READ AND SPEAK ABOUT ART

READ AND SPEAK ABOUT ART

Focus on Vocabulary. Vocabulary in context.

I Before you read the text look at the picture. ( http://www.citrinitas.com/history_of_viscom/images/books/berry.html)

What kind of book do you see? When do you think it was created? What is this book about?

II Before you the text study the active vocabulary and focus on Ukrainian equivalents of English words.

commonplace – звичайний

forerunner  – попередник

feature – особливість

provide – забезпечити

prayer – молитва

serve  – служити

illiterate – неписьменний

contain – містити

psalm – псалм

mass – меса

holy day – святий день

III Read the short text and get ready to discuss the information about the “Book of hours”.

“Books of hours,” like the one by the Limbourg brothers, were commonplace in the 1400s. Early forerunners of today’s personal organizers, these books often included useful features such as calendars. The illumination in Figure 1 is from the calendar section for May. The main function of these books was to provide prayers, one for each hour of the day. Both text and picture versions were included, to serve a largely illiterate population. The books also contained texts and illuminations for psalms and masses for holy days.

Figure 1  (https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Celebrating-the-Month-of-May-Medieval-Style//1)

IV Answer the questions using vocabulary from exercise II.

When was  “Book of hours” created?

Who created this book?

What information does the book contain?

Where can we find this type of information in the modern world?

What text did the book include?

Why is it called “Book of hours”? Why were hours important?

Why did it also include images? What purpose did those images serve?

Did people in those days read the text in this book? Why or why not?

V Focus on vocabulary in context.

Based on the use of illumination in the present context, the word might have all of the following definitions EXCEPT:

A) spiritual enlightenment.

B) clarification; explanation.

C) decorative lighting.

D) intellectual enlightenment.

(enlightenment  – просвітительство, освіта)

ART CRITICISM STEPS

1. DESCRIPTION.  

QUESTION: “What do I see when I look at this work?”

Students make an inventory of everything they see in the work. After that they identify the elements of art found in the work.

NB! In the describing stage, you report only the facts. You do not mention, for example, if the artist’s use of colour makes you feel depressed.

Art element		Description
colour	hue
	intensity
	value
line
shape/form
space
texture

Examine the painting shown below (or go to https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winslow_Homer_-_Crossing_the_Pasture.jpg) .

● How many figures do you see in the picture? Can you guess their age (young, old)?

● Where are the figures and what are they doing?

● What object are they both holding?

●What does the taller boy have over his shoulder?

● What animals do you see in the background?

● How would you describe the surroundings (is it a city, a forest, etc.)? What season is it (winter, autumn, etc.)?

2. ANALYSIS.

QUESTION: “How is this work of art organized? How are the elements and principles of art used?”

During analysis, students use the principles of art to analyse the composition of the work of art.  Students try to understand the work’s design qualities, or how well the work is organized.

Look at the picture above and answer the questions:

● What forms appear at the centre of the composition? Why does the artist place the boys in the centre, close to the viewer?

● Can you find any intense or bright colours in this picture?

● Where is the lightest value? What purpose does it serve?

● Can you find the diagonal lines formed by the stick in the taller boy’s hand and by the downward slope of the hill on the right? Where do these lines converge (meet in one point)? What part of the picture does this meeting point emphasize (make more important and easy for the viewer to see)?  Can you find a third diagonal line that does the same?

● Can you find a more gently sloping diagonal that points to the face of the smaller boy?

● What colours has the artist used? What textures has he included?

● How has the artist used emphasis to make the subjects stand out?

● What role does proportion play in this artwork?

Use the design chart

  

 3. INTERPRETATION.

QUESTIONS: “What is the artist saying to me? What ideas, moods, or feelings are expressed?”

Students use everything they learned from the work during description and analysis to identify

the meaning, mood, or idea communicated to the viewer.

Look at the picture above and answer the questions:

● What emotion is communicated by the look and body language of the taller boy? Would you say that he stands tall and

appears sure of himself?

● What is the facial expression of the smaller boy? What is his posture?

● Why has the artist placed the boys against a darker, textured background? (Does this focus your attention on their faces and facial expressions? What do you think the artist has accomplished by drawing the viewer’s eyes to the boys’ expressions and body language?)

● What visual clue can you find in the distance off to the left that might explain the boys’ behaviour?

4. JUDGEMENT.

QUESTION: “Is the work successful?”

 The act of making a judgment and defending that judgment with good reasons demonstrates that a student understands and appreciates a work of art.

Look at the painting ‘Crossing the Pasture’ again and try to answer the key question at the judgement stage.

Fill in the gaps in the text below with the words from the list to get the brief analysis of the painting. Did you come to the same conclusions?

Field; bull; boys;  danger; switch; younger ; milking; painting ; brothers

The 1)_______ is a slightly comical narrative that centers on two boys, probably 2)_______. The two are seen crossing a 3)_______ -taking a shortcut, maybe, after having just completed the morning’s 4)_______. Suddenly, each becomes aware of a real and present 5)_______. Did you notice the 6)_______ in the background? The two 7)_______ certainly did! The 8)_______ boy’s fear is obvious as he clings to his companion. The older boy, armed with a 9)_______, proceeds fearlessly-or so he would like his younger brother to believe.

EXPOLORING ART

SHADING TECHNIQUES

I Look at the image below. Is it a painting or a drawing? What media (or instruments) did the artist use? (Look at the credit line to check your guesses)

Isabel Bishop. Head, #5. ca. 1902–53. Graphite, crayon, and chalk on paper. 29.8 _ 20.8 cm (113⁄4 _ 83⁄16_). Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut. Gift of Henry E. Schnakenberg.

II Notice how the child’s face has form and depth. Do you know how this is done? One technique the artist used to get this result is shading. Shading is the use of light and shadow to give a feeling of depth.

III There are four basic shading techniques illustrated the scheme below.

Isabel Bishop  (i) Head  Pencil and ink on paper Sight 3 3/4 x 3 1/4 inches 
Provenance: Estate of the artist [DC Moore Gallery, New York] 

IV Look at the list of shading techniques. Mach the terms to their definitions.

a)    hatching  b)   blending    c) stippling  d) crosshatching

1) drawing lines that crisscross each other.

2) smoothly drawing dark values little by little by pressing harder on the drawing medium.

3) creating dark values by using a dot pattern.

4) drawing a series of thin lines all running parallel, or in the same direction.

V Look at the drawing below. What media (or instruments) did the artist use? (Look at the credit line to check your guesses). What shading techniques can you see in this drawing?

Finding Lines in Art

I)  Look at the image below. What mood does the image create? What is the subject of the work in your opinion?

The image above is a lithograph of stone by Rockwell Kent. It is called Nightmare. The artist wanted to portray terrible visual, physical, and psychological  tension. The man seems to be falling and not falling at the same time. The artist creates this effect using different axis lines.

II) We’ll try to find these lines and find out how they help the artist achieve the effect of falling but yet steady figure.

1.   open the image in Photoshop (http://www.williampcarlfineprints.com/pieces/346_Nightmare);
2.   draw an arrow that  shows the thrust of the body (that shows where the body is leaning to) from  the balcony to the head of the man;
3.   draw a perpendicular line from the man’s waist, through his elbow to his fingers;
4.   draw a vertical arrow from the man’s knees (back of the knees);
5.   draw a vertical arrow from the man’s knees up (along the railing);
6.   draw a line joining man’s fingers, head and the arrow showing the thrust of his body;
7.   draw a line along man’s feet.

III) What shapes can you see in the image? Why is the man falling and not falling at the same time? What axis lines show movement? What is the direction of these lines? Are the lines going in different directions balanced in the image?