Ferrari says that the Humanities enable us to better appreciate life and beauty. Science leads us to see inside our bodies, to understand what makes up lives, and how we evolved from unicellular organisms to humans with unlimited potential. The Humanities, on the other hand, give us insight into who we really are, where we come from, and where are we going. Art is constantly influenced by political, economic, technological and social changes. It reflects history, which is what makes us “human”. Art is a form of free expression. Producing an artwork is not a process of trial-and-error, which is what is done in scientific investigation - Thomas Edison tried and failed thousands of times before he successfully invented the light-bulb. Leonardo da Vinci also practiced painting eggs endlessly, but that’s not trial-and- error, because each of his sketches is a unique artistic production. You never err in art; you are just being yourself, being human, and that’s what makes artistic analysis so interesting - after all, there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes. Having said that, there are indeed some particular means of effectively analyzing an artwork. While extensive research is may not always be necessary, knowing the historical background, the biography of the artist, or the artistic period may prove instrumental in understanding the artwork. Some artistic elements to consider are material, subject matter, symbols, colors, texture, shape, light and shadow, composition etc. Art analysis is similar to literary analysis; it is more important to ask why the artist used certain elements than to merely identify them. For instance, does the play between light and shadow create depth and therefore a three-dimensional space? Why? How does that contribute to the overall effect of the artwork? What’s the largest figure in the painting? Second largest? Third largest? Why does the artist use such a scale? What person, object, or theme is the artist trying to emphasize? What’s the meaning behind all these? Finally and most importantly, what’s the “gestalt” of the painting, based on your analysis of individual elements?