artist to write an essay about

Essays About Art: Top 5 Examples and 9 Prompts

Essays about art inspire beauty and creativity; see our top essay picks and prompts to aid you.

Art is an umbrella term for various activities that use human imagination and talents. 

The products from these activities incite powerful feelings as artists convey their ideas, expertise, and experience through art. Examples of art include painting, sculpture, photography, literature, installations, dance, and music.

Art is also a significant part of human history. We learn a lot from the arts regarding what living in a period is like, what events influenced the elements in the artwork, and what led to art’s progress to today.

To help you create an excellent essay about art, we prepared five examples that you can look at:

1. Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? by Linda Nochlin

2. what is art by writer faith, 3. my art taught me… by christine nishiyama, 4. animals and art by ron padgett, 5. the value of art by anonymous on arthistoryproject.com, 1. art that i won’t forget, 2. unconventional arts, 3. art: past and present, 4. my life as an artist, 5. art histories of different cultures, 6. comparing two art pieces, 7. create a reflection essay on a work of art, 8. conduct a visual analysis of an artwork, 9. art period or artist history.

“But in actuality, as we all know, things as they are and as they have been, in the arts as in a hundred other areas, are stultifying, oppressive, and discouraging to all those, women among them, who did not have the good fortune to be born white, preferably middle class, and above all, male. The fault lies not in our stars, our hormones, our menstrual cycles, or our empty internal spaces, but in our institutions and our education–education understood to include everything that happens to us from the moment we enter this world…”

Nochlin goes in-depth to point out women’s part in art history. She focuses on unjust opportunities presented to women compared to their male peers, labeling it the “Woman Problem.” This problem demands a reinterpretation of the situation’s nature and the need for radical change. She persuades women to see themselves as equal subjects deserving of comparable achievements men receive.

Throughout her essay, she delves into the institutional barriers that prevented women from reaching the heights of famous male art icons.

“Art is the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects that can be shared with others. It involves the arranging of elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions and acts as a means of communication with the viewer as it represents the thoughts of the artist.”

The author defines art as a medium to connect with others and an action. She focuses on Jamaican art and the feelings it invokes. She introduces Osmond Watson, whose philosophy includes uplifting the masses and making people aware of their beauty – he explains one of his works, “Peace and Love.” 

“But I’ve felt this way before, especially with my art. And my experience with artmaking has taught me how to get through periods of struggle. My art has taught me to accept where I am today… My art has taught me that whatever marks I make on the page are good enough… My art has taught me that the way through struggle is to acknowledge, accept and share my struggle.”

Nishiyama starts her essay by describing how writing makes her feel. She feels pressured to create something “great” after her maternity leave, causing her to struggle. She says she pens essays to process her experiences as an artist and human, learning alongside the reader. She ends her piece by acknowledging her feelings and using her art to accept them.

“I was saying that sometimes I feel sorry for wild animals, out there in the dark, looking for something to eat while in fear of being eaten. And they have no ballet companies or art museums. Animals of course are not aware of their lack of cultural activities, and therefore do not regret their absence.”

Padgett recounts telling his wife how he thinks it’s unfortunate for animals not to have cultural activities, therefore, can’t appreciate art. He shares the genetic mapping of humans being 99% chimpanzees and is curious about the 1% that makes him human and lets him treasure art. His essay piques readers’ minds, making them interested in how art elevates human life through summoning admiration from lines and colors.

“One of the first questions raised when talking about art is simple — why should we care? Art, especially in the contemporary era, is easy to dismiss as a selfish pastime for people who have too much time on their hands. Creating art doesn’t cure disease, build roads, or feed the poor.”

Because art can easily be dismissed as a pastime, the author lists why it’s precious. It includes exercising creativity, materials used, historical connection, and religious value. 

Check out our best essay checkers to ensure you have a top-notch essay.

9 Prompts on Essays About Art

After knowing more about art, below are easy prompts you can use for your art essay:

Is there an art piece that caught your attention because of its origin? First, talk about it and briefly summarize its backstory in your essay. Then, explain why it’s something that made an impact on you. For example, you can write about the Mona Lisa and her mysterious smile – or is she smiling? You can also put theories on what could have happened while Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa.

Rather than focusing on mainstream arts like ballet and painting, focus your essay on unconventional art or something that defies usual pieces, such as avant-garde art. Then, share what you think of this type of art and measure it against other mediums.

How did art change over the centuries? Explain the differences between ancient and modern art and include the factors that resulted in these changes.

Are you an artist? Share your creative process and objectives if you draw, sing, dance, etc. How do you plan to be better at your craft? What is your ultimate goal?

To do this prompt, pick two countries or cultures with contrasting art styles. A great example is Chinese versus European arts. Center your essay on a category, such as landscape paintings. Tell your readers the different elements these cultures consider. What is the basis of their art? What influences their art during that specific period?

Like the previous prompt, write an essay about similar pieces, such as books, folktales, or paintings. You can also compare original and remake versions of movies, broadway musicals, etc.

Pick a piece you want to know more about, then share what you learned through your essay. What did the art make you feel? If you followed creating art, like pottery, write about the step-by-step process, from clay to glazing.

Visual analysis is a way to understand art centered around what the eyes can process. It includes elements like texture, color, line, and scale. For this prompt, find a painting or statue and describe what you see in your essay.

Since art is a broad topic, you can narrow your research by choosing only the most significant moments in art history. For instance, if you pick English art, you can divide each art period by century or by a king’s ruling time. You can also select an artist and discuss their pieces, their art’s backstory, and how it relates to their life at the time.

If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips !

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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165 Artists Essay Topics & Examples

In case you’re writing about contemporary artists or art history, we have a whole lot of interesting ideas for you! Our experts have collected visual art essay topics and examples right below.

🏆 Best Art Essay Topics & Examples

⭐ interesting art topics to write about, 📑 good research topics about art, 📌 simple visual art essay topics, 👍 good artists & art essay topics, ❓ art essay questions.

• Artist’s Role in Society: Cultures, Traditions, Ideas, and Moral Responsibilities These artists support the best national ideas and traditions in order to make every society successful. Artists can “encourage their followers to support the best activities and decisions in the society”.
• Revolutionary Art in America: Society and Artists This paper will highlight the purpose of revolutionary art in the society and at the same time discuss how revolutionary art has affected art and artists in America.
• Responsibility of Artists to Address Social Problems in Their Work In light of the significant power that art and by extension artists hold, there arises the question of whether artists have a responsibility to address social problems through their works.
• Art and Society: Goals and Duties of Artists Therefore, it can be asserted that one of the roles of art is to preserve the cultural trait and heritage of a community or society. This is both to the user of the artistic material […]
• The Challenges Emerging Artists Are Facing in Emerging Art Scenes The Flemish art period between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries involved significant and dynamic events in the historical mark in the field of artistry.
• “The Eco Artists Turning Trash Into Treasure” by Webster It is interesting to see how artists can convey the message and bring awareness to the environmental impact of the modern human lifestyle, which generates large amounts of waste and pollution.
• Leonardo da Vinci – Artist, Scientist, Inventor The painting “The Amo Valley” also portrayed some of the best artistic styles. This talent made it easier for Leonardo da Vinci to produce the best paintings.
• How and Why Do Advertisers Use Specific Works of Art or Artists to Sell Their Products? The role of the art in the adverts is to give an image to the company and its products. In all the artistic values, the most comprehensive is space as it is a combination of […]
• Art History: A Close Study of a Chinese Artist Cai Guo-Qiang His unique skills in artwork have led to the advancement of his signature in most events. His inspiration has ensured that he remains in the limelight in most of his solo works.
• The Job of the Artist Is to Always Deepen the Mystery Among a variety of definitions of art, it is possible to say that it is one of the forms of education, and artists become the best educators who use their skills and experience.
• Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock: The Revolutionary Modern Artists The essay addresses the contribution of these famous artists to their particular art movements and in general, the world of art.
• Principles of Design in Female Artists’ Works Displayed in the Louvre In Peace Bringing Back Abundance, the level of precision while showing the figures is less intense than in the other painting, which creates a sense of lightness and sanctity.
• Optical Illusion: Technique to Artist and Designer The main aim of this paper is to reveal how optical illusion fascinates and deceives as influenced by art and design spearheaded by artists and designers of the modern day.
• Photography: An Artist Statement In the first image, I arranged the details in the composition to guide the observer through the place I captured by the camera. With the help of the play of the light and shadow, I […]
• The Rise of Virtuoso Artists in the 18th Century While it is true that ornamentation played a very important role in the early baroque music performance and that it was instrumental to the early sociento style of music, there is no denying fact that […]
• Women Writers and Artists About Social Problems The uniqueness of Mary Cassatt’s style is that she depicts the natural desires and values of women, women, and their hopes.
• Great Women Artists in the World History The first overreaching cause of the absence of great female artist throughout history was the subjugated position of women as a gender in the majority of societies.
• Social Media and Female Artist Representation Such a project has been facilitated by the emergence of new media, characterized by the emergence of both the internet and social media.
• Illustrators Artists and Designers They have indeed been a great influence in my interest to art and design and have greatly contributed to the economic growth, political and social enhancement of their nations.
• Arabic Calligraphy and Contemporary Artists Arabic calligraphy is a form of art involving the use of the Arabic language and alphabet. In the old town of Jeddah, for instance, artists have blended Arabic calligraphy with graffiti to create calligraffiti.
• Edward Ruscha, an American Artist Ruscha was born in 1937 in Omaha, the largest city in Nebraska, and is currently based in Culver City, California. In 1969, Ruscha also worked as a guest professor of art at the University of […]
• Pre-Raphaelite Artists The Pre-Raphaelites artists opted to go back to the aspects of art that involved copious details, complex compositions of Italian and Flemish art, in addition to the use of intense colors.
• Modernist Art: Pablo Picasso and Umberto Boccioni Early 20th-century European culture, which was characterized by a growing interest in the avant-garde and a rejection of conventional art forms, fostered the success of both artists, due to the fact that their experimentation and […]
• Jiro Takamatsu, a Japanese Artist In “The Temperature of the Sculpture,” Takamatsu may have used the materials and tools available to him to express this change in Japanese society.
• The Determinants of Self-Employment for Artists Working in the free art market has advantages: diversity is encouraged, and the artist is not limited to just painting and sketching.
• The Discussion of Women Artists For the situation to change, it is important to talk more about artists the heroines of the past, their contemporaries, and their heritage.
• Salvador Dali: Artist in the Area of Surrealism Art Salvador Dali was among the most prominent artists in the area of surrealism art. It “balances a rational vision of life with one that asserts the power of the unconscious and dreams”.
• Artists Peter Paul Rubens and Katharina Grosse Exemplified by the works of Peter Paul Rubens and Katharina Grosse, artworks have transitioned from the Flemish Baroque to the Gagosian style, where an artist enjoys the interplay of architecture, sculpture, and painting.
• Primavera 2021: Young Australian Artists Exhibition It identifies itself with the goals of the Aboriginal population of the country and engages in activities to support their cultural heritage. The institution is also on the frontline to showcase a number of activities […]
• Ron English: The Famous Graffiti Artist This paper explores and analyses the aspects of graffiti – a form of painting and the work of one of the most famous and talented graffiti artists.
• The Appearance of an Artist The musician’s wardrobe also influences the perception of performance, and it is important for performers not only of popular music, but also of classical music.
• Ai Weiwei as a Contemporary Art Artist The meaning of human rights and the destiny of the Chinese people are of primary significance for the artist, so many of his works reflect the issues that Weiwei recognizes and wants to eliminate.
• Jean Michel Basquiat and Zainul Abedin as Outstanding Artists The artist’s imagination gives the paintings a magical realism that reflects the actual situations in the world and the spirit of the time the master lived.
• Paul Benny’s Work: Artist Presentation Paul Benney’s artwork mainly deals with painting of people’s portraits. The themes of his work touch on issues embraced daily.
• An Analysis of Two Works by Digital Artists: Smith and Cutts This artwork is summoned to stress the peaceful nature of the protests and to show the inadequate response on the part of the authorities.
• David Hockney: The Pop Artist and His Works The “Day Pool with 3 Blues” is a picture of extreme simplicity, and it is necessary to mention, that the advantage of this particular canvass is the feelings, that arise when the picture is viewed.
• An Artist-Entrepreneur’s Lean Startup Therefore, in the case of Sikander, the first key factor in ensuring the success of her project’s business model is having a stable customer base.
• DaWangGang Artist: Exploring Music Interculturalism This paper discusses the role and the place of the Chinese musical band Dawanggang in the world that is still defined by the tension between the Occident and Orient.
• The Legacy of Artemisia Gentileschi: One of the Greatest Female Artists of the 16th-17th Centuries During her active years, Gentileschi had to face a great deal of adversity and social resistance, which was not unusual for driven and ambitious women of her era.
• “The Smoking Plant” Project: Artist Statement It is the case when the art is used to pass the important message to the observer. The live cigarette may symbolize the smokers while the plant is used to denote those who do not […]
• Romanticism. Artists Associated With the Movement Art dealt mostly with issues of motive and realism while other forms of art dealt with the darkness of the community on one hand and its magnificence on the other.
• Leonardo Da Vinci – The Greatest Artist of Renaissance In the modern day, Leonardo da Vinci is considered by many to be the greatest artist and possibly even the greatest person of all time. The greatness of Leonardo is evidenced by the description of […]
• Juan Luis Guerra a Dominican Artist Also, he is predominantly linked with the popular Dominican music genre known as bachata, though partly true, he exploits the elementals of bachata tempo with elements of bolero in his works. The impact of his […]
• Artist Willem de Kooning and Critic Harold Rosenberg the Language and Concepts The kind of art the artists in this movement did put America on the international stage and dimmed the light for Paris, which had been the center of art in the world.
• Marcelle Ferron and Celine Dion: Canadian Artists Moreso she learnt to be strong and fought for the rights of women and was straight forward in her approaches about life.
• Crossover Artists in the 1970s However, if analyze the peculiarities of each style, it is quite easy to find out the difference and be amazed of how rich and wonderful the world of music is.
• Colonialism in the Work of Some Artists In the second half of the past century, the American art world shattered the traditional views on the tradition to passively depict the objects.
• The Usefulness of Social Art History: Artists and Periods in History In trying to understand the role or relevance of social art in art and design analysis, a particular artist that has been the subject of this debate was Andy Warhol.
• Artist-Promotion Relation: Commercialization and Art Through Orlean’s article, the artist-promotion relation, in addition to being a commercially successful marketing move, it could be sensed that the author views this relationship as a step of closing the gap between the art […]
• Origin and History of Salsa Music, Greatest Artists It is important to note that the youth loves and have interest in music than adults and this is why salsa was heavily affected.
• Tetsumi Kudo Artist and His Artwork “Your Portrait” Artists express their feelings and emotions, their points of view on different events in the past, their views of the future with the help of art.
• Andy Warhol: An American Pop-Artist In the process of describing the creative process of Andy Warhol it is evident how closely the word ‘Genius’ is intertwined with their creativity.
• European Baroque: Artists, Features, Ideas The style of Baroque was spread all over the European continent in different expressions of art from 1590 and until the beginning of the eighteenth century. Many outstanding artists are representing the style and epoch […]
• Angony Rising: Melbourne Native Artist His art is popular because of the way that he is able to reveal his experience through the bold figures and forms of primitive art.
• Analysis of Creative Process of Notable Artists In addition, Parody was a fundamental constituent of Bach’s creative process, and the Lutheran Masses are excellent illustrations of that process.
• Canadian Artists: Emily Carr and Jack Bush My opponents may argue that this is a way of self-expression but in this case, the expressive means are very limited and narrow.
• Studies in Contemporary Art and Artists The paper is claimed to review some of the most known contemporary artists, and define the particularities, that may be regarded as mnemonic traces of their arts.
• The Origins of Poetry of Famous Americans Artists Realizing this is the origin of his own poems, Whitman may have extrapolated this concept to all poets in the above statement, suggesting that the origin of all poems is in the lives of the […]
• Artist Bibliography on Elizabeth Catlett Although she went to the university to study printing she has stated in her earlier interviews that she changed to painting because of the influence of James A Porter.
• Tracey Moffatt: Australian Artist Her photography masterpieces are permanently included in the collections of the Tate Gallery in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
• Langston Hughes: Artist Impact Analysis Once this is allowed to happen, Hughes is sure that the brilliance, creativity and spirit of his people will be recognized for the beautiful substance it has as will the contributions the black race has […]
• Frida: The Biography of The Legendary Mexican Artist The plot revolves around two prominent events in Frida’s life – the trolley car accident in 1929 that breaks her back and dooms her to a life of excruciating pain, and her marriage to Diego […]
• Jenny Holzer as a Contemporary Artist Although she lives and works in New York, her work is known throughout the country for its biting reflections on political issues of the day, coupled with her blatant attempt to involve the average consumer […]
• Early Childhood Memories Impact on Artists’ Journey The reason for childhood memories to have such profound importance for the development of one’s artistic style and attributes can be explained by the acquisition of the executive function that occurs during early childhood.
• Artists’ Legal Advice Services Definition ALAS has shown to foster collaboration with artists through holding events during which artists share their experiences and ask for the advice of the organization’s team.
• Gustave Courbet: Revolutionary Artist of Romanticism While the clergy is visible from the background of the work, the decision by the painter to focus on the dog in the foreground was even more appalling.
• Artists in Jazz Music and Dance Development The core areas in this study will include; the presentation, the ensemble, the musical instruments, and the memories of the events.
• Artist as a Genius: Johann Sebastian Bach Bach’s talent was evident from his mastery of the organ and the violin, as well as the great pieces that he composed.
• Collaborating With Artists in the Luxury Brand Industry As the conventional approaches to product development fail to support the concept of exclusivity in the present-day environment, the collaboration of luxury brands with artists comes to the rescue of the very essence of luxury […]
• Robert Smithson: Extraordinary Artist The works on the website made me realize that Smithson was a person who paid much attention to the environment and the way it influences and is influenced by the population of the Earth.
• Contemporary Female Artists in Turkey The secrecy associated with Islam and gender roles in some parts of Asia has further compounded this mystery because few people know what to make of the place of women in traditional Islamic societies and […]
• Decoloniality in Art and Artist as Ethnographer The review is divided into three main sections including the identification of the main arguments and the explanation of their worth, the evaluation of the supportive material and the clarification of methodological framework, and, finally, […]
• Pollaiuolo vs. Titian: Two Renaissance Artists Comparison For instance, in the fourteen century and at the beginning of the fifteenth century, “the profile form of a portrait head, largely inspired by antique coins,” was widespread.
• Robert Wilson: Artist and His Beliefs It is possible to say that by examining these qualities, one can better appreciate the achievements of Robert Wilson. This is one of the challenges Robert Wilson is ready to face.
• Artist Marcel Duchamp and His Works Duchamp claimed that the main purpose of art was intellectual satisfaction; he shared that he was tired from the expression “stupid as a painter,” and that attitude had to be changed.
• Gibran Khalil Gibran-Lebanon Writer and Artist Gibran’s mother settled in Boston together with a young Gibran, his two younger sisters, and his half brother. Holland was a member of the European avant-garde-movement and he acted as a tutor and mentor to […]
• A.A. Bronson’s Through the Looking Glass: His Personal Identity as a Canadian Artist Thus, his work Through the Looking Glass is the one of the best works that reflect the author’s vision of reality and the one that reflects the author’s sense of Canadian identity.
• Living as a Non-Speaking English Artist in English Speaking Country The efficient performance of a non-English speaking artist as well as his or her participation in the growth of the economy of a host English speaking nation is to a larger extent, influenced by cultural […]
• Popular Street Artists In an effort to discredit the Bank of England, Banksy satirically replaced the words ‘Bank of England’ with ‘Banksy of England.’ During the Notting Hill Carnival, a certain individual dished out the fake money to […]
• A Written Analysis of Other Artists’ Works The composition of the painting The composition of the picture seems to be of a particular importance, as numerous elements of the painting, including texture, forms, lines, etc.show the depth or perspective of the author’s […]
• The Life of an Artist: “Just Kids” by Patti Smith Patti never thought of disclosing to anybody the change that had occurred in her relationship with Robert but she discovered that it was important for her to find something different.
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce The most unique aspect of the book is the author’s innovative use of sense to describe the thoughts and feelings of the character.
• Melancholy Caused by Fasting: An Artist in the Modernist Period In the personality of the hunger artist, we may notice the generalized character of a modernist artist, and in the actions of fasting, we may recognize the characteristics of modernism as an epoch in history […]
• Post-Colonial and Contemporary British Muslim Artists The art presented by these Muslims bears the attitude portrayed by the British society towards them and the Islamic religion as a whole and the artists’ own views on Islam.
• How Director is Able to Yield Higher Productivity of the Artists? Through the above analysis it could be said that through effective thought-process, observation and thorough planning, a director is able to yield higher productivity of the directors.
• Arts and Artists Being Affected by Today’s Realities Arts and artists have inevitably been affected and influenced by advancement in technologies, changes in global communication, and an accelerated tempo of globalization in various ways.
• The Artist’s State of Mind: Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” The painting also has a tree that also stretches to the sky; it is the tallest feature in the village. The choice of color in the painting is also an indication of the painter’s mood.
• Fu Baoshi as One of the Most Famous Chinese Artists Fu Baoshi is one of the most famous Chinese artists who contributed greatly into the development of the national art. One of his works reveals aspirations of Chinese people who lived in the middle of […]
• Artists in Exile: How Refugees From Twentieth-Century War and Revolution Transformed the American Performing Arts, by Joseph Horowitz Knowledge of the type of music in that era is will help in the understanding of the book especially the German way of expressing inner motion.
• One Holy Image By Two Great Artists One of the most important themes in the western art is religion, and one of the most inspiring images for may be each of the greatest artists has been the Virgin Mary.
• The Contemporary Artists and Their Contributions Since childhood, she admired the work of Mexican and Southwest artists and this drove her to apply their employment of warm colors in her individual paintings.
• The Role of an Artist: Anne Deavere Smith and Tod Hackett In comparison to one literary character, Tod Hackett from The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West, Anna Deavere Smith does not want to lose her mind and be guided by the current events; she […]
• Artist Report: Antonio Puleo The postures of the children during the photography add strength to the morality theme, which is a major focus in the whole documentary. The process of growing up and sexuality is one of the key […]
• Chinese Art (Zhang Hongth: Studio Visit and Artist Talk) In a wide-ranging discussion, he touched on humor, the cathartic value of defacing the iconic image of a dictator, China’s imperiled environment, the dangers of political art in that country, and his feelings as a […]
• Madness and Art: Is The Artist a Holy Madman? The members of the movement known as l’Art Brut, and others, drew a connection between art and madness, art and mysticism, and art and outsider status for whatever reason.
• To What Extent Do Artists Using Collaborative Strategies Influence Society?
• The History of Women Artists During the Early Centuries in Italy
• Graffiti : How The Rise Of Graffiti Has Digitally Its Artists
• The Importance Of Art As A Guideline For Future Artists
• Three Unforgettable Artists Since The 1960’s: Heart, Brian Mc Knight, And Pink
• Impressionist Artists Georges Seurat and Camille Pissaro
• The Lives of the Painters of Modern Life: The Careers of Artists in France from Impressionism to Cubism
• The Lack Of Known Women Artists In Pre Modern Art
• Women Artists And The Female Form
• The World Through the Eyes of the Artists of the Harlem Renaissance the Early Modern Period
• Beneath the Rainbow: Enchanting Stories and Poems from Kenya, Illustrated by African Artists
• Comparison Of Musical Artists Rage Against The Machine And Writer George Orwell
• The Multicultural Influences of the Silk Road on Artists in the Tang Dynasty
• Transformation in the Artwork of Contemporary Artists
• Censorship In Music Children Artists Problems
• Distinctive Features in the Works of Kazakh and Russian Artists
• The Use of the Uncanny by Artists or Designers in Their Work
• Conflict & Tension: What Writers Can Learn From How Visual Artists Use Contrast
• The Role That Visual Artists Play In Our Modern Day Society
• The Importance of the Works of Art by Colombian Artists
• Graphic Design: A Superb Career Option For Technology Savvy Artists
• The Mexican Artists: The Artists on the Go for the Next Masterpiece
• Female Artists And Its Effects On Society
• A Graphic Cosmogony: Artists Imagine How the Universe Was Born
• How Geographic Differences Influenced American Artists
• Kandinsky on the Spiritual Element in Art and the Three Responsibilities of Artists
• The Moral Rights of Artists: Droit Moral ou Droit Pécuniaire
• The Link Between Artists and Bipolar Disease
• The Life and Painting Works of Pop Artists Andy Warhol
• Understanding Abstract Art Artist Artists Subject
• The Musical Tradition, Impact and Influential Artists of the Blues Musical Style
• The Shaping of Renaissance and the Artists During the Period
• Visual Artists Transmit the Values and Beliefs of Society
• The Portrayal of Female Artists
• The Rap Industry Has Been At War With New Artists Trying For Change Raps
• An Analysis of the Design and the Importance of Marketing for Post Collegiate Artists
• Use Of Art Criticism On The Artists Personal Opinions
• An Analysis of Formalist and Avant-Garde Artists in the Modern Art
• Why There are No Great Women Artists by Linda Nochlin
• Vincent Van Gogh Is One Of History’s Most Famous Artists
• How Has African Art Changed and Inspire European Art?
• Does the Self Referentiality of Postmodern Art Speak Only to the Elite Audience?
• How Did Ancient Greece Emulate the Egyptians and Left an Everlasting Legacy of Science, Art, and Trade?
• Can Art Change the Way We View the World?
• How Do Anthropologists Interpret Cave Art?
• Are Autographs Integrating the Global Art Market?
• How Do Architecture, Art, Science, and Spirituality Relate to Each?
• Can Art Still Play a Subversive Role in Society?
• How Are Science and Art Similar?
• Should Art and Music Education Be Included in School Education?
• How Did Islamic Beliefs Affect Islamic Art?
• What Are the Stages of the Creative Process?
• How Does Art Activity Shape Identity?
• Can Manufactured Bands Ever Be Classified as ‘Good’ Art?
• How Does Art Affect Child Development?
• Are Art Works Forgeable?
• How Can Art Change the World?
• Can Shock Art and Its Development in Time Still Be Considered as Art?
• How Can Art Overcome Depression?
• Does Art Imitate Life, or Does Life Imitate Art?
• How Do Art Critics Challenge and Provoke Artists and Audiences?
• Are Photography and Printmaking Art?
• How Has Art Changed Since the Middle Ages?
• Does Art Influence Culture, or Does Culture Influence Art?
• How Has Art Influenced the Views of the Public and Art Establishments?
• Are the Aztec Codices Art or Language?
• How Do Artists Express Anger and Protest Through Their Art?
• Does Gallery Lighting Have an Impact on Appreciation of Art?
• How Can Adlerian Art Therapy Impact Sexual Abuse?
• Why Is the Modern Art So Bad?
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Art Essay Examples

Art Essay Examples to Get You Inspired - Top 10 Samples

Published on: May 4, 2023

Last updated on: Jan 30, 2024

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Are you struggling to come up with ideas for your art essay? Or are you looking for examples to help guide you in the right direction? 

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In this blog, we provide a range of art writing examples that cover different art forms, time periods, and themes. Whether you're interested in the classics or contemporary art, we have something for everyone. These examples offer insight into how to structure your essay, analyze art pieces, and write compelling arguments.

So, let's explore our collection of art essay examples and take the first step toward becoming a better art writer!

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Good Art Essay Examples

In the following section, we will examine a selection of art essay examples that are inspiring for various academic levels.

College Art Essay Examples

Let’s take a look at college art essay examples below:  

The Intersection of Art and Politics: An Analysis of Picasso's Guernica

The Role of Nature in American Art: A Comparative Study

University Art Essay Examples

University-level art essay assignments often differ in length and complexity. Here are two examples:

Gender and Identity in Contemporary Art: A Comparative Study

Art and Activism: The Role of Street Art in Political Movements

A Level Art Essay Examples

Below are some art paper examples A level. Check out: 

The Use Of Color In Wassily Kandinsky's Composition Viii

The Influence of African Art on Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles D'avignon

A Level Fine Art Essay Examples

If you're a student of fine arts, these A-level fine arts examples can serve as inspiration for your own work.

The Use Of Texture In Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night

Exploring Identity Through Portraiture: A Comparative Study

Art Essay Examples IELTS 

The Impact of Art on Mental Health

The Effects of Technology on Art And Creativity

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AP Art Essay Examples

A Comparison of Neoclassical and Romantic Art

An Examination Of The Effects Of Globalization On Contemporary Art

Types of Art Essay with Examples

Art essays can be categorized into different types. Let's take a brief look at these types with examples:

Art Criticism Essay : A critical essay analyzing and evaluating an artwork, its elements, and its meaning.

The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali: A Critical Analysis

Art History Essay: A comprehensive essay that examines the historical context, development, and significance of an artwork or art movement.

The Renaissance: A Rebirth of Artistic Expression

Exhibition Review: A review of an art exhibition that evaluates the quality and significance of the artwork on display.

A Review of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Exhibition

Contemporary Art Essay: An essay that explores and analyzes contemporary art and its cultural and social context.

The Intersection of Technology and Art in Contemporary Society

Modern Art Essay: An essay that examines modern art and its significance in the development of modernism.

Cubism and its Influence on Modern Art [insert pdf]

Art Theory Essay: An essay that analyzes and critiques various theories and approaches to art.

Feminist Art Theory: A Critical Analysis of its Impact on Contemporary Art [insert pdf]

Additional Art Essay Example

Let’s take a brief look at some added art essay samples:

Artwork Essay Example

Artist Essay Example

Advanced Higher Art Essay Example

Common Art Essay Prompts

Here are some common art essay topics that you may encounter during your coursework:

• Describe a piece of artwork that has inspired you.
• A comparative analysis of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Michelangelo's David.
• Analyze the cultural significance of a particular art movement.
• Discuss the relationship between art and politics.
• Compare and contrast two works of art from different time periods or cultures.
• The representation of identity in art
• The Evolution of Artists' Paintings:
• From Traditional to Contemporary Art
• The representation of identity in Frida Kahlo's self-portraits.
• The significance of oil on canvas in the history of art.
• The significance of the Mona Lisa in the Italian Renaissance

Art Essay Topics IELTS

Here are some art essay topics for IELTS students. Take a look: 

• The value of art education.
• The role of museums in preserving art and culture.
• The impact of globalization on contemporary art.
• The influence of technology on art and artists.
• The significance of public art in urban environments.

Tips For Writing a Successful Art Essay

Here are some tips for writing a stand-out art essay:

• Develop a clear thesis statement that guides your essay: Your thesis statement should clearly and concisely state the main argument of your essay.
• Conduct thorough research and analysis of the artwork you are writing about : This includes examining the visual elements of the artwork, researching the artist, and considering the historical significance.
• Use formal and precise language to discuss the artwork: Avoid using colloquial language and instead focus on using formal language to describe the artwork.
• Include specific examples from the artwork to support your arguments: Use specific details from the artwork to back up your analysis.
• Avoid personal bias and subjective language: Your essay should be objective and avoid using personal opinions or subjective language.
• Consider the historical and cultural context of the artwork: Analyze the artwork in the context of the time period and cultural context in which they were created.
• Edit and proofread your essay carefully before submitting it: Ensure your essay is well-organized, coherent, and free of grammatical errors and typos.
• Use proper citation format when referencing sources: Follow the appropriate citation style guidelines and give credit to all sources used in your essay.
• Be concise and focused in your writing: Stick to your main thesis statement and avoid going off-topic or including irrelevant information.
• Read your essay aloud to ensure clarity and coherence: Reading your essay out loud can help you identify inconsistencies or any other mistakes.

The Bottom Line!

We hope that the art essay examples we've explored have provided you with inspiration for your own essay. Art offers endless possibilities for analysis, and your essay is a chance to showcase your unique opinions.

Use these examples as a guide to craft an essay that reflects your personality while demonstrating your knowledge of the subject.

Short on time? Let CollegeEssay.org help you! All you have to do is to ask our experts, " write college essay for me " and they'll help you secure top grades in college.

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Writing Essays in Art History

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

These OWL resources provide guidance on typical genres with the art history discipline that may appear in professional settings or academic assignments, including museum catalog entries, museum title cards, art history analysis, notetaking, and art history exams.

Art History Analysis – Formal Analysis and Stylistic Analysis

Typically in an art history class the main essay students will need to write for a final paper or for an exam is a formal or stylistic analysis.

A formal analysis is just what it sounds like – you need to analyze the form of the artwork. This includes the individual design elements – composition, color, line, texture, scale, contrast, etc. Questions to consider in a formal analysis is how do all these elements come together to create this work of art? Think of formal analysis in relation to literature – authors give descriptions of characters or places through the written word. How does an artist convey this same information?

Organize your information and focus on each feature before moving onto the text – it is not ideal to discuss color and jump from line to then in the conclusion discuss color again. First summarize the overall appearance of the work of art – is this a painting? Does the artist use only dark colors? Why heavy brushstrokes? etc and then discuss details of the object – this specific animal is gray, the sky is missing a moon, etc. Again, it is best to be organized and focused in your writing – if you discuss the animals and then the individuals and go back to the animals you run the risk of making your writing unorganized and hard to read. It is also ideal to discuss the focal of the piece – what is in the center? What stands out the most in the piece or takes up most of the composition?

A stylistic approach can be described as an indicator of unique characteristics that analyzes and uses the formal elements (2-D: Line, color, value, shape and 3-D all of those and mass).The point of style is to see all the commonalities in a person’s works, such as the use of paint and brush strokes in Van Gogh’s work. Style can distinguish an artist’s work from others and within their own timeline, geographical regions, etc.

Methods & Theories To Consider:

Expressionism

Instructuralism

Postmodernism

Social Art History

Biographical Approach

Poststructuralism

Museum Studies

Visual Cultural Studies

Stylistic Analysis Example:

The following is a brief stylistic analysis of two Greek statues, an example of how style has changed because of the “essence of the age.” Over the years, sculptures of women started off as being plain and fully clothed with no distinct features, to the beautiful Venus/Aphrodite figures most people recognize today. In the mid-seventh century to the early fifth, life-sized standing marble statues of young women, often elaborately dress in gaily painted garments were created known as korai. The earliest korai is a Naxian women to Artemis. The statue wears a tight-fitted, belted peplos, giving the body a very plain look. The earliest korai wore the simpler Dorian peplos, which was a heavy woolen garment. From about 530, most wear a thinner, more elaborate, and brightly painted Ionic linen and himation. A largely contrasting Greek statue to the korai is the Venus de Milo. The Venus from head to toe is six feet seven inches tall. Her hips suggest that she has had several children. Though her body shows to be heavy, she still seems to almost be weightless. Viewing the Venus de Milo, she changes from side to side. From her right side she seems almost like a pillar and her leg bears most of the weight. She seems be firmly planted into the earth, and since she is looking at the left, her big features such as her waist define her. The Venus de Milo had a band around her right bicep. She had earrings that were brutally stolen, ripping her ears away. Venus was noted for loving necklaces, so it is very possibly she would have had one. It is also possible she had a tiara and bracelets. Venus was normally defined as “golden,” so her hair would have been painted. Two statues in the same region, have throughout history, changed in their style.

Compare and Contrast Essay

Most introductory art history classes will ask students to write a compare and contrast essay about two pieces – examples include comparing and contrasting a medieval to a renaissance painting. It is always best to start with smaller comparisons between the two works of art such as the medium of the piece. Then the comparison can include attention to detail so use of color, subject matter, or iconography. Do the same for contrasting the two pieces – start small. After the foundation is set move on to the analysis and what these comparisons or contrasting material mean – ‘what is the bigger picture here?’ Consider why one artist would wish to show the same subject matter in a different way, how, when, etc are all questions to ask in the compare and contrast essay. If during an exam it would be best to quickly outline the points to make before tackling writing the essay.

Compare and Contrast Example:

Stele of Hammurabi from Susa (modern Shush, Iran), ca. 1792 – 1750 BCE, Basalt, height of stele approx. 7’ height of relief 28’

Stele, relief sculpture, Art as propaganda – Hammurabi shows that his law code is approved by the gods, depiction of land in background, Hammurabi on the same place of importance as the god, etc.

Top of this stele shows the relief image of Hammurabi receiving the law code from Shamash, god of justice, Code of Babylonian social law, only two figures shown, different area and time period, etc.

Stele of Naram-sin , Sippar Found at Susa c. 2220 - 2184 bce. Limestone, height 6'6"

Stele, relief sculpture, Example of propaganda because the ruler (like the Stele of Hammurabi) shows his power through divine authority, Naramsin is the main character due to his large size, depiction of land in background, etc.

Akkadian art, made of limestone, the stele commemorates a victory of Naramsin, multiple figures are shown specifically soldiers, different area and time period, etc.

Iconography

Regardless of what essay approach you take in class it is absolutely necessary to understand how to analyze the iconography of a work of art and to incorporate into your paper. Iconography is defined as subject matter, what the image means. For example, why do things such as a small dog in a painting in early Northern Renaissance paintings represent sexuality? Additionally, how can an individual perhaps identify these motifs that keep coming up?

The following is a list of symbols and their meaning in Marriage a la Mode by William Hogarth (1743) that is a series of six paintings that show the story of marriage in Hogarth’s eyes.

• Man has pockets turned out symbolizing he has lost money and was recently in a fight by the state of his clothes.
• Lap dog shows loyalty but sniffs at woman’s hat in the husband’s pocket showing sexual exploits.
• Black dot on husband’s neck believed to be symbol of syphilis.
• Mantel full of ugly Chinese porcelain statues symbolizing that the couple has no class.
• Butler had to go pay bills, you can tell this by the distasteful look on his face and that his pockets are stuffed with bills and papers.
• Card game just finished up, women has directions to game under foot, shows her easily cheating nature.
• Paintings of saints line a wall of the background room, isolated from the living, shows the couple’s complete disregard to faith and religion.
• The dangers of sexual excess are underscored in the Hograth by placing Cupid among ruins, foreshadowing the inevitable ruin of the marriage.
• Eventually the series (other five paintings) shows that the woman has an affair, the men duel and die, the woman hangs herself and the father takes her ring off her finger symbolizing the one thing he could salvage from the marriage.

How to Write an Essay on Art: Topic Ideas and Best Art Centers In Africa

As we’ve stated before, we will provide you with all the information you might need to master crafting a good art essay, but before we can dive into what are the most interesting art topics you can use for your paper, it’s important to review the basics.

This is why we’ll cover the definition of what an art essay is, how to write it, and some examples you can use as reference.

What Is Art Essay 

Art essays are essays that essentially analyze bodies of artwork, be it a painting, a musical piece, a book, Japanese calligraphy, or even a work of architecture. It’s an essay about art, and what makes the whole of this work of art. Interpretation, keen observation, and research are all needed to produce a decent essay about art.

Analysis can range from the visuals to the aesthetics, to the time period it was created in. But how do all of these elements work? That’s what the analysis will convey in words. Later on in this guide, we’re going to go through all the potential topics which could arise. 

How To Write An Art Essay?

Most essays fall into a certain category and have a standard outline of how they’re written, this includes art essays. When it comes to writing an art essay, it’s important to remember that no matter what the topic is, the outline of how the essay will be written normally stays the same. 

No need to worry. In the following paragraphs, we will be showing you art essay introduction examples, examples in general, and many valuable tips. Use this information to craft an excellent essay on art, whether it’s a short essay on art or a long one. 

Let’s start with the outline, then we’ll be moving on to the different types of art essays, and we’ll be looking over tips on how to improve your writing.

Art Essay Outline

The standard outline for this type of essay is: 

• Introduction: Strong art essay examples have an introduction that clearly conveys the position of the writer. It should have a hook that grabs the reader’s attention, declare what the essay will convey as a whole, and have a thesis statement in the last sentence of the introduction. Some students place the thesis statement in the first line of the main body, which is appropriate as well. 
• Main Body: The paragraphs in the main body should support and convey what has already been stated in the introduction. The points should be analyzed extensively in the paragraphs, and they should be organized in a coherent fashion. Don’t go off-topic.
• Conclusion: This part should repeat the claim in the thesis statement and back it up with some final supporting arguments. It should be concise and short, and it shouldn’t present any new ideas. It should help the reader rethink and review what he just read. It is the final front to convince the reader why your point should be taken seriously.

This is simple and common enough to follow, and if you’ve written an essay before, this outline should be familiar to you already.

Essay On Art Types

Art essays analyze works of art, but the way in which the topics will be handled have certain differences. It’s not really dependent on the topic of your essay. It can be primitive art, horror art, political cartoon, European art, Asian art, Mayan art, Middle-Age art, a dive into the renaissance era or the lives of influential artists, comparison of various art movements; you name it. But it’s more about how you talk about it than what you’re talking about. Here are the most common types: 

Argumentative: Proving a point by backing up with credible arguments. Example: “Are video games a modern form of art?”.

Cause and Effect: An essay that highlights a cause and then extensively analyzes and highlights its effects. Example: “What sparked the era of the Renaissance in the art world?”.

Compare and Contrast: This one is pretty self-explanatory. An essay on art which is a compare and contrast type, will draw comparisons on two elements. Example: “Compare contemporary architecture to ancient architecture”. 

Example Of Art Critique Essay

Here is an example from specialists.

Tips On How To Write Art Essay

You don’t necessarily have to be a college student with a design major or go to art school to be able to write about world art. Lacking an art education is in no way a disqualifying factor from talking about, say, art's influence on academic writing, ancient Egyptian art, Muslim art, or even Chinese circus art. An essay about art does not simply describe the artwork in question. It needs to analyze in-depth and satisfy the requirements of the writing task. It’s also important to be sure that the sources you’re using are credible. Don’t forget to reference and cite them throughout your essay when it’s needed. 

Lastly, when stuck on a topic, it helps to ask questions to yourself. Consider the following: 

• In your perspective, what did the creator want to convey through his work?
• What impression does it leave on you personally? 
• Does the creator use certain symbols and images that provoke certain emotions or is the artwork vague? 
• What is the mood of the piece? 
• When was it created, and what possible external factors might have influenced its creation? 

Asking yourself relevant questions like the ones above will definitely provide a sense of clarity.

Art Essay Example

Here is a template for you on "Art Analysis of Mona Lisa":

Quotes On Art To Write Essay

What is a good quote about art? Well, there are actually many of them lingering on the internet from artists and prodigies from the past and the present. They touch on virtually every art style and can help you define art topics better if you build them around those. For those who feel uninspired, perhaps refreshing your perspective by reading these quotes will spark the fire once more. 

On that note, if you’re a fan of the arts and want to have more time indulging yourself in that world, then you might want help with your homework.

Here are some quotes that will make you think twice: 

• “Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does, the better” (André Gide)
• “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time” (Thomas Merton) 
• “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable” (Banksy)

Art Essay Topics To Write On

If you are looking for options and ideas on what you should write about in your essay, then keep reading because we’re going to be looking at the plethora of topics you can choose from in the following paragraphs. We’re giving you plenty of options. This will help you find a topic that is ideal and won’t be too boring or uninteresting to work with.

Topics On Different Epochs

The epochs, or "Epoque" in french, speak of the different eras of art’s timeline. From the Renaissance up till now, there are numerous epochs with different trends. That’s why you won’t run out of topic ideas if you choose to write about one of the epochs. Here are some easy-to-get-into topics on the different art epochs for your essay: 

• Compare Baroque to Renaissance
• The Beauty of Rococo
• The Emergence of Art Nouveau 
• Compare Contemporary Art to Abstract Expressionism 
• The Lasting Influence of Futurism 
• The Era of Symbolism 

And if you want to look at more options simply type in "art timeline" on your search engine, since there are many remaining epochs that are intriguing and worthwhile.

Art: Compare And Contrast Topics

Compare and contrast essays are pretty straightforward, but perhaps you’re still conflicted as to what topic you should be using. Here are some solid topic ideas for compare and contrast essays: 

• Compare Realism and Naturalism 
• Compare Gothic and Romanesque 
• What are the differences and similarities between the Dada movement and the postmodern movement? 
• Compare Art Deco and Art Nouveau 
• Compare Pop art and Pop Surrealism
• Compare Roman Mythology and Greek Mythology 
• Compare the artwork of Ancient India and China
• What are the differences between the Renaissance and the Neoclassicism works of art?
• Romanticism vs. Impressionism 
• Cubism vs. Dadaism 
• Surrealism vs. Abstract Expressionism 
• Minimalism vs. Contemporary Art 

The goal of the essay is to find the differences in both elements, but it is also important to include the similarities between the two since this adds more depth to your analysis than only including the differences. 

Art Therapy Topics Ideas

Art therapy is the merging of the fields of psychotherapy and art and is used to help individuals improve their cognitive brain functions. It is also used to help self-awareness and self-esteem and to decrease stress levels. Art therapy is quite an interesting topic to write about, but if you’re feeling stuck, then here are some fresh ideas on what you can write about: 

• The Art Therapy Industry
• Art Therapy for Trauma Survivors
• Art Therapy for Children and Families
• The Positive Impact of Art Therapy
• The Benefits of Art Therapy For Your Psyche
• Art Therapy and The Elderly
• Art Therapy to Reduce Stress Levels And Find Inner Peace
• Techniques Used in Art Therapy 

Consider the options stated above and choose one for your essay topics about art. This particular field should be quite interesting for students who are intrigued by human psychology and the art world and might prove fulfilling to research.

Art History Topics

Art history is the study of visual culture, from paintings to sculptures, and architecture. Additionally, art history provides us with the complex story of human history and civilization through the study of these artworks and designs. Art history covers everything, starting from prehistoric art all the way to contemporary.

If you’re going to write an art essay, chances are that you’re already enrolled in an art history class. Here are some interesting art history topics to consider: 

• The Secrets of The Mona Lisa 
• Leonardo Da Vinci’s Works
• Occult Art In Ancient Religion
• Hermetic Art 
• Medieval Art 
• Megalithic Sites 
• The Ancient Pyramids of Egypt 
• Easter Island’s Heads
• The Techniques Used in Renaissance Art 
• The Emergence of Realism 
• Christian Art 

Choose one of the topics above if you’ve found an ideal subject to cover and if you haven’t you can still use one of our ideas to make a practice essay. Practicing your writing before handing in the essay will surely help your grades. Look at our art essay example for more clarity.

Argumentative Essay Topics On Art

If you want to prove an argument and your point through sharp analysis and by showing credible proof of your claims, then write an argumentative essay on art. There is a lot to be said and covered but for those who have no ideas on what topic they should write about in their argumentative essay, then let’s look at some:

• Money Laundering Through Art
• Why Contemporary Art Feels Soulless compared to earlier epochs
• Is the art world too rigid?
• Do art schools kill individuality? 
• The importance of the existence of art 
• How art reflects society’s current conditions 

Choose what to do with our art argumentative topics, and keep on reading since we will present an example of an art analysis essay at the end of this guide. 

Cause And Effect Topics: Art

Cause and effect essays are exactly what they sound like. It’s an art essay about an event. Students will write extensively about the cause of the event, and its long-term and short-term effects. There are many major happenings in art history that can be referenced for a cause-and-effect essay. However, for those who are struggling to come up with ideas, let’s take a look at some of ours: 

• Why were the world fairs destroyed right after being built? 
• What sparked the Renaissance movement? 
• What sparked the period of Romanticism?
• How did WWI affect artists and their artwork?
• How did WWII affect artists and their artwork? 
• How has religious doctrine affected the artwork of its culture? 
• How has art evolved in modern times? 
• Why is there such a stark difference between ancient architecture to modern architecture? 
• What caused the emergence of pop art? 

Artists’ Bio Topics

Writing about artists’ bios is essential to having a complete understanding of the artwork and the artist. Their motives and life story will always have a great impact on their work, therefore it can be interesting to write an essay about their lives. Here are some ideas:

• Leonardo da Vinci
• Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardic
• Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino
• Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
• Francois Boucher
• Jean-Antoine Watteau
• Jean-Honoré Fragonard
• Kazimir Malevich 
• Pablo Picasso 
• Piet Mondrian 
• Frida Kahlo 
• Jackson Pollock 
• Georgia O'Keeffe
• Salvador Dali 
• Jorge Luis Borges
• Isabel Allende
• Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez
• Cindy Sherman 
• Liu Xiaodong 
• Cecily Brown 
• Miquel Barcelo 
• Takashi Murakami 
• Günther Förg
• Luo Zhongli 
• Pierre Albert-Birot 
• Guillaume Apollinaire 
• Louis Aragon 
• Alice Bailly 
• Johannes Baader 
• Johannes Theodor Baargeld
• Claude Monet
• Berthe Morisot
• Camille Pissarro
• Alfred Sisley
• Auguste Renoir
• Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas

Explore Diverse and Rich East African Art

The diversity of East African art history is mirrored in the people and cultures that make up the continent. Examining the richness and vibrancy of East African culture art will provide you with countless ideas for your next art essay. African art contains an incredible range of items, mediums, and subjects, from the complex cave art of South Africa's Cederberg Mountains to the abstract masks of several ethnic groups. 

For Western observers, one startling feature of African art may be how unlike it is to historical paintings created in the European Renaissance style, which strongly focuses on vanishing-point vision and a certain kind of naturalistic portrayal.

In the same way, traditional African art center East should be studied independently for the themes and motifs that run across much of it, such as creating objects and costumes for ceremonial and religious use.

To give you some ideas, you can consider the following topic ideas on East African arts and crafts from our essay writer :

• The Development and History of Traditional Crafts in East Africa Over Time
• Natural Materials Used in East African Arts and Crafts
• The Contribution of Art and Craft to East African Cultural Traditions
• The Impact of East African Art and Craft on Modern Fashion and Interior Design
• The Effect of Tourism on the Arts and Crafts Sector in East Africa

And if you'd rather have a PRO craft you an uncontested paper, then ask us - ' write my essay for me ,' and we'll take care of it right away.

4 Best East African Art Gallery Centers

You could now be driven to research the history of East African art making and base your essay on this fascinating culture. However, we have yet to supply you with additional information that you will find beneficial in furthering your understanding of African art and craft. Let's now explore a few of the most noteworthy East African art centers, such as museums and galleries, that have a major role in advancing this field in the region.

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa

In 2017, Cape Town welcomed the opening of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA). It is the largest museum in the world devoted to modern African art and its diaspora, created by the highly regarded London-based Heatherwick Studio.

What's important is that Zeitz MOCAA supports and advances the careers of African artists by giving them a venue to display their work and interact with viewers. The museum also sponsors initiatives that allow artists to expand their networks and gain new skills.

The museum has also significantly boosted the local economy by luring visitors and generating employment in the cultural sector. The Zeitz MOCAA Foundation also supports cultural organizations and initiatives across Africa, which furthers the growth not only of South African art but the overall continent's cultural sector.

Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya

Established in 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya, Circle promotes modern East African art. They want to develop a robust and long-lasting art market for East African artists by assisting and promoting the most cutting-edge and fascinating artists working in the area. 

This East African art gallery has enhanced exposure for renowned and young artists, both abroad and domestically, through group and solo exhibits as well as involvement with international art events. 

They are creating a solid and persistent market for East African artists by collaborating closely with local, nationwide, and foreign investors and curators. They are constantly modifying their programming and improving existing web platforms to keep showcasing insightful and tough contemporary art from East Africa.

Zoma Museum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The Zoma Museum, a distinctive establishment honoring famous East African art, architecture, and culture, is situated in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Utilizing green building methods and materials, the museum's design itself places a strong emphasis on sustainability. The structure has solar power and rainwater collection elements that decrease energy use and carbon impact. The museum is an example of environmentally friendly building techniques and encourages environmental awareness.

This African art center East also strives to promote and conserve Ethiopia's rich cultural legacy while giving up-and-coming artists a place to display their creations. Additionally, the Zoma Museum Foundation contributes to local development initiatives, providing clean water and healthcare services.

The museum is a gathering place for intellectuals, artists, and fans of the arts, allowing them to interact and share knowledge. The museum's activities and displays foster intercultural awareness and understanding while highlighting Ethiopia's rich creative legacy worldwide.

Murumbi African Heritage Collection, Nairobi, Kenya

African art pieces, antiquities, and publications that make up the Murumbi African Heritage Collection were put together by Joseph and Sheila Murumbi, two influential figures in Kenya's political and cultural history. 

The significance of this collection lies in the fact that it safeguards African cultural heritage. Many of the items in the collection are rare and priceless representations of significant times in history and cultural customs. In order to prevent their loss or destruction, the collection acts as a depository for these priceless items.

For academics, students, and the general public, the Murumbi Collection also offers priceless educational materials. The collection consists of books, images, and other items that shed light on Kenyan history and politics, as well as the art and culture of Africa as a whole.

If you've discovered a whole new passion for researching vibrant East African art making and wishing - 'I prefer to ask someone to write my essay on this amazing culture,' contact us for immediate assistance.

Art Analysis Essay Example

Here is an example of an art analysis essay from our professional writers. Check the one on "The Critique of Dali’s The Persistence of Memory":

Dali's use of color for everything else besides the three clocks and the ghostly figure is dark and heavy. On the other hand, the colors he uses for the central figures are very light. This naturally leads our eye to them, and it could be conveying that these figures are the dream-like elements that always appear in surrealist works of art.

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ARTS - Herzberg: Writing Essays About Art

• Art History
• Current Artists and Events
• Local Art Venues
• Video and Image Resources
• Writing Essays About Art
• Citation Help

What is a Compare and Contrast Essay?

What is a compare / contrast essay.

In Art History and Appreciation, contrast / compare essays allow us to examine the features of two or more artworks.

• Comparison -- points out similarities in the two artworks
• Contrast -- points out the differences in the two artworks

Why would you want to write this type of essay?

• To inform your reader about characteristics of each art piece.
• To show a relationship between different works of art.
• To give your reader an insight into the process of artistic invention.
• Use your assignment sheet from your class to find specific characteristics that your professor wants you to compare.

How is Writing a Compare / Contrast Essay in Art History Different from Other Subjects?

You should use art vocabulary to describe your subjects..

• Find art terms in your textbook or an art glossary or dictionary

You should have an image of the works you are writing about in front of you while you are writing your essay.

• The images should be of  high enough quality that you can see the small details of the works. 
• You will use them when describing visual details of each art work.

Works of art are highly influenced by the culture, historical time period and movement in which they were created.

• You should gather information about these BEFORE you start writing your essay.

If you describe a characteristic of one piece of art, you must describe how the OTHER piece of art treats that characteristic.

Example:  You are comparing a Greek amphora with a sculpture from the Tang Dynasty in China.

If you point out that the color palette of the amphora is limited to black, white and red, you must also write about the colors used in the horse sculpture.

Organizing Your Essay

Thesis statement.

The thesis for a comparison/contrast essay will present the subjects under consideration and indicate whether the focus will be on their similarities, on their differences, or both.

Thesis example using the amphora and horse sculpture -- Differences:

While they are both made from clay, the Greek amphora and the Tang Dynasty horse served completely different functions in their respective cultures.

Thesis example -- Similarities:

Ancient Greek and Tang Dynasty ceramics have more in common than most people realize.

Thesis example -- Both:

The Greek amphora and the Tang Dynasty horse were used in different ways in different parts of the world, but they have similarities that may  not be apparent to the casual viewer.

Visualizing a Compare & Contrast Essay: 

Introduction (1-2 paragraphs) .

• Creates interest in your essay
• Introduces the two art works that you will be comparing.
• States your thesis, which mentions the art works you are considering and may indicate whether the focus will be on similarities, differences, or both. 

Body paragraphs 

• Make and explain a point about the first subject and then about the second subject 
• Example: While both superheroes fight crime, their motivation is vastly different. Superman is an idealist, who fights for justice …… while Batman is out for vengeance. 

Conclusion (1-2 paragraphs) 

• Provides a satisfying finish 
• Leaves your reader with a strong final impression. 

Downloadable Essay Guide

• How to Write a Compare and Contrast Essay in Art History Downloadable version of the description on this LibGuide.

Questions to Ask Yourself After You Have Finished Your Essay

• Are all the important points of comparison or contrast included and explained in enough detail?
• Have you addressed all points that your professor specified in your assignment?
• Do you use transitions to connect your arguments so that your essay flows into a coherent whole, rather than just a random collection of statements?
• Do your arguments support your thesis statement?

Art Terminology

• British National Gallery: Art Glossary Includes entries on artists, art movements, techniques, etc.

Lee College Writing Center

Writing Center tutors can help you with any writing assignment for any class from the time you receive the assignment instructions until you turn it in, including:

• Brainstorming ideas
• MLA / APA formats
• Grammar and paragraph unity
• Thesis statements
• Second set of eyes before turning in

Contact a tutor:

• Phone: 281-425-6534
• Email:  w [email protected]
• Schedule a web appointment: https://lee.mywconline.com/

Other Compare / Contrast Writing Resources

• Southwestern University Guide for Writing About Art This easy to follow guide explains the basic of writing an art history paper.
• Purdue Online Writing Center: writing essays in art history Describes how to write an art history Compare and Contrast paper.
• Stanford University: a brief guide to writing in art history See page 24 of this document for an explanation of how to write a compare and contrast essay in art history.
• Duke University: writing about paintings Downloadable handout provides an overview of areas you should cover when you write about paintings, including a list of questions your essay should answer.
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• Last Updated: Jun 19, 2023 4:30 PM
• URL: https://lee.libguides.com/Arts_Herzberg

How to Write an Artwork Essay

Mining Your Artwork for Meaning and Methods

I was recently in a funk with my artwork from so much sheltering in place and the repetition of my schedule, my meals, etc. I am not complaining; I have it pretty easy compared to many others. But the funk is still the funk! So I listened to the audio version of the New Yorker art critic, Jerry Saltz’s, How to Be an Artist . It worked. And led me to write an artwork essay about my current photo series.

One of his points that stuck with me was about placing one’s art in the current moment and not try to fit it into art standards or methods of the past. He inspired me to embrace my tools, my methods, and my results as being part of my creative commentary on today, for today.

This led me to decide to write an essay about my work. I’ve received a fair amount of praise for my self-portrait photo series, I AM: For the Love of Nature . Still, I felt there was more to it than either I or others had fully grokked.

I developed a process for how to write an artwork essay that uncovered all sorts of delightful gems and it helped me situate my work in the context of other artists who seem to have inspired me, unconsciously, while strengthening my unique statement. Since I’m the sharing type, I’m writing it up here for you to use as you wish for your own work.

Before We Begin the Artwork Essay

Last year I came across (sorry, I don’t know where or from whom!) two questions to ask while looking at your work: 1. What is it trying to say? 2. Who is it for?

This almost instantly unlocked a flood of words for me. Some took the form of titles for each image; others fed directly into the poems I’m writing for each image. If you believe that much art is channeled in a way, that inspirations come from the creative brain as much or more than the structural brain, then these two questions can be a gold mine. Even if we plan the shape and size and color and place of a piece of art, there is “always more to the story” in my opinion. Hence — we have many employed art critics!

I have actually asked a few people to write an essay about my series; this has come up when they are talking to me about it and they SO CLEARLY GET IT. Alas, people are busy and life happens, but my essay did not, so I decided to write this artwork essay — myself. One, I would have the end product and two, I expected I would learn even more about what I have made. Spoiler Alert: it worked so well that I am here encouraging you to try this process, too.

Step 1: Make an index card for each piece in your artwork essay.

I am usually a digital person, preferring to have text info on my computer where I can cut and paste, search and sort. But I’m a huge fan of Elizabeth Gilbert and she talks about her writing process using hundreds of index cards. I also know from a lot of writer training, that the mind sometimes works differently when writing by hand vs. typing. (Do read or listen to Big Magic , by Elizabeth Gilbert. Much longer than Jerry’s book, but also a strong call to believe in oneself and move forward.)

On each card, list the title at the top, then start adding bullet point descriptors. I found after doing a few that I noticed categories: colors, point of view of the camera, size of my body relevant to the landscape, and so on. Your descriptors will be unique for your art. Don’t worry about getting it all down on the first card ; I revisited each artwork a few times as more patterns and ideas showed up during the process.

Step 2: Make an index card for each theme or concept.

You can actually do this step while you’re doing Step 1. Several of these ideas were familiar to me before I started this. A few new ideas did appear as I was describing each artwork. In any case, I think you’ll want to list these elements on their own cards. I grouped mine on a few cards but next time I think I’ll make a card for each concept.

Step 3: Make an index card for each of your inspirations.

For me, this was a lot of quotes, especially from other artists who I admire and who’ve made work similar to mine. This turned out to be really helpful! Before, this information would rattle around in my brain, not knowing where to land. On a good day, I loved that people compared me to Ana Mendieta or that I compared myself to Anne Brigman . But on a bad day, imposter syndrome sat beside me and sang the “Why bother?” blues over and over in my head.

Getting things out of my head and onto paper allowed my mind to move on to the bigger picture , without worrying I was going to lose or miss something. Also, a lot of the quotes were from articles reviewing the work of an artist I admire. That’s been a rich source of inspiration for me to learn more about the artists I like and to study how to write about art and artists.

Step 4: Get a very large sheet of paper to map out your ideas.

If you’re doing this all in one session, you can get straight to this step. If you’ve had some time away and are coming back, take some time to read through all of your art and inspiration cards. This will move those details back to the front of your brain.

This part gets a little vague and non-specific, as it’s comparable to making a mind map. So start anywhere. I used a pencil so I could erase something if I wanted or move things around. I started by listing the main themes. As I did this, I could see that there were a few top-level ideas going on. Then I moved on to the ideas behind the themes. I ended up using both sides of an 11×14 piece of sketch paper.

Step 5: Start writing the essay.

The first four steps may be enough to help write a concise project statement or title your images or maybe a short blog post. I wanted a formal document I could send to gallerists and curators, though, so this is where the rubber met the road. I started to write the essay in a text doc on my computer. I had my notes in front of me and filed away each artwork and quote card as I used it, so I didn’t duplicate by accident.

I chose to write in the third person , for two reasons. First, I wanted to look at the work as an outsider could, but with the ability to provide my insider intelligence. Second, and this may be mostly bullshit, I felt the essay would have a more authoritative voice. I’m happy with my decision.

I didn’t exactly track my time on the writing. But I carved out some time to birth the first draft and that took a few hours. I’ve learned not to edit as I write the first draft — it lets the flow power through on its own. I let it sit for a day and then came back to do some editing. Surprisingly, it was in pretty good shape! I shared it with my partner, Shane , who is also an artist and a great proofreader. He thought it was really good. Still, I did two more rounds of edits over the course of a week. They were easy and enjoyable as I refined what I wanted to say and what images I wanted to include.

Voilá! The results.

You can visit the website I made just for this project at I AM: For the Love of Nature .

If you want to check out my essay , it’s here as a PDF. The Freedom to Be Found-in Nature by Roxanne Darling

P.S. For the math nerds: The essay took about 20 hours to make from start to finish. This post in and of itself took me about six hours to create. I hope you find something useful in it. Feel free to email me or chat on Twitter . Shane reminds me there are digital platforms that support this type of process of writing and linking things; if that’s your preference you can check out Obsidian app .

Sometimes people ask, so, yes, of course, you may share this! I’m starting to use Pinterest again. Here’s the pin if you want to save it to any of your boards. I also have tiny share buttons below, at the end of every post.

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Art Essay Writing Guide

Table of Contents

What is the purpose of an art essay?

Generally, an art essay is an essay that talks about art in sculpture, paintings, architecture, music and portraits.

These kinds of essays are used for:

• Painting visual pictures: an art essay is an essay that showcases visual arts and creative ideas that people have come up with.
• Improving creativity: the whole purpose of art essays is to provide a platform for students to tap into their creative side and vividly paint a picture of a certain image using words.

Art essay topic choice

Like every other essay, there are general tips that should be considered when coming up with an art essay writing topic.

• The type of art: this may include a painting, a sculpture or just a simple hand diagram. The type of art is important as it sets out what you are supposed to write about.
• What intrigues you about the art: this is the most important part of the essay. The whole art essay is based on what you want others to know about the piece of art.
• Personal interests: what you, as a writer, love is very important as it narrows down the topic. It is easier to write on topics that are well-known to you.

There are a number of art essay writing topics to choose from.

Below is a list of topics for an art essay

• Differences between Picasso’s concepts and Matisse’s
• The history of art in the Netherlands
• Differences between Bernini and Borromini
• The inspiration behind famous painting
• The Mona Lisa
• Leonardo Da Vinci
• Ancient Roman structures
• The sculptures of nude women
• Impressionism era of art in Netherlands
• The graphics of modern day art
• Insinuations behind ‘The Thinker’
• The Pieta of Michelangelo
• The contribution of Vincent Van Gogh and Piet Mondrian
• Flemish Baroque in the 17th century.

The above are some of the good topics for an art essay.

Structure of an art essay

The art essay topics determine the kind of structure to build on. However, most have a standard art essay structure.

Sample of art essay outline

Introduction.

The Mona Lisa is one of the most known paintings in the world. This is the painting of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco Del Giocondo, believed to have been painted in the 16th century. It is the work of Leonardo da Vinci and it was purchased by King Francis I. The Mona Lisa is currently under the ownership of the French government.

Thesis statement

The Mona Lisa has had a great impact towards the contribution of art in France:

(i)    It is one of the most famous paintings in the world. The Mona Lisa is the painting that everyone wants to see. It is so precious that only a copy of it is actually showcased in the museum.

(ii)    It has led to the growth of art. The Mona Lisa has inspired artists all over France. There has been a rise of many artists including Camille Pissarro, a painter, and Etienne-Jules Marey, a photographer.

It is clear that the Mona Lisa is the soft spot in France. The French take pride in it and have used it to improve their lives. Besides its contribution to art, it has also placed France among the leading countries that celebrate art. This has therefore created a culture of being drawn to art and it is reflected in their way of life.

The above is a sample of outline for an art essay.

Arts essay tips on writing the introduction

An art essay introduction identifies the art and the artist. Art is diverse, as it could be sculptures, architecture, performing arts or paintings in it. This is where you state why you chose that topic.  It also contains a history of the said art and brief details, like who the artist is, the year, the location, etc.

The introduction for an art essay states the thesis. It may be a general statement about the art or a specific aspect of it.

Tips on thesis writing

The thesis statement should be simple and easy to write about. Too complex statements tend to be confusing.

• Pick a statement that is closer to your understanding.
• Ensure it is as simple as possible.
• To avoid irrelevancy, one can have an art essay draft that they can build on.

Tips on the body (transitions, paragraphs, and length)

This is the main part of the essay where you derive analysis based on your point of view.  Describe why the art is so appealing to you. Ensure that your defense covers an angle that has not already been covered for uniqueness. For example, one can focus only on the strokes of a portrait. However, ensure that what you describe is relevant to the thesis of your art essay topics.

The essay should not be too long. The sentence construction should also be well done. For this reason, it is advisable to have your points arranged into paragraphs. Ensure that each paragraph is independent and speaks volumes. This ensures that the art essay hooks the reader.

The transition from one paragraph to the next should also be smooth. Using cliché transitions makes the essay boring; therefore, you need to be creative.

Tips on conclusion writing

In an art essay conclusion, one needs to state their opinion. What you think the artists` feelings were and why they decided to paint it the way they did. At this point, you can state the events that contributed to the artist coming up with that art. The conclusion for an art essay requires a lot of research into the background of both the art and the artist(s). For this reason, the references and sources of the information should be cited.

Advice for writers

In art essay writing it is important to first do your research. Art is so diverse and this can be sometimes confusing. The topic to write on should be related to your interests, for example, as a musician, you would find it easier to write about performing arts and music. Besides this, do not plagiarize any work done. Cite and state all sources, making sure that you observe all rules of patent and copyrights.

For you to be a good writer, these art essay tips will be very helpful.  The best writer is the one who admits to being in a need of help. The art essay writing guide can also be used to find more about art essay writing steps. Different sources could give different art essay outlines so you need to be careful.

Finalizing the essay

After writing the art essay, it is important to have a clean essay. This calls for proofreading and editing. Proofreading ensures that you do not have any grammatical errors, the art essay outlining is as required, your sentence construction is good and the language used is the required one. Some sites offer art essay writing guide for use when one gets stuck.  Proofreading also ensures that the art essay structure is followed. After this is done, ensure that the format used is correct whether APA, MLA or Chicago.

How to Sell Art Online | Online Marketing for Artists

Helping artists sell their art online since 2009. Blog, guides, courses, and coaching for artists.

10 Artists Who Write Exceptionally Well About Their Own Work

From Cory: In my online marketing for artists classes, I often end up helping artists develop some writing skills. “I’m not a writer,” is an excuse I hear all of the time. But the truth is that good writing is essential – I’m so glad to have Paul share some his favorite artists who write here. 

This is a guest post from painter Paul X. Rutz.

Helpful guidance comes in two forms. When it’s labeled as advice, it’s easy to spot. At the Abundant Artist you’ve taken in the great tips about how to write a statement to go with your work, and you’ve read this on how and why to write an engaging sales page for your website. You’ve digested the key points here on how important it is to make emotional connections with your audience. This is valuable stuff, and like many of you I’ve used it to reconsider my marketing plan.

This post is about the next step in finding helpful guidance: Reading good writing by artists who know how to frame what they do in compelling verbal packages.

Writing is here to stay. The more success you have growing your audience and selling your work, the more opportunities you’ll find to communicate about it. The need to write well will come from everywhere: in pitches to potential collectors, press releases, discussions over social media, artist talks, workshops, and even guest blog posts.

Yes, writing about our own work can be tough. We painters, photographers, collagists and sculptors are visual thinkers. It’s hard to put into words why we sanded down that spot or how we decided the piece was finished—not to mention expressing the larger meanings behind these decisions, or describing how the work will hum with energy in a viewer’s living room. But we’re all writers. Whenever we make a friend laugh via text or email, we’re practicing the skills we need to engage our audience and keep the recognition and sales going.

And the great thing is…

When it comes to writing about our work, it’s easy to stand out because the bar is low. Lots of visual artists hate writing, so they don’t put any creative energy into their writing. They follow a template and just get it done. As a result their writing is packed with clichés and vagaries instead of personality. That cycle perpetuates itself, and they hate writing even more.

That’s why reading great writing by visual artists is so important.

The following list offers writing by a variety of artists at the top of their game , all bending language to convey the passion behind their work. These people communicate in wildly different ways. Their voices vary from Banksy’s flip anarchism to Doris Humphrey’s professorial modernism, and they’re all weaving compelling stories about how and why they do what they do. Digesting those voices—noticing the moves they make as they describe their work—will help you hone your own writing. (I’ve included links to online content where available.)

I’m not suggesting we copy directly from anyone on this list. Instead, we should take them as ten examples of good marketing. Telling a compelling story about your work and effectively selling that work often look like the same thing.

One more thing:

Read not just for facts; read for flavor. When a piece of writing grabs you, pause. Ask how it’s doing that. How is the passage organized? What kinds of verbs does the writer use? What’s the formatting like? Make a note to self about what works. Take the helpful guidance laid out in front of you. You’ll learn more than how these artists think about their own work. You’ll start to see how to better communicate what you do, too.

I’ll start with some helpful guidance actually labeled as advice:

1. Twyla Tharp

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life , 2005

This book is packed with great tips: How to foster good work habits, shift your daily routine, set better creative goals, and move from scratching for ideas toward fully realizing them. Tharp has worked as a top ballet and Broadway choreographer for five decades. She writes, “Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is a result of good work habits. That’s it in a nutshell.” In a chapter titled, “Build a Bridge to the Next Day,” she explains how she cleans the overnight clutter in her mind to keep herself on track. Don’t miss her advice on reading: “If I stopped reading, I’d stop thinking. It’s that simple.” (I’ve written more about this key point here .) Tharp is also an advocate of going out and getting it. She writes about wanting to do a musical based on Billy Joel’s music. Instead of asking him for permission first, she started work on Movin’ Out , then showed excerpts to Joel. When he saw the dance, he exclaimed he never thought his songs could look so good and gave his permission to her on the spot. More to the point of this blog post: With her direct, upbeat writing style, Tharp shows us her world, and why she’s such a compelling choreographer. This advice book makes me want to watch more of her dances, not just follow her advice.

2. Scott McCloud

This book marries good rhetoric with creative fun: a comic book arguing for the place of comics as fine art. McCloud’s main character takes us through the history of Western art. He offers tips for how to use words and images together to create tension, show a character’s state of mind, or just get the point across. Through it all McCloud gets to show off his considerable skill as a writer and illustrator. Here’s a sample .

3. Maya Lin

“Making the Memorial,” 2000

Published in 2000, but mostly written in 1982 right after she completed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, this essay explains the origins of Lin’s most famous earth sculpture and my favorite memorial. I love this view through the eyes of the younger Lin, a college student who studied memorials of the past then used the blind contest to design this new memorial as her final project for an architecture seminar. Pulled into fame and controversy after her anonymous entry was chosen, she navigates her design through a world of prejudiced know-it-alls. Art in this essay is both deeply personal and communal—it’s personal vision and negotiation.

4. Doris Humphrey

The Art of Making Dances , 1958

Composed as a kind of textbook for choreographers, this book lays out the basic design concepts that are fundamental to American modern dance. Humphrey clearly explains the thinking behind how she grouped people on stage and how she organized lots of people into a complicated stage presentation. The book ends with a checklist, a series of aphorisms such as “Monotony is fatal; look for contrasts” and “A good ending is forty per cent of the dance.” I know two successful writers who have used this checklist to guide them in their own poetry and essay writing.  Each part of the list gets fleshed out with an explanation. My favorite is “All dances are too long.” In other words, edit, edit, edit…

Wall and Piece , 2005

If you’ve seen the film Exit Through the Gift Shop , you know what this famously anonymous British man (or woman or collective or whatever Banksy is) can do with a story told by unreliable narrators. Whatever you think of Banksy’s work—whether it’s brilliant, or a series of juvenile pranks—how he discusses what he’s up to is really sophisticated. In his book Wall and Piece , he captions hundreds of photos of his graffiti with political screeds, humorous asides, and anecdotes about how he works. Banksy gets to play both prankster and pundit, and both practitioner and critic. At the opening of the book, he writes, “The people who run our cities don’t understand graffiti because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit. But if you just value money then your opinion is worthless.” That kind of tight, provocative writing expands his body of nighttime street vandalisms into relevant commentary. Another favorite quote from the book: “Policemen and security guards wear hats with a peak that comes down low over their eyes. Apparently this is for psychological reasons. Eyebrows are very expressive and you appear a lot more authoritative if you keep them covered up. The advantage of this is that it makes it a lot harder for cops to see anything more than six foot off the ground. Which is why painting rooftops and bridges is so easy.” Throughout, he mixes his beliefs about the foolish hubris of those in authority with practical experience like this.

6. Vincent Van Gogh

Letters , 1873-90

Van Gogh is our essential model of the crazy, starving artist—the man who legend has it cut off his own ear and killed himself in despair. But reading his actual words, I get the impression of a dedicated and highly observant man constantly thinking about his craft and working at it with patience. This online trove of more than 900 letters is translated and searchable by date, location, correspondent, and whether the letters contain sketches. Sometimes they’re full of business. Sometimes gossip. Often they overflow with rich descriptions of his surroundings, the complicated colors of things, and his attempts to study it all in paint. It’s hard to find writing more packed with enthusiasm for painting.

7. Philip Glass

Words Without Music, 2015

Ok, composer Philip Glass isn’t exactly a visual artist, and he isn’t the most refined writer. He writes in direct, unpolished prose, the way he talks in interviews. But it works! That’s why I’m including his new memoir here. The takeaway is you don’t have to be a fabulous writer to make a big impact with your writing. Glass tells his story of dedicated study, daily work (including driving a cab until age 41), bad reviews, and the slow, slow road to recognition without much stylistic hoopla, but his hunger to make music and his willingness to experiment are everywhere in this book: “If you don’t know what to do, there’s actually a chance of doing something new. As long as you know what you’re doing, nothing much of interest is going to happen.”

8. Henri Cartier-Bresson

The Decisive Moment , 1952

This famous book of photos is also one of the rarest. Last year, it finally got a long overdue reprint, but it’s still way too expensive . Part advice, part memoir, the introductory essay expertly sets us up to see his work. (A pdf of the essay is here .) The book cemented Cartier-Bresson’s reputation as one of the most important photographers of the 1930s and 40s, and his writing shows his thinking about that work in discreet sections: “The Subject,” “Composition,” “Color,” and so on, ending with “The Customers.” He asks what photography is and what it isn’t—how photography hovers between the unfolding truthful present and the layers of selection the photographer makes during and after the shot.

9. Errol Morris

Believing Is Seeing , 2011

This book is a collection of essays that started here , on his New York Times blog, and it probes how we believe our way into the truth of images: “Believing is seeing,” he writes. “Not the other way around.” A former private eye, Morris built his reputation as a documentary filmmaker on the pursuit of Truth, with an obsessive, somewhat cranky personality. He doesn’t fit most people’s picture of “artist,” but his writing shows his tenacious commitment to his craft. I trust Morris to take me somewhere special with his films after reading what he writes in these essays. He somehow indulges in the beauty of images and takes them apart at the same time, spelunking deep into fascinating questions, including why forgeries fool us .

10. Sally Mann

Hold Still , 2015

My interest in reading Sally Mann comes from many places. Like Errol Morris, she uses her knowledge of photography to ask important questions about how images matter in our culture, but unlike him, she’s documenting her family and friends. When she discusses her work, she blends her personal history with her photography seamlessly. In her memoir, Hold Still , she takes a hard look at how her photographs have affected the people around her. There’s a beautiful mix of the personal and the philosophical here. At one moment, she explains her belief that photographs “rob all of us of our memory” by replacing other sensory associations—smell, sound, and so on—with an image made by a machine. But in the next moment, she might explore how those limitations have brought about some scary situations for her family. For example, Mann is most famous for making photos of her naked children playing on their Virginia farm. In her memoir she tells the story of how those photos were received (harshly) and the repercussions she and her family endured. Check out this online excerpt from the book to find that story. This is excellent writing by a photographer wrestling to balance her love of the medium with its limitations and consequences.

I read these bits of writing for a lot of reasons, including the chance to glimpse how human and full of doubt these people often were on their way to achieving something remarkable. Everyone has struggles, and many of theirs were far more serious than mine.

This list reflects my own tastes and biases, of course. (And those are always changing. I used to be all about painter Gerhard Richter’s cagey little essays and the Zen-infused dance interviews of Merce Cunningham.) I’m an art world mutt, who danced ballet seriously for a while, worked as a writer/photographer for a news service, and did a grad degree with a heavy focus on film. Although I make my living as a painter, I get most of my ideas on how to write about painting from people who do other things. As I read more, my list of favorites will keep adjusting.

Do you have other examples of favorite writing by artists about their own work? Please share them in the comments.

Paul X. Rutz works as a figurative painter in Portland, Oregon, and enjoys writing about it. Find his recent work here: paulrutz.com .

Must Read: Do check out our definitive guide to an artist’s website for further insights, The Ultimate Guide to an Artist’s Website .

June 18, 2015 at 2:32 PM

Really enjoyed this post! Thanks for compiling this helpful list. The link to Van Gogh’s letters doesn’t seem to be working – is it online elsewhere by any chance?

June 18, 2015 at 6:27 PM

Thanks for pointing out that link problem. Try this: http://vangoghletters.org/vg/

Best regards,

June 18, 2015 at 8:28 PM

Fantastic blog post! I have book marked and will delve further into each creatives journey. Thank you very much.

June 18, 2015 at 9:52 PM

Great post!!!

I have just started writing about my work after reading this and also setting up a mutual show and tell art group in my local town. Wow writing about ones work is a bit like what I have been wanting to get out of setting up a show and tell group..to get that feeling of really looking under the surface of our motivations and not lose site in the pressure to make and sell, what the deeper undercurrents that pull us to create are. Great thing about writing is you can ramble for as long as you need!! I think it is really going to enhance my art from talking so directly to my arty self too. Excited…Thank you.

June 20, 2015 at 11:52 PM

As a photographer, I find writing a necessary evil. And that’s not because I am not a good writer. I have been writing from a young age. It’s simply that beyond a profile description, or a brief expose’ on the particular image, the image should takes care of its own message.

If I write more than that, I feel I am writing more than needed.

June 23, 2015 at 9:23 PM

I agree there’s a lot we should leave unsaid when we present our visual work. I’m not suggesting writing (or another form of communication) should take the place of photos or paintings. I also believe when we put our work on the wall or the plinth or whatever, we’re giving away our authority to dictate meaning. Whether we like it or not, viewers are going to take whatever message they want from what they see (as Sally Mann learned painfully). But writing is still inevitable. Your reply to my post is an example. It’s a piece of the atmosphere of writing that flows around the visual work we do. And you wrote it well.

November 30, 2019 at 10:22 AM

I hear you, Paul. I am an abstract artist and I can also write…that is not so much of the problem. The challenge is that in telling my story I am identifying myself and my work (boxing it in, if you will) as I see it and not allowing the viewer the space to have his own ideas of receiving the art in his own mind. With abstract art as well as with photography I believe, is to already have told a compelling story. To then sell the piece to another is to feel like I am leading my viewer to what they ‘should be’ looking at. And obviously this is what ‘selling’ is about and to push the viewer into falling in love with you and buying our works. But… ‘selling’ my own work makes me feel compromised and not true to my abstract’s ‘soul intention’. That soul intention is to have an effect of freedom and to free the viewers mind …not box it in. Perhaps this response happens in me because I put the work itself ahead of my own view and intention of it. Perhaps my works are like my children…I have ideas for their future but I don’t want to influence them or talk about them, to the degree that they lose their own mind.

June 21, 2015 at 12:06 AM

You are a very similar mutt to me! Dance, film, photography and a love of words. i have not yet tried painting. Loved this list. Jean Cocteau was always an inspiration to me, for his multi-passionate approach to the arts, but I am unaware that he wrote anything specific about his habits. I am going to reread my copy of Twlya Tharp’s book and order Sally Mann’s…Oh! Suggestion would be Patty Smith’s book….Just Kids….although that was less about her habits and more about her life and colleagues/loved ones. But still stirring. Thanks for the great post.

June 23, 2015 at 9:25 PM

Hi Antonia,

I haven’t read Patty Smith. She’s going on my list of books to get from the library…

June 24, 2015 at 4:34 PM

Thanks for this list, I will have to check them out further. I have been struggling to learn to write descriptions of my jewelry. I don’t merely want to give them a list of what I made it with, I want to learn to write about the sparkle and the beauty and more. It has been a real struggle for me. I’ve been studying what other online jewelers are writing and have been trying to practice writing my own. Guess you post falls write in line with my struggle. I’m off to read and learn now!

May 14, 2018 at 8:03 PM

Hi Cory, Paul

I’d love it if you check out my writing and let me know what you think. It’s not always related with my painting but I just can’t help talking about what I want to talk about.

I’ve been studying how to market my work for about a year now and I’m certain that online success has to do with my voice as an artist. However, this runs counter to most advice I find of focusing on a niche and servicing a specific audience. This feels like nails on a chalkboard! —I want to paint and say what I want to paint and say when I want to do it! It’s like the last bastion of freedom I have, the very reason why I paint!

Anyway, I’d love to hear your opinion. Thanks.

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How to write an art essay best ideas for students.

April 10, 2020

Do you need to write an art essay? Perhaps this is the first time you have been tasked by your professor with such an assignment. Don’t worry though; writing an art essay is not as difficult as you may think. Even though many students don’t know much about art, they still manage to write excellent papers. How do they do it? Simple: they read guides and learn the best tips and tricks from industry experts. Alternatively, they get some help from qualified assignment writers . If you want to write the paper all by yourself, we have all the tips and tricks you need right here. Read on!

The Importance of Art Education Essay Samples

So, what is art essay writing? Why is it important? Truth be told, writing about art can be fun and captivating. However, we realize art is not something everyone is fond of writing about. The main reason why art essay writing is important is because your professor wants to get an interesting, original essay from you. Your final grade depends on your ability to write an excellent paper. What is more important is the art history essay example. Here is why:

By reading some art essay examples, you get an idea of how the final version of your paper should look like. Reading works written by seasoned writers can teach you a thing or two about writing in academic format. You can “steal” some ideas from the samples. However, make sure you don’t copy and paste any content from samples you find online.

An excellent way to get an art analysis essay example that is 100% original (i.e. you can’t find it anywhere on the Internet) is to have an academic writer compose it from scratch for you.

Finding Some Great Art Essay Topics

Do you need to write an essay about art? Or perhaps your professor asked you to write an art analysis essay. In any case, the topic you choose for your paper is very important. As long as you manage to find an intriguing topic, you stand a very good chance of getting bonus points. Let’s face it: professors want original, interesting papers. They are most certainly bored of reading the same art history essay written on the same old topics time and time again. You can even write a “compare and contrast two works of art essay” and stand out from the rest of your class. Here are the three best ways to get some topics for a college essay about art:

Search online but don’t pick the obvious topics. Dig deeper and try to find something none of your classmates thought of. Don’t be afraid to ask for ideas on art blogs and forums. There are plenty of experts who will gladly give you some topic ideas for free. Simply contact an academic writing company and ask them to send you a list of original topics. It won’t take them long to send you a comprehensive list of exceptional ideas.

Quick Guide on How to Write an Art Essay

Do you need to write an “is graffiti art essay” (or an “is graffiti art or vandalism essay”)? Regardless of the topic you choose, there are just a couple of steps you need to follow to write a great essay on art. Let’s show you how to write an art analysis essay in just 5 easy steps:

• Find a couple of interesting art essay topics and pick the most interesting one. Then, come up with the best thesis statement possible. What does your short essay about art aim to demonstrate?
• Write the introduction. You need to learn how to write a good intro if you want to learn how to write an art essay. In the intro, you need to present the thesis statement and a bit of background information about the topic.
• Write three body paragraphs, each one dealing with just one important idea. This works for anything from an art comparison essay to an art appreciation essay. Make sure you use each body paragraph to present just one idea that supports your thesis statement.
• Craft a catchy conclusion. You need to summarize everything you’re discussed and – optionally – write a call to action. This is the way to end every essay from a compare and contrast art essay to an art critique example essay.
• Edit everything and proofread it twice. Make sure your paper is well organized and your writing flows well. Also, there should be no typos in the text.

That’s it! Follow the guide above and create college essay art that will earn you a top grade every time. As a tip, you should consider writing an importance of art education essay. Your professor will be flattered for sure. But of course, you can write anything including an art critique essay and still get a top grade. You just need to be careful about which topic you choose and how you support your thesis statement. Very few professors expect works of art from students. However, they want to see that you’ve really invested some time and effort into writing the best paper possible. Finally, we advise you to steer clear of the renaissance art essay. Writing one is usually more difficult than you think.

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Writing the A2 Art Personal Study: examples, help and guidance

Last Updated on April 2, 2023

This article has been written for CIE A Level Art students who are working on their A2 Art Personal Study . It focuses purely on how to write the text of the Study; a previous article outlines how to come up with a good topic ; a future article will address the illustrations and presentation methods.

The Personal Study is an area of uncertainty for many A Level Art students. It differs from projects that are usually completed within high school Art programmes, as it involves a substantial written component (maximum 3,500 words) – something which can intimidate students, especially if they are unfamiliar with how to critically analyse an artwork, make informed judgements and write personal evaluations. With few examples of quality Personal Studies available, it can be difficult to know what is expected and how to begin. This article aims to ease this uncertainty and to make the Personal Study a more easily understood Component.

READ NEXT: How to make an artist website (and why you need one)

1. Research thoroughly

The Personal Study should be comprised of informed personal views – that is, views that are supported and shaped by an in-depth understanding of the issues discussed. Before starting the project, students should conduct thorough background research, selecting and recording information from second-hand sources (such as books, websites and other publications) and first-hand sources (interviews with artists, studio visits / gallery visits etc). Interviews with artists should be planned thoroughly, after preliminary second-hand research has been completed (as findings from research will suggest important issues to discuss with the artist).

Students are often uncertain about how to phrase questions, so sample questions have been included below (the exact questions asked will depend on the topic and focus of the study):

• Please talk me through the process you follow when designing your paintings. Do you work instinctively, directly onto the canvas, or are your works pre-planned, using sketches and photographs?
• What influences your choice of colour? I am interested particularly in the colours used in [insert name of painting/s]. Could you explain your thought process behind the use of colour in this work, particularly the [give example]?
• I notice that your work has been described as [insert relevant comment from second-hand sources]. Do you agree with this statement? How do you respond to this?
• I notice that [insert an aesthetic feature of their artwork i.e. ‘angular line’ or ‘organic form’] is a dominant feature of your work. Is this strongly connected to the ideas that you are exploring? Have you used these elements deliberately?
• Can you show me work in progress or semi-complete artwork? I would love to understand the process you go through and how you apply media at different stages.
• Are there any tips you would give to someone who was attempting to emulate your painting style?
• Which artists have influenced your work? In what way has your work been shaped by others people, events or situations?

2. Evaluate and interpret research findings

Conducting research is critical for creating an excellent Personal Study, however, it should be noted that submitting research on its own will not gain a student any marks. Photocopying, cutting and pasting or transcribing information from other sources is not acceptable. Examiners do not want to read long lists of facts or chronological sequences of events. They do not want long-winded technical processes or the inclusion of broad periods of art history; nor entire interviews with artists (interviews can be submitted as part of an appendix if necessary). Students should not include an extensive artist biography (only brief and relevant details are needed) nor include vast passages of text that have been regurgitated from other sources.

Instead, students must select the information which is relevant and analyse this in detail, evaluating and interpreting findings in relation to the focus of their study . Research should be used to help form intelligent, knowledgeable, personal responses : to explain, justify or support the viewpoints, judgements and conclusions that are presented.

Evidence of research might be demonstrated, for example, through the use of carefully chosen quotes (to support or contrast the student’s own ideas) or through the inclusion of correct terminology and background knowledge to communicate an in-depth understanding of relevant issues. Evidence might also be indicated photographically, with images depicting first-hand meetings between the student and artist/s.

This Personal Study by CIE A2 Level Art and Design student Alice Ham, from  ACG Parnell College , shows a cleverly selected quote alongside images by New Zealand charcoal artist Liam Gerrard . Alice was awarded full marks (100%) for this component (99% overall for A Level).

3. Structure the Personal Study in a logical and clear manner

Before writing the Personal Study, students should plan the content, order and structure of their study thoroughly (often in conjunction with planning the layout of their project – this will discussed in more detail in a subsequent post). This should include headings and subheadings of material discussed and rough diagrams indicating how this will be supported by images. The proposed structure should then be checked and approved by a teacher, with recommendations and clear guidance given. While the structure of each Personal Study will differ, depending on the topic chosen, every study should follow the basic format outlined below:

• Introduction . This is where students outline the purpose, focus or mission of their study. This may include question/s they are going to answer; themes they are going to explore; issues they hope to address etc. It should set the scene for the project and may include reasons for selecting a topic and an indication of how / why the topic is of personal relevance or interest to the student. It is important that the intentions of the project are clearly set out in this section, so that the remainder of the project can be structured accordingly.
• Body . This is the main part of the Personal Study and will need careful thought. It is usually organised into separate sections (which may be formal chapters, or simply different areas of a visual study), usually with individual headings and sometimes sub-headings. (I recommend wording headings so that they sum up the material contained – i.e. ‘ Analysis of Composition: [artwork title] ’ rather than ‘ Chapter 3 ’. This means that the examiner is able to see immediately that the student has covered a range of appropriate areas). The sections should be ordered logically and address the focus of the project; they should NOT ramble haphazardly from one issue to the next. High school Art students have a tendency to write without any preconceived order or structure, discussing issues spontaneously as they think of them. While this can be a suitable approach for more creative writing tasks – and can pulled off by certain students – this strategy runs the risk of creating a muddled and incoherent Personal Study.
• Conclusion . This is where students summarise key points from the project, arrive at final conclusions and make considered personal judgements about what has been learnt.

This is one of the concluding paragraphs in a Personal Study by Nikau Hindin (who achieved 98% for CIE A Level Art while studying at ACG Parnell College), entitled ‘ Identity, Consumerism & Popular Culture: How composition conveys a message ‘. The project was focused upon the analysis of artwork by New Zealand artist Kelcy Taratoa , with comparisons made with the work of American artist Bill Barminski :

Taratoa’s use of composition helps convey his message concerning identity construction. The arrangement of elements is symbolic of an unconscious hierarchy within his paintings that forces the viewer to question and analyse them. The contents of the paintings can be identified, as they reflect New Zealand society. Taratoa’s use of colour is vibrant and modern, echoing the technological era we live in. Barminski has a more dynamic and humorous approach to conveying his message. He mocks consumerism with his witty and blunt slogans and replications of consumer products. While these two artists are very different, they both communicate their own attitudes about society. Making a political statement through your paintings forces an audience to engage. Ultimately we want our art to be remembered and admired and I think if the message of a painting is clear then the viewer is more likely to go away and think about it. Paintings are a powerful tool to communicate a meaning that is deeper than the 2mm of paint on a canvas. Paintings are an artist’s voice.

• Bibliography / References / Acknowledgements . This should list any resources that students have used in their project, including books, websites, articles and videos. It might also include sources of first-hand information, such as museums, galleries or websites, as well as acknowledgements, thanking the artist for their time.

4. Write clearly and coherently

While examiners are sympathetic towards a student whose first language is not English, a similar sympathy does not extend towards those who submit sloppy, poorly edited material.

Just as it is expected that a Coursework project should contain beautiful well-composed artwork, a Personal Study is expected to contain well-structured, well-edited material. Even if a student has chosen to produce a largely visual project, submitting a sequence of annotated images, the text should communicate with intention and the writing quality should match that achieved by an A Level English student. Poor grammar, spelling errors and ‘txt’ speak are inexcusable.

As with any important written project, drafts should be rewritten and refined several times: chapters re-arranged; paragraphs and annotation reorganised; repetitive material, waffle and unnecessary regurgitation eliminated. Teachers, parents and friends can all be recruited to read through drafts, highlighting spelling errors and identifying areas where the writing is muddled. While the work must of course remain entirely that of the student, feedback from a fresh set of eyes is invaluable.

5. Use subject-specific vocabulary

A Personal Study should include an appropriate range of Art related terms and vocabulary. While the exact words used will be dependent upon the nature and focus of the study, there are a number of general Art-specific terms which students should be familiar with (these will be listed, with their definitions, in an upcoming article). Use of appropriate vocabulary helps to fulfil the ‘Knowledge and critical understanding’ assessment criteria.

6. Make it PERSONAL

As the title indicates, a Personal Study must communicate distinctly personal opinions, insights, judgements and responses, demonstrating a clear engagement with the artwork studied.

This excerpt from an 100% OCR A Level Art Personal Study by Yantra Scott entitled ‘ An investigation into gender roles in contemporary art ‘ illustrates this:

I first encountered Sarah Lucas whist briskly strolling through the crowded rooms of the Tate. Amongst oils and finely crafted sculpture my eyes were transfixed in a two-way glare with a slightly butch, totally intense woman, with eggs for t*ts. Ever since then I’ve been hooked.

It is evident that Yantra not only visited and viewed artwork in the flesh, but had a strong personal reaction to it. It could never be assumed that this segment had been reworded from a textbook: it is absolutely the words of a passionate high school Art student. Although Yantra uses coarse language within her study (something which should be emulated with caution) this project is an exceptional example of an intelligent and personal response to a topic. (More of Yantra’s work, as well as the entire text of her study, can be read in full on the great Julia Stubbs’ website ).

Similarly, this quote from an 88% OCR A2 Art Personal Study (one of the examples given in the OCR A2 Art Exemplar Work – Personal Study document ) shows a personal response integrated within the analysis of Damien Hurst ’s work, illustrated below.

The glass is thick, so thick that it is intimidating. It is as if it is holding something terrible back. It makes you question the formaldehyde and query, what if the tank did break? The formaldehyde is not clear as I expected but is quite strongly coloured by a blue and green pigment. This colour is very clinical and has the connotations of a hospital…

The musings about the tank breaking and the formaldehyde differing from expectations are clearly the individual thoughts of a high school art student.

7. Understand ‘cultural context’

Within the Personal Study, students must demonstrate an understanding of cultural context –  an understanding that an artist does not create work in isolation, but rather creates work that is shaped and influenced by the circumstance/s they finds themselves in. This might mean that discussion of the influence of natural, social, political or cultural environments is appropriate, or that – as is more common – the influence of other artists is discussed, with comparisons made between artwork that has been created in similar or differing contexts.

The excerpt below is from a CIE A Level Art and Design Personal Study by Tirion Jenkins, of  YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College . Titled ‘Alternative Fashion Photography’, her Personal Study was awarded Best in Hong Kong (2012) and includes analysis of ‘One night in Mong Kok’ by photographer Akif Hakan Celebi . Tirion demonstrates a clear understanding of the interrelationship between a photographer’s work and the setting in which it was created.

The setting itself creates an intoxicating atmosphere with the rows of fluorescent light bulbs and layers of luminous signs that form an endless maze of gaudy colours. However, the setting does not overwhelm the two models who draw my eyes despite the signs above them. They create the focal point of the image through the use of the rule of thirds as they are placed off-centre and through their quirky appearance which magnetises the eye towards them. They seem to belong to a different world to the passersby behind them with their flare of red hair and audacious choice of feathered flittered clothes. Akif has further crafted the image through the use of makeup as their chalk white faces further segregates and emphasises their surreal doll-like appearances. …Akif’s pictures are reminiscent of Japanese cinema which he says he is so influenced by. “I like…its writhed and crazy stories; I feel very close to that way of looking at the world.” This photograph is particularly mystical due to the vibrant and decorative bokeh of Hong Kong’s street lights in the background.

8. Critically analyse artworks

The core of the A2 Art Personal Study is the in-depth analysis of selected artist works. Some of these artworks must be viewed in person, however it is common (and completely acceptable) for students to analyse work from a combination of primary and secondary sources.  In the best studies, artworks are chosen specifically to facilitate the discussion of issues which are relevant to the study.

The advice in this section is particularly important and should be read closely by students who are hoping to achieve a high grade for their Personal Study.

When analysing artwork, it is helpful to analyse the work in terms of composition, format, structure and visual elements (such as shape, line, texture, colour, space, tone) . Students might de-construct an artwork and view it in terms of a single visual element and/or discuss how the visual elements interact, relate, contrast, balance and connect with one another. Descriptions of important terms have been included below to aid this process:

• Composition is the placement or organisation of visual elements within an artwork – the way these have been composed, combined or ‘put together’. Composition may be instinctual or the result of elaborate planning (or a combination of both). A ‘compositional device’ is an aspect of a composition which has a certain effect (such as the use of frames within frames, which might help create a sense of distance or space within an artwork).
• Format is the overall shape, size and orientation (portrait or landscape) of an artwork, i.e. whether a work is painted on a long, horizontal oblong canvas, or upon a vertically orientated A4 portrait board. Format can be influenced by practical considerations (i.e. the nature and shape of the object or scene depicted) as well as being an active decision by the artist to help communicate a particular meaning or idea.
• The structure of an artwork is the organisation of basic forms within a composition (this will be illustrated in more detail in the subsequent post focusing on imagery).
• Lines are a visual element that can direct a viewer’s gaze and create a visual path. These can direct attention to a focal point and create depth through perspective or horizon lines. Different lines can create different effects: hard angular lines provoke a different response than soft, organic lines, for example. Repetition of lines can create a sense of movement or rhythm.
• Shape is a visual element that is created by the junction of lines or changes in tone: the perceived boundaries of form. Larger shapes can become dominant focal points within an artwork; similar shapes can be repeated to create balance and create unity / visual harmony. Shapes can be symbolic, i.e. they can represent more complex forms and carry meaning. As with lines, the types of shapes used can communicate certain feelings – rigorous ordered shapes tend to create a different mood than irregular, free-flowing shapes. Shapes might also be used to create borders / frames and boundaries that connect, overlap or intersect, perhaps helping to draw viewers from the foreground / middle-ground to background.
• Space – the absence of form – is an often overlooked visual element. Described as being either positive (the space contained within the boundary of an object) or negative (the background space in and around an object), space can determine how busy and cluttered a painting is. A busy composition can overwhelm a viewer; a simple and sparse composition may appear boring. Careful integration of space is fundamental to any artwork.
• Form is a visual element that is usually discussed more easily in relation to three dimensional objects (as three-dimensional forms are usually described within two dimensional works in terms of shape, tone and line).
• Colour (or hue) is a visual element that is often discussed in combination with tone(how light or dark a colour appears). Colour can affect the mood of an artwork due to colour associations – i.e. blue might indicate sadness. Tone can help to communicate a sense of distance (items that are further away generally appear lighter – due to ‘atmospheric perspective’). Both tone and colour can be used to create contrast within an artwork, attracting the viewer’s attention and helping to create focal areas. Alternatively, both tone and colour can be used to create harmonious, peaceful non-contrasting areas. Use of light and shadow or warm and cool might also be an important area to discuss.
• Texture can be real (the result of brush strokes, irregularities in materials, and the application of a range of materials) or implied…i.e. a surface that is made to looktextured. As with the other visual elements, texture should be integrated so that it balances and becomes an aesthetically pleasing addition to an artwork. Surface qualities – along with other detailed areas and intricate patterns – are only able to be appreciated fully when viewed in person.

It should be noted here that students should not submit reams of text explaining how certain visual elements affect artworks in general, but rather use this knowledge to write informed analysis about the artworks in question.

Here is another example by Nikau Hindin, discussing the use of line in paintings by Kelcy Taratoa. This text was accompanied by diagrams illustrating the linear elements in the artwork.

…Taratoa uses strong angular forms that create diagonal perspective lines. These lines are called ‘leading lines’ and direct us to the focal point of this painting, which is a portrait of Taratoa. They also lead our eyes past him and make us look at the background. This helps to convey Taratoa’s message that one’s identity is linked to social circumstance, upbringing (background) and popular culture.  Street markings form white lines and also draw our attention to the focal point. Street markings represent paths and therefore they may be paths to finding and constructing ones identity. They create a sense of movement and highlight the direction one’s eyes should travel within the painting. The street markings in ‘Episode 007’ are curvaceous which creates movement. The curvy lines mirror the organic forms of the superhero’s muscular body, creating a visual link. In ‘Episode 0010’ the repetition of line of the zebra crossing creates a sense of rhythm and leads us to the portrait of Taratoa in the left corner. Horizontal lines are repeated in the background of the painting to unite separate parts of the painting.

As well as the aesthetic qualities discussed above, most students also include sections where they analyse artwork in terms of materials, processes, stylistic influences, techniques (use of media) . For some, this is the primary focus of the Personal Study. This might include analysis of the way an artist has applied paint to a canvas (mark-making, brush strokes), the sequence of building up layers of paint over a prepared ground, or the sequence of events involved in creating a graphic design: from conceptual sketches, development of ideas, construction in Photoshop, through to proofing, paper selection and final printing. It might involve discussion about the way a composition is planned and designed and then the various processes that are undertaken in its completion. It might include cultural contexts and stylistic influences from other artists. In any sections of the Personal Study which are dedicated to process and technique, it is important to note (as mentioned above) that the examiners do not want the regurgitation of long, technical processes, but rather would like to see personal observations about how processes effect and influence the artwork that has been created.

In all analysis of artwork, whether this involves discussion of composition, aesthetic qualities, cultural contexts, use of media, or approach to a theme, it is important that students move beyond simple observations and add perceptive, personal insight. For example, if a student notices that colour has been used to create strong contrast in certain areas of an artwork, they might follow this with a detailed and thoughtful assumption about why this is the case: for example, perhaps the contrast was created deliberately to draw attention to a focal point in the artwork, helping the artist to help convey thematic ideas. These personal insights could be backed up by earlier research, confirmed or suggested by the artist, or might be educated assumptions made by the student, based upon their own responses and personal interaction with the artwork.

Some final recommendations are included below:

• ‘Analysis of artwork’ does not mean ‘description of artwork’ . Analysis means taking an artwork apart (thinking about it in terms of individual elements, such as line, or colour or technique), analysing these individually and/or in terms of how they relate to one another, and making personal observations and judgements, connecting this to the theme or focus of the assignment.
• Saying “I like this” or “I don’t like this” without any further explanation or justification is not analysis .
• Writing should be carefully integrated with the images , so that it is clear which text relates to which images (this will be discussed more in the subsequent post).

Alice Ham, a Year 13 student at  ACG Parnell College  (awarded 100% for her Personal Study) has produced some excellent analysis of artwork by  Liam Gerrard :

In most works (the exception usually applies to those done in commission) the focus of the piece is centred, surrounded by empty space and never grounded through shadow or the like. This is another way in which Gerrard plays with commonly held opinions. Typically, a most aesthetically pleasing composition will follow the rule of thirds – a well known ‘rule’ that correlates to the focus of artworks being offset within the composition, and the entire image being visually divided into 3 sections. Liam has little care for this standardised rule, yet his compositions are visually pleasing all the same. I believe this could be because of the negative space, there is no overcrowding and it allows the viewer to focus on the subject. I also think this space is played upon in the display of the artwork. Galleries in general will have white or very light coloured walls so as not to distract from what is on display. By placing these white canvases on the white walls, hung without obvious framing, the artwork is allowed to ‘flow’ into the viewer’s world, there is no line of separation. This forces the viewer to study Gerrard’s pieces, and perhaps consider the personal message they address for the viewer in everyday life.

Some of the text above has been reproduced here to aid ease of reading:

The expression on the pig’s face is perhaps what would draw the viewer into this picture the most. It directly contradicts the gruesome depiction of decapitation and appears almost to be laughing. This work like most of Gerrard’s others is a single object centred on a stark white background. The amount of empty space in this picture is very eye catching and directs the viewer’s vision inwards, there is no chance of distraction by details in a menial part of the work. Once again Gerrard uses charcoal in his personal style, leaving the artwork in black and white. This lack of colour is cold, it presents the reality of the grisly scene without the embellishment of colours. This does not allow the audience to be caught up in what is ‘pretty’ but forces them to take in every details in it’s highly realistic, and perhaps disturbing, state. The shock factor of this piece is emphasised ten- fold by the sheer size. It cannot be realised until you view this piece in reality, but being dwarfed looking up into a pig’s head captured mid laugh brings upon you a bizarre sense of fascination.

9. Explain the relationship to Coursework (if appropriate)

As explained in the previous post about topic selection, it is no longer necessary that the Personal Study relate to a student’s Coursework project. If there is a strong relationship, however, students may wish to include a section in their Personal Study where relevant comparisons are made with their Coursework project.

10. Don’t exceed the word count

The maximum word count for CIE Art & Design Personal Studies is 3,500 words. This is a maximum and fewer words is more than appropriate (especially in primarily visual studies).

If a student is slightly over the word count, this is unlikely to be an issue (it is rare that examiners would know your exact word count, as no-one is likely to count every word in a project from start to finish); however, if a student is significantly over the word limit, this is obvious and a problem, running the risk that the examiners will run out of time (or enthusiasm) to read your project in its entirety. Almost all cases of word count breaches come from students who have attempted to bulk up their study with unnecessary information from second-hand sources. If you are encroaching the word limit, you should immediately ensure that you have not included supplementary research material or unnecessary information summarised from textbooks. If you are still battling with the word count and inclusion of material from second-hand sources is not an issue, you should re-edit your project, eliminating waffle, and ensuring you communicate succinctly.

Final Notes

I encourage teachers to locate and print the excerpts from Personal Studies that are included in the 9704 Standards booklet on the CIE Teachers’ password protected site , which can be downloaded as a PDF document from the A Level Art & Design page. This document is invaluable.

Finally, we are actively looking for more examples of high achieving Personal Studies to share on the Student Art Guide. If you or someone you know someone who excelled in this Component, please read our submission guidelines for more information.

If you found this information helpful, you may wish to read the previous article in this series: How to select a great A2 Art Personal Study Topic  or our overview of the CIE A Level Art: Personal Study .

Amiria has been an Art & Design teacher and a Curriculum Co-ordinator for seven years, responsible for the course design and assessment of student work in two high-achieving Auckland schools. She has a Bachelor of Architectural Studies, Bachelor of Architecture (First Class Honours) and a Graduate Diploma of Teaching. Amiria is a CIE Accredited Art & Design Coursework Assessor.

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August 24, 2015 2 Comments

10 Artworks Perfect for an Art Criticism Lesson

Through my many years of teaching, I’ve accumulated a nice list of artworks that are perfect to discuss with students and teach them how to analyze art. These artworks spark lots of interesting ideas, have easy to notice design choices that contribute to the meaning and always lead to a great art criticism discussion (or a great student-written essay) with the students.

These artworks are great for high school and college students, but many work for elementary and middle as well. You can use your judgment to decide what works best for your students.

The Four Steps of Art Criticism Lesson Plan

I created this list for my lesson on the art criticism steps available for sale. The Four Steps of Art Criticism lesson teaches students how to analyze art through the art criticism steps of description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation. This resource includes a lesson outline (pdf), a PowerPoint, a written assignment instructions handout (pdf and editable .doc), a quiz (pdf and editable .doc), and a list of artworks including (but not limited to) the ones below. Buy it now for $14 , and use it in your classroom tomorrow!

This lesson covers the four steps of art criticism using artworks. Explore description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation with your students using engaging activities and examples.

Ten Artworks Perfect for Art Criticism with Students

Most of these are not in the public domain. I have included small thumbnails for your reference. Click the picture to view a larger image.

Marc Chagall, Young Girl in Pursuit , ca. 1927-28

This one is so simple and straight-forward, but it always sparks the imagination of the students.

Questions to Ask: How does this artwork make you feel? What choices does the artist make to make you feel that? Who is this woman? Why is there a woman in her hair? What is the meaning of this artwork?

Salvador Dalí, Persistence of Memory , 1931

Everyone knows this one. I read some study one time that said Salvador Dalí was the most recognized artist name among people interviewed on the street. I found that to be fascinating. From the melting clocks to the sleeping head, to the ants crawling all over the pocket watch, to is that a snake coming out of his nose?, this one has a lot for students to unpack.

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John Feodorov, Animal Spirit Channeling Device for the Contemporary Shaman , 1963

I wrote more about this one on the post: 5 Artworks to Intrigue your High Schooler .

Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas , 1939

This one is also on 5 Artworks to Intrigue your High Schooler . Read more there. 🙂

Edvard Munch, Separation , 1896

Students love coming up with stories about this one. He is having a heart attack, and the woman is an angel taking him away. The woman is the ghost of his wife who has passed. And more, lots of great stories. The artist’s use of line, color, and contrast adds meaning to the student’s interpretations.

Luis Felipe Noé, Cerrado por brujería [Closed by Sorcery] , 1963

This is one of my all time top artworks to discuss with students. I usually show it on the first day of class in my community college art appreciation class. I wrote a whole post about it here .

Pablo Picasso, Girl before a Mirror , 1932

This painting made me weep when I saw it the first time. It’s stunning in person. Read more about it on 5 Artworks that Promote Introspection . This is a great one to have students write about at the beginning of class.

Lawrence Beall Smith, Don’t Let That Shadow Touch Them , 1942

I love connecting history and art. I include this piece of propaganda art on one of my tests for students to write about. You would be surprised how many students don’t recognize the swastika. In addition to discussing the power images have on our feelings and decision, the historical significance of the image is an important discussion to have with the students.

George Tooker, The Subway , 1950

Creepy, suspicious men and multiple perspectives make this one a fun one to talk about with students. The lone, solitary woman with the concerned expression makes us think, and why is she holding her stomach? Lots to talk about.

Kara Walker, Darkytown Rebellion , 2001

This one has some sensitive subject matter. I wouldn’t hesitate to use this for a college class, but only you can decide if it works for your students. I actually got in an argument with one of my friends in front of one of Kara Walker’s artworks like this one. I love art that sparks opinion and discussion. I don’t shy away from big topics in my classroom. Art opens up important dialogues, so I think it is important to let those happen in the classroom. After students look and figure out what is going on through art criticism, we discuss the element of the projection and how the viewer can become a part of the art by standing in between the light and the wall. It leads to some interesting thoughts.

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Reader Interactions

September 4, 2015 at 1:24 pm

Hello I enjoy you art lessons. I teach three year old students and I would like to know how to show them art and I would like to know how to ask the correct questions to help them think about art. Any help would be lovely. Nancy

September 4, 2015 at 6:38 pm

Hi Nancy! Here are some of my posts that might help you: How to Look at Art with Toddlers and Preschoolers , A video of me talking about art with my 2yo , 10 Activities to Engage with Works of Art , Another Video of me talking with my 2yo about art , and How to Look at Art with Kids . Hope this helps! 🙂

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By Will Fenstermaker

June 14, 2017

There has never been a time when art critics held more power than during the second half of the twentieth century. Following the Second World War, with the relocation of the world’s artistic epicenter from Paris to New York, a different kind of war was waged in the pages of magazines across the country. As part of the larger “culture wars” of the mid-century, art critics began to take on greater influence than they’d ever held before. For a time, two critics in particular—who began as friends, and remained in the same social circles for much of their lives—set the stakes of the debates surrounding the maturation of American art that would continue for decades. The ideas about art outlined by Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg are still debated today, and the extent to which they were debated in the past has shaped entire movements of the arts. Below are ten works of criticism through which one can trace the mainstreaming of Clement Greenberg’s formalist theory, and how its dismantling led us into institutional critique and conceptual art today.

The American Action Painters

Harold Rosenberg

Harold Rosenberg, a poet who came to art through his involvement with the Artist’s Union and the WPA, was introduced to Jean-Paul Sartre as the “first American existentialist.” Soon, Rosenberg became a contributor to Sartre’s publication in France, for which he first drafted his influential essay. However, when Sartre supported Soviet aggression against Korea, Rosenberg brought his essay to Elaine de Kooning , then the editor of ARTnews , who ran “The American Action Painters” in December, 1952.

RELATED: What Did Harold Rosenberg Do? An Introduction to the Champion of “Action Painting”

Rosenberg’s essay on the emerging school of American Painters omitted particular names—because they’d have been unfamiliar to its original French audience—but it was nonetheless extraordinarily influential for the burgeoning scene of post-WWII American artists. Jackson Pollock claimed to be the influence of “action painting,” despite Rosenberg’s rumored lack of respect for the artist because Pollock wasn’t particularly well-read. Influenced by Marxist theory and French existentialism, Rosenberg conceives of a painting as an “arena,” in which the artist acts upon, wrestles, or otherwise engages with the canvas, in what ultimately amounts to an expressive record of a struggle. “What was to go on the canvas,” Rosenberg wrote, “was not a picture but an event.”

Notable Quote

Weak mysticism, the “Christian Science” side of the new movement, tends … toward easy painting—never so many unearned masterpieces! Works of this sort lack the dialectical tension of a genuine act, associated with risk and will. When a tube of paint is squeezed by the Absolute, the result can only be a Success. The painter need keep himself on hand solely to collect the benefits of an endless series of strokes of luck. His gesture completes itself without arousing either an opposing movement within itself nor the desire in the artist to make the act more fully his own. Satisfied with wonders that remain safely inside the canvas, the artist accepts the permanence of the commonplace and decorates it with his own daily annihilation. The result is an apocalyptic wallpaper.

‘American-Type’ Painting

Clement Greenberg

Throughout the preceding decade, Clement Greenberg, also a former poet, had established a reputation as a leftist critic through his writings with The Partisan Review —a publication run by the John Reed Club, a New York City-centered organization affiliated with the American Communist Party—and his time as an art critic with The Nation . In 1955, The Partisan Review published Greenberg’s “‘American-Type’ Painting,” in which the critic defined the now-ubiquitous term “abstract expressionism.”

RELATED: What Did Clement Greenberg Do? A Primer on the Powerful AbEx Theorist’s Key Ideas

In contrast to Rosenberg’s conception of painting as a performative act, Greenberg’s theory, influenced by Clive Bell and T. S. Eliot, was essentially a formal one—in fact, it eventually evolved into what would be called “formalism.” Greenberg argued that the evolution of painting was one of historical determinacy—that ever since the Renaissance, pictures moved toward flatness, and the painted line moved away from representation. Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso were two of the landmarks of this view. Pollock, who exhibited his drip paintings in 1951, freeing the line from figuration, was for Greenberg the pinnacle of American Modernism, the most important artist since Picasso. (Pollock’s paintings exhibited in 1954, with which he returned to semi-representational form, were regarded by Greenberg as a regression. This lead him to adopt Barnett Newman as his new poster-boy, despite the artist’s possessing vastly different ideas on the nature of painting. For one, Greenberg mostly ignored the Biblical titles of Newman’s paintings.)

Greenberg’s formalist theories were immensely influential over the subsequent decades. Artforum in particular grew into a locus for formalist discourse, which had the early effect of providing an aesthetic toolkit divorced from politic. Certain curators of the Museum of Modern Art, particularly William Rubin, Kirk Varnedoe, and to an extent Alfred Barr are credited for steering the museum in an essentially formalist direction. Some painters, such as Frank Stella , Helen Frankenthaler , and Kenneth Noland, had even been accused of illustrating Greenberg’s theories (and those of Michael Fried, a prominent Greenbergian disciple) in attempt to embody the theory, which was restrictive in its failure to account for narrative content, figuration, identity, politics, and more. In addition, Greenberg’s theories proved well-suited for a burgeoning art market, which found connoisseurship an easy sell. (As the writer Mary McCarthy said, “You can’t hang an event on your wall.”) In fact, the dominance of the term “abstract expressionism” over “action painting,” which seemed more applicable to Pollock and Willem de Kooning than any other members of the New York School, is emblematic of the influence of formalist discourse.

The justification for the term, “abstract expressionist,” lies in the fact that most of the painters covered by it took their lead from German, Russian, or Jewish expressionism in breaking away from late Cubist abstract art. But they all started from French painting, for their fundamental sense of style from it, and still maintain some sort of continuity with it. Not least of all, they got from it their most vivid notion of an ambitious, major art, and of the general direction in which it had to go in their time.

Barbara Rose

Like many critics in the 1950s and 60s, Barbara Rose had clearly staked her allegiance to one camp or the other. She was, firmly, a formalist, and along with Fried and Rosalind Krauss is largely credited with expanding the theory beyond abstract expressionist painting. By 1965, however, Rose recognized a limitation of the theory as outlined by Greenberg—that it was reductionist and only capable of account for a certain style of painting, and not much at all in other mediums.

RELATED: The Intellectual Origins Of Minimalism

In “ABC Art,” published in Art in America where Rose was a contributing editor, Rose opens up formalism to encompass sculpture, which Greenberg was largely unable to account for. The simple idea that art moves toward flatness and abstraction leads, for Rose, into Minimalism, and “ABC Art” is often considered the first landmark essay on Minimalist art. By linking the Minimalist sculptures of artists like Donald Judd to the Russian supremacist paintings of Kasimir Malevich and readymades of Duchamp, she extends the determinist history that formalism relies on into sculpture and movements beyond abstract expressionism.

I do not agree with critic Michael Fried’s view that Duchamp, at any rate, was a failed Cubist. Rather, the inevitability of a logical evolution toward a reductive art was obvious to them already. For Malevich, the poetic Slav, this realization forced a turning inward toward an inspirational mysticism, whereas for Duchamp, the rational Frenchman, it meant a fatigue so enervating that finally the wish to paint at all was killed. Both the yearnings of Malevich’s Slavic soul and the deductions of Duchamp’s rationalist mind led both men ultimately to reject and exclude from their work many of the most cherished premises of Western art in favor of an art stripped to its bare, irreducible minimum.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Philip Leider

Despite the rhetorical tendency to suggest the social upheaval of the '60s ended with the actual decade, 1970 remained a year of unrest. And Artforum was still the locus of formalist criticism, which was proving increasingly unable to account for art that contributed to larger cultural movements, like Civil Rights, women’s liberation, anti-war protests, and more. (Tellingly, The Partisan Review , which birthed formalism, had by then distanced itself from its communist associations and, as an editorial body, was supportive of American Interventionism in Vietnam. Greenberg was a vocal hawk.) Subtitled “Art and Politics in Nevada, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Utah,” the editor’s note to the September 1970 issue of Artforum , written by Philip Leider, ostensibly recounts a road trip undertaken with Richard Serra and Abbie Hoffman to see Michael Heizer’s Double Negative in the Nevada desert.

RELATED: A City of Art in the Desert: Behind Michael Heizer’s Monumental Visions for Nevada

However, the essay is also an account of an onsetting disillusion with formalism, which Leider found left him woefully unequipped to process the protests that had erupted surrounding an exhibition of prints by Paul Wunderlich at the Phoenix Gallery in Berkeley. Wunderlich’s depictions of nude women were shown concurrently to an exhibition of drawings sold to raise money for Vietnamese orphans. The juxtaposition of a canonical, patriarchal form of representation and liberal posturing, to which the protestors objected, showcased the limitations of a methodology that placed the aesthetic elements of a picture plane far above the actual world in which it existed. Less than a year later, Leider stepped down as editor-in-chief and Artforum began to lose its emphasis on late Modernism.

I thought the women were probably with me—if they were, I was with them. I thought the women were picketing the show because it was reactionary art. To the women, [Piet] Mondrian must be a great revolutionary artist. Abstract art broke all of those chains thirty years ago! What is a Movement gallery showing dumb stuff like this for? But if it were just a matter of reactionary art , why would the women picket it? Why not? Women care as much about art as men do—maybe more. The question is, why weren’t the men right there with them?

Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?

Linda Nochlin

While Artforum , in its early history, had established a reputation as a generator for formalist theory, ARTnews had followed a decidedly more Rosenberg-ian course, emphasizing art as a practice for investigating the world. The January 1971 issue of the magazine was dedicated to “Women’s Liberation, Woman Artists, and Art History” and included an iconoclastic essay by Linda Nochlin titled “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”

RELATED: An Introduction to Feminist Art

Nochlin notes that it’s tempting to answer the question “why have there been no great women artists?” by listing examples of those overlooked by critical and institutional organizations (a labor that Nochlin admits has great merit). However, she notes, “by attempting to answer it, they tacitly reinforce its negative implications,” namely that women are intrinsically less capable of achieving artistic merit than men. Instead, Nochlin’s essay functions as a critique of art institutions, beginning with European salons, which were structured in such a way as to deter women from rising to the highest echelons. Nochlin’s essay is considered the beginning of modern feminist art history and a textbook example of institutional critique.

There are no women equivalents for Michelangelo or Rembrandt, Delacroix or Cézanne, Picasso or Matisse, or even in very recent times, for de Kooning or Warhol, any more than there are black American equivalents for the same. If there actually were large numbers of “hidden” great women artists, or if there really should be different standards for women’s art as opposed to men’s—and one can’t have it both ways—then what are feminists fighting for? If women have in fact achieved the same status as men in the arts, then the status quo is fine as it is. But in actuality, as we all know, things as they are and as they have been, in the arts as in a hundred other areas, are stultifying, oppressive, and discouraging to all those, women among them, who did not have the good fortune to be born white, preferably middle class and above all, male. The fault lies not in our stars, our hormones, our menstrual cycles, or our empty internal spaces, but in our institutions and our education.

Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief

Thomas McEvilley

One of the many extrapolations of Nochlin’s essay is that contemporary museum institutions continue to reflect the gendered and racist biases of preceding centuries by reinforcing the supremacy of specific master artists. In a 1984 Artforum review, Thomas McEvilley, a classicist new to the world of contemporary art, made the case that the Museum of Modern Art in New York served as an exclusionary temple to certain high-minded Modernists—namely, Picasso, Matisse, and Pollock—who, in fact, took many of their innovations from native cultures.

RELATED: MoMA Curator Laura Hoptman on How to Tell a Good Painting From a “Bogus” Painting

In 1984, MoMA organized a blockbuster exhibition. Curated by William Rubin and Kirk Varnedoe, both of whom were avowed formalists, “‘Primitivism’ in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern” collected works by European painters like Paul Gaugin and Picasso with cultural artifacts from Zaire, arctic communities, and elsewhere. McEvilley takes aim at the “the absolutist view of formalist Modernism” in which MoMA is rooted. He argues that the removal tribal artifacts from their contexts (for example, many were ritual items intended for ceremonies, not display) and placement of them, unattributed, near works by European artists, censors the cultural contributions of non-Western civilizations in deference to an idealized European genius.

The fact that the primitive “looks like” the Modern is interpreted as validating the Modern by showing that its values are universal, while at the same time projecting it—and with it MoMA—into the future as a permanent canon. A counter view is possible: that primitivism on the contrary invalidates Modernism by showing it to be derivative and subject to external causation. At one level this show undertakes precisely to coopt that question by answering it before it has really been asked, and by burying it under a mass of information.

Please Wait By the Coatroom

Not content to let MoMA and the last vestiges of formalism off the hook yet, John Yau wrote in 1988 an essay on Wifredo Lam, a Cuban painter who lived and worked in Paris among Picasso, Matisse, Georges Braque, and others. Noting Lam’s many influences—his Afro-Cuban mother, Chinese father, and Yoruba godmother—Yau laments the placement of Lam’s The Jungle near the coatroom in the Museum of Modern Art, as opposed to within the Modernist galleries several floors above. The painting was accompanied by a brief entry written by former curator William Rubin, who, Yau argues, adopted Greenberg’s theories because they endowed him with “a connoisseur’s lens with which one can scan all art.”

RELATED: From Cuba With Love: Artist Bill Claps on the Island’s DIY Art Scene

Here, as with with McEvilley’s essay, Yau illustrates how formalism, as adapted by museum institutions, became a (perhaps unintentional) method for reinforcing the exclusionary framework that Nochlin argued excluded women and black artists for centuries.

Rubin sees in Lam only what is in his own eyes: colorless or white artists. For Lam to have achieved the status of unique individual, he would have had to successfully adapt to the conditions of imprisonment (the aesthetic standards of a fixed tradition) Rubin and others both construct and watch over. To enter this prison, which takes the alluring form of museums, art history textbooks, galleries, and magazines, an individual must suppress his cultural differences and become a colorless ghost. The bind every hybrid American artist finds themselves in is this: should they try and deal with the constantly changing polymorphous conditions effecting identity, tradition, and reality? Or should they assimilate into the mainstream art world by focusing on approved-of aesthetic issues? Lam’s response to this bind sets an important precedent. Instead of assimilating, Lam infiltrates the syntactical rules of “the exploiters” with his own specific language. He becomes, as he says, “a Trojan horse.”

Black Culture and Postmodernism

Cornel West

The opening up of cultural discourse did not mean that it immediately made room for voices of all dimensions. Cornel West notes as much in his 1989 essay “Black Culture and Postmodernism,” in which he argues that postmodernism, much like Modernism before it, remains primarily ahistorical, which makes it difficult for “oppressed peoples to exercise their opposition to hierarchies of power.” West’s position is that the proliferation of theory and criticism that accompanied the rise of postmodernism provided mechanisms by which black culture could “be conversant with and, to a degree, participants in the debate.” Without their voices, postmodernism would remain yet another exclusionary movements.

RELATED: Kerry James Marshall on Painting Blackness as a Noun Vs. Verb

As the consumption cycle of advanced multinational corporate capitalism was sped up in order to sustain the production of luxury goods, cultural production became more and more mass-commodity production. The stress here is not simply on the new and fashionable but also on the exotic and primitive. Black cultural products have historically served as a major source for European and Euro-American exotic interests—interests that issue from a healthy critique of the mechanistic, puritanical, utilitarian, and productivity aspects of modern life.

Minimalism and the Rhetoric of Power

Anna C. Chave

In recent years, formalist analysis has been deployed as a single tool within a more varied approach to art. Its methodology—that of analyzing a picture as an isolated phenomena—remains prevalent, and has its uses. Yet, many of the works and movements that rose to prominence under formalist critics and curators, in no small part because of their institutional acceptance, have since become part of the rearguard rather than the vanguard.

In a 1990 essay for Arts Magazine , Anna Chave analyzes how Minimalist sculpture possesses a “domineering, sometimes brutal rhetoric” that was aligned with “both the American military in Vietnam, and the police at home in the streets and on university campuses across the country.” In particular, Chave is concerned with the way Minimalist sculptures define themselves through a process of negation. Of particular relevance to Chave’s argument are the massive steel sculptures by Minimalist artist Richard Serra.

Tilted Arc was installed in Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan in 1981. Chave describes the work as a “mammoth, perilously tilted steel arc [that] formed a divisive barrier too tall to see over, and a protracted trip to walk around.” She writes, “it is more often the case with Serra that his work doesn’t simply exemplify aggression or domination, but acts it out.” Tilted Arc was so controversial upon its erecting that the General Services Administration, which commissioned the work, held hearings in response to petitions demanding the work be removed. Worth quoting at length, Chave writes:

A predictable defense of Serra’s work was mounted by critics, curators, dealers, collectors, and some fellow artists…. The principle arguments mustered on Serra’s behalf were old ones concerning the nature and function of the avant-garde…. What Rubin and Serra’s other supporters declined to ask is whether the sculptor really is, in the most meaningful sense of the term, an avant-garde artist. Being avant-garde implies being ahead of, outside, or against the dominant culture; proffering a vision that implicitly stands (at least when it is conceived) as a critique of entrenched forms and structures…. But Serra’s work is securely embedded within the system: when the brouhaha over Arc was at its height, he was enjoying a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art…. [The defense’s] arguments locate Serra not with the vanguard but with the standing army or “status quo.” … More thoughtful, sensible, and eloquent testimony at the hearing came instead from some of the uncouth:

My name is Danny Katz and I work in this building as a clerk. My friend Vito told me this morning that I am a philistine. Despite that I am getting up to speak…. I don’t think this issue should be elevated into a dispute between the forces of ignorance and art, or art versus government. I really blame government less because it has long ago outgrown its human dimension. But from the artists I expected a lot more. I didn’t expect to hear them rely on the tired and dangerous reasoning that the government has made a deal, so let the rabble live with the steel because it’s a deal. That kind of mentality leads to wars. We had a deal with Vietnam. I didn’t expect to hear the arrogant position that art justifies interference with the simple joys of human activity in a plaza. It’s not a great plaza by international standards, but it is a small refuge and place of revival for people who ride to work in steel containers, work in sealed rooms, and breathe recirculated air all day. Is the purpose of art in public places to seal off a route of escape, to stress the absence of joy and hope? I can’t believe this was the artistic intention, yet to my sadness this for me has become the dominant effect of the work, and it’s all the fault of its position and location. I can accept anything in art, but I can’t accept physical assault and complete destruction of pathetic human activity. No work of art created with a contempt for ordinary humanity and without respect for the common element of human experience can be great. It will always lack dimension.

The terms Katz associated with Serra’s project include arrogance and contempt, assault, and destruction; he saw the Minimalist idiom, in other words, as continuous with the master discourse of our imperious and violent technocracy.

The End of Art

Arthur Danto

Like Greenberg, Arthur Danto was an art critic for The Nation . However, Danto was overtly critical of Greenberg’s ideology and the influence he wielded over Modern and contemporary art. Nor was he a follower of Harold Rosenberg, though they shared influences, among them the phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Danto’s chief contribution to contemporary art was his advancing of Pop Artists, particularly Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein .

In “The End of Art” Danto argues that society at large determines and accepts art, which no longer progresses linearly, categorized by movements. Instead, viewers each possess a theory or two, which they use to interpret works, and art institutions are largely tasked with developing, testing, and modifying various interpretive methods. In this way, art differs little from philosophy. After decades of infighting regarding the proper way to interpret works of art, Danto essentially sanctioned each approach and the institutions that gave rise to them. He came to call this “pluralism.”

RELATED: What Was the Pictures Generation?

Similarly, in “Painting, Politics, and Post-Historical Art,” Danto makes the case for an armistice between formalism and the various theories that arose in opposition, noting that postmodern critics like Douglas Crimp in the 1980s, who positioned themselves against formalism, nonetheless adopted the same constrictive air, minus the revolutionary beginnings.

Modernist critical practice was out of phase with what was happening in the art world itself in the late 60s and through the 1970s. It remained the basis for most critical practice, especially on the part of the curatoriat, and the art-history professoriat as well, to the degree that it descended to criticism. It became the language of the museum panel, the catalog essay, the article in the art periodical. It was a daunting paradigm, and it was the counterpart in discourse to the “broadening of taste” which reduced art of all cultures and times to its formalist skeleton, and thus, as I phrased it, transformed every museum into a Museum of Modern Art, whatever that museum’s contents. It was the stable of the docent’s gallery talk and the art appreciation course—and it was replaced, not totally but massively, by the postmodernist discourse that was imported from Paris in the late 70s, in the texts of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jean Baudrillard, Jean-François Lyotard, and Jacques Lacan, and of the French feminists Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigaray. That is the discourse [Douglas] Crimp internalizes, and it came to be lingua artspeak everywhere. Like modernist discourse, it applied to everything, so that there was room for deconstructive and “archeological” discussion of art of every period.

Editor’s Note: This list was drawn in part from a 2014 seminar taught by Debra Bricker Balken in the MFA program in Art Writing at the School of Visual Arts titled Critical Strategies: Late Modernism/Postmodernism. Additional sources can be found here , here , here (paywall), and here . Also relevant are reviews of the 2008 exhibition at the Jewish Museum, “Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940–1976,” notably those by Roberta Smith , Peter Schjeldahl , and Martha Schwendener .

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The 10 Essays That Changed Art Criticism Forever

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Essay on I Want To Be An Artist

Students are often asked to write an essay on I Want To Be An Artist in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on I Want To Be An Artist

My dream to be an artist.

I dream of being an artist. I love to draw and paint, creating pictures that show my feelings and ideas. When I hold a brush or a pencil, I feel free and happy, like I can make anything.

Colors and Imagination

Colors are like magic to me. With them, I can make dull things bright and bring my imagination to life. Every color tells a story, and I want to use them to tell mine.

Sharing My Art

I want to share my art with others. When people see my work, I hope they feel joy and wonder. Being an artist isn’t just about making art; it’s about touching hearts.

250 Words Essay on I Want To Be An Artist

My dream of being an artist.

Ever since I was a little child, I have always loved making things with my hands. Drawing with crayons, painting with watercolors, and shaping clay into funny figures filled my heart with joy. This joy is why I want to be an artist when I grow up. Artists can use colors, shapes, and imagination to share their feelings and stories with the world.

The Magic of Art

Art is like magic. With just a pencil and paper, an artist can create a picture that makes people feel happy, sad, or even scared. Being an artist means you can take what is in your mind and make it real for others to see. It’s a way of talking without using words. This is powerful because it can bring people together from all over the world, no matter what language they speak.

Learning and Growing

To become a good artist, I know I must practice a lot. I will need to learn from teachers and from other artists who have made beautiful things. It’s important to keep trying, even when it’s hard, and to learn from mistakes. Every artist started as a beginner, and they got better by not giving up.

I dream of the day when I can share my art with others. Maybe my paintings will hang in a gallery, or my drawings will be in a book. I want to make art that will make others think and feel something special. I believe that being an artist will not only make me happy but also allow me to bring a little bit of happiness to others.

In short, I want to be an artist because it’s a way to spread joy and connect with people. It’s a journey I am excited to begin.

500 Words Essay on I Want To Be An Artist

My dream to become an artist.

Everyone has a dream about what they want to be when they grow up. My dream is to become an artist. An artist is someone who creates art, like paintings, drawings, sculptures, or even digital art on a computer. I love the idea of being able to share my thoughts and feelings through colors and shapes.

Why I Love Art

Art is special to me because it does not need words. You can look at a picture or a sculpture and feel happy, sad, or excited without anyone telling you what to feel. When I draw or paint, I forget about everything else and just focus on my art. It’s like magic, how a blank piece of paper can turn into something beautiful.

What Kind of Artist I Want to Be

There are many types of artists, and I am still trying to find out what type I want to be. Some artists paint big pictures that hang in museums. Others make cartoons or work on movies. I think I would like to try a bit of everything before I choose. Right now, I enjoy drawing animals and nature the most.

Learning to Be an Artist

To be an artist, I know I need to learn and practice a lot. I take art classes at school and watch videos online to learn new ways to make art. I also visit museums and art shows to see what other artists make. Every piece of art I see teaches me something new.

Challenges of Being an Artist

Being an artist is not always easy. Sometimes, it’s hard to make a picture look the way I want it to. Other times, I run out of ideas. But I think these challenges are part of being an artist. They help me grow and become better. And when I finally finish a piece of art that I am proud of, it feels amazing.

Sharing My Art with Others

One of my favorite things is to show my art to my family and friends. When they see my work and smile, it makes me very happy. In the future, I hope to share my art with more people. Maybe I can sell my art or have it in a gallery so that others can enjoy it too.

I have a long way to go before I become the artist I dream of being. But every day, I work on my art and get a little bit better. I know that with time, patience, and lots of practice, I can make my dream come true. And one day, I hope to inspire someone else just like I am inspired by so many artists around the world.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Dream To Become A Nurse
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• Essay on Imperialism

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Compositional Unity

This essay about the concept of compositional unity in writing. It explores how authors blend various elements seamlessly to create cohesive narratives. Through careful attention to detail, structure, and style, writers ensure that every aspect of their writing contributes to the overall message or theme. The essay emphasizes the importance of maintaining consistency in tone, style, and the use of literary devices such as symbolism and imagery to enhance the reader’s experience. Ultimately, mastering compositional unity is crucial for crafting compelling and impactful works of literature.

How it works

Compositional unity is the cornerstone of any well-crafted piece of writing, be it a novel, an essay, or a poem. It encompasses the art of seamlessly blending various elements together to create a cohesive and harmonious whole. Achieving compositional unity requires careful attention to detail, a keen understanding of structure and pacing, and a commitment to coherence throughout the narrative.

At its core, compositional unity revolves around the idea of ensuring that every aspect of the writing contributes to the overall message or theme.

This means that every sentence, paragraph, and section should serve a purpose, whether it be advancing the plot, developing a character, or conveying a particular emotion or idea. Extraneous details or tangents that do not directly contribute to the central focus of the piece should be avoided, as they can disrupt the flow and coherence of the narrative.

One of the key techniques used to achieve compositional unity is through careful structuring and organization. This involves establishing a clear beginning, middle, and end, as well as creating smooth transitions between different sections or chapters. By structuring the writing in this way, the author can guide the reader through the narrative in a logical and coherent manner, helping to maintain their engagement and interest from start to finish.

In addition to structure, another important aspect of compositional unity is the use of consistent style and tone throughout the writing. This means maintaining a consistent voice, perspective, and level of formality, as well as ensuring that the language and imagery used are appropriate for the intended audience and genre. Consistency in style and tone helps to create a sense of cohesion and coherence, allowing the reader to immerse themselves more fully in the world of the narrative.

Furthermore, effective use of symbolism, imagery, and motif can also contribute to compositional unity by reinforcing key themes or ideas throughout the writing. By weaving these elements subtly throughout the narrative, the author can create layers of meaning and depth that enrich the reader’s experience and enhance their understanding of the text. However, it is important to use these literary devices judiciously, avoiding heavy-handed or excessive use that can distract from the central focus of the piece.

In conclusion, compositional unity is essential for creating compelling and impactful writing. By carefully blending elements such as structure, style, and symbolism, authors can craft narratives that are cohesive, coherent, and engaging from start to finish. Whether writing a novel, an essay, or a poem, mastering the art of compositional unity is key to creating works that resonate with readers and stand the test of time.

Cite this page

Compositional Unity. (2024, Apr 07). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/compositional-unity/

"Compositional Unity." PapersOwl.com , 7 Apr 2024, https://papersowl.com/examples/compositional-unity/

PapersOwl.com. (2024). Compositional Unity . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/compositional-unity/ [Accessed: 12 Apr. 2024]

"Compositional Unity." PapersOwl.com, Apr 07, 2024. Accessed April 12, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/compositional-unity/

"Compositional Unity," PapersOwl.com , 07-Apr-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/compositional-unity/. [Accessed: 12-Apr-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). Compositional Unity . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/compositional-unity/ [Accessed: 12-Apr-2024]

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Eskenazi Museum of Art Wins Three Awards for Recent Publications

Thursday, April 11, 2024

The Eskenazi Museum of Art is pleased to share that three of its recent publications have won the following awards from the Midwest Art History Society Catalogue Competition:

Form and Surface: African Ceramics from the Collection of William M. Itter is a dual winner in the category of Outstanding Thematic Exhibition Catalogue. The co-winner is Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Imperial Colors: The Roman Portrait Busts of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna is a dual winner in the category of Outstanding Catalogue with Emphasis on Museum and Private Collections. The co-winner is Nineteenth-Century French Drawings by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Samia Halaby: Centers of Energy won Outstanding Monograph.  

Last year was a productive one for publications at the Eskenazi Museum of Art. As with every endeavor the museum undertakes, these wonderful books would not have been possible without the contributions of many staff members. The museum particularly wishes to acknowledge its curators, Allison Martino, Juliet Istrabadi, and Leila Reichert, whose scholarship served as the foundation for this amazing recognition. Julie Ribits performed a number of treatments on works included in the books. Photographer Shanti Knight provided the beautiful images, with valuable contributions from our registrar and installation teams. And the museum's development colleagues worked diligently to raise necessary funds in support of these projects.

Of the awards, Mariah Keller, Director of Creative Services, said "I am very proud of how far our publications program has come. These books allow the museum to broaden its reach, build awareness of our amazing collection, and continue our longstanding history of producing outstanding scholarship. Bravo to our entire staff!"

About the IU Eskenazi Museum of Art

Since its establishment in 1941, the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art has grown from a small university teaching collection into one of the most significant university art collections in the United States. A preeminent teaching museum on the Indiana University campus, its internationally acclaimed collection includes more than 45,000 objects representing nearly every art-producing culture throughout history from around the world.

The Eskenazi Museum of Art recently completed a $30 million renovation of its acclaimed I. M. Pei–designed building. The newly renovated museum is an enhanced teaching resource for Indiana University and southern Indiana. The museum is dedicated to engaging students, faculty, artists, scholars, alumni, and the wider public through the cultivation of new ideas and scholarship.

CONTACT: Mariah Keller , Director of Creative Services

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Regions Riding Forward® Scholarship Contest

Their Story. Your Voice.

Your voice is your own. But it's also been impacted by others. Who, we wonder, has inspired you? Let us know by entering the Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest. 

You could win an $8,000 college scholarship

For the opportunity to win an $8,000 scholarship, submit a video or written essay about an individual you know personally (who lives in your community) who has inspired you and helped you build the confidence you need to achieve your goals.

The details

The 2024 Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest consists of four (4) separate Quarterly Contests - one for each calendar quarter of 2024. Regions is awarding four $8,000 scholarships through each Quarterly Contest.

Each Quarterly Contest has its own separate entry period, as provided in the chart below.

The entry deadline for each Quarterly Contest is 11:59:59 PM Central Time on the applicable Quarterly Contest period end date (set forth in the chart above).

No purchase or banking relationship required.

Regions believes in supporting the students whose passion and actions every day will continue to make stories worth sharing. That’s why we have awarded over $1 million in total scholarships to high school and college students.

How to enter, 1. complete an online quarterly contest application.

Enter the Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest by completing a Quarterly Contest application.  The second Quarterly Contest runs from April 1, 2024 through June 30, 2024. Complete and save all requested information. 

2. Prepare your Written Essay or Video Essay

For each Quarterly Contest, the topic of your Written Essay or Video Essay (your “Essay Topic”) must be an individual you know personally, who lives in your community. Your Written Essay or Video Essay must address how the individual you have selected as your Essay Topic has inspired you and helped you build the confidence you need to achieve your goals.

Written Essay and Video Essay submissions must meet all of the requirements described in the contest Official Rules. Your Written Essay or Video Essay must be (i) in English, (ii) your own original work, created solely by you (and without the use of any means of artificial intelligence (“AI”)), and (iii) the exclusive property of you alone.

Written Essays must be 500 words or less. You can write your Written Essay directly in the application, or you can copy and paste it into the appropriate area in the application form.

Video Essay submissions must be directly uploaded to the contest application site. Video Essays must be no more than 3 minutes in length and no larger than 1 GB. Only the following file formats are accepted: MP4, MPG, MOV, AVI, and WMV. Video Essays must not contain music of any kind nor display any illegal, explicit, or inappropriate material, and Video Essays must not be password protected or require a log-in/sign-in to view. You must upload your Video Essay to the application, and you may not submit your Video Essay in DVD or other physical form. (Video Essays submitted via mail will not be reviewed or returned.)

Tips to Record Quality Videos on a Smartphone:

• Don’t shoot vertical video. Computer monitors have landscape-oriented displays, so shoot your video horizontally.
• Use a tripod. Even small movements can make a big difference when editing.
• Don’t use zoom. If you need to get a close shot of the subject, move closer as zooming can cause pixilation.
• Use natural lighting. Smartphone lighting can wash out your video.

3. Review and submit your Quarterly Contest application

Review your information on your Quarterly Application (and check the spelling of a Written Essay) and submit your entry by 11:59:59 p.m. Central Time on the applicable Quarterly Contest period end date. The second Quarterly Contest period end date is June 30, 2024.

4. Await notification

Winning entries are selected by an independent panel of judges who are not affiliated with Regions. If your entry is selected as a Quarterly Contest winner, you will need to respond to ISTS with the required information.

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For purposes of this contest:

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To be eligible to enter this contest and to win an award in a Quarterly Contest, at the time of entry, you must:

• Be a legal U.S. resident of one of the Eligible States.
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• Have at least one (1) year (or at least 18 semester hours) remaining before college graduation.
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• As of your most recent school enrollment period, have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 in school (and if no GPA is provided at school, be in “good standing” or the equivalent thereof in school).

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NO PURCHASE OR BANKING RELATIONSHIP REQUIRED. PURCHASE OR BANKING RELATIONSHIP WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. The 2024 Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest (the “Contest”) consists of four (4) separate quarterly contests (each a “Quarterly Contest”): (1) the “Q-1 Contest;” (2) the “Q-2 Contest;” (3) the “Q-3 Contest;” and (4) the “Q-4 Contest.” The Q-1 Contest begins on 02/01/24 and ends on 03/31/24; the Q-2 Contest begins on 04/01/24 and ends on 06/30/24; the Q-3 Contest begins on 07/01/24 and ends on 09/30/24; and the Q-4 Contest begins on 10/01/24 and ends on 12/31/24. (For each Quarterly Contest, entries must be submitted and received by 11:59:59 PM CT on the applicable Quarterly Contest period end date.) To enter and participate in a particular Quarterly Contest, at the time of entry, you must: (a) be a legal U.S. resident of one of the Eligible States; (b) be 16 years of age or older; (c) have at least one (1) year (or at least 18 semester hours) remaining before college graduation; (d) (if you are not yet in college) begin your freshman year of college no later than the start of the 2025 – 2026 college academic school year; and (e) as of your most recent school enrollment period, have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 in school (and if no grade point average is provided at school, be in “good standing” or the equivalent thereof in school). (For purposes of Contest, the “Eligible States” are defined as the states of AL, AR, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MS, MO, NC, SC, TN and TX.) Visit regions.com/ridingforward for complete Contest details, including eligibility and Written Essay and Video Essay requirements and Official Rules. (Limit one (1) entry per person, per Quarterly Contest.) For each Quarterly Contest, eligible entries will be grouped according to form of entry (Written Essay or Video Essay) and judged by a panel of independent, qualified judges. A total of four (4) Quarterly Contest Prizes will be awarded in each Quarterly Contest, consisting of two (2) Quarterly Contest Prizes for the Written Essay Entry Group and two (2) Quarterly Contest Prizes for the Video Essay Entry Group. Each Quarterly Contest Prize consists of a check in the amount of $8,000 made out to winner’s designated accredited college. (Limit one (1) Quarterly Contest Prize per person; a contestant is permitted to win only one (1) Quarterly Contest Prize through the Contest.) Sponsor: Regions Bank, 1900 Fifth Ave. N., Birmingham, AL 35203.

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2023 Winners

High school:.

• Amyrrean Acoff
• Leon Aldridge
• Kharis Andrews
• Colton Collier
• Indya Griffin
• Christopher Hak
• Aquil Hayes
• Jayden Haynes
• McKenna Jodoin
• Paris Kelly
• Liza Latimer
• Dylan Lodle
• Anna Mammarelli
• Karrington Manley
• Marcellus Odum
• Gautami Palthepu
• Melody Small
• Lauryn Tanner
• Joshua Wilson
• Mohamed Ali
• Kayla Bellamy
• Lauren Boxx
• Alexandria Brown
• Samuel Brown
• Thurston Brown
• Conner Daehler
• Tsehai de Souza
• Anjel Echols
• Samarion Flowers
• Trinity Griffin
• Kristina Hilton
• Ryan Jensen
• Miracle Jones
• Shaniece McGhee
• Chelby Melvin
• Lamiya Ousley
• Kiera Phillips
• Gabrielle Pippins
• Ethan Snead
• Sydney Springs
• Kirsten Tilford
• Tamira Weeks
• Justin Williams

2022 Winners

• Paul Aucremann
• William Booker
• Robyn Cunningham
• Kani'ya Davis
• Oluwatomi Dugbo
• Lillian Goins
• Parker Hall
• Collin Hatfield
• Gabrielle Izu
• Kylie Lauderdale
• Jacob Milan
• Jackson Mitchell
• Carmen Moore
• Madison Morgan
• Kaden Oquelí-White
• Kaylin Parks
• Brian Perryman
• De'Marco Riggins
• Brianna Roundtree
• Sydney Russell
• Carlie Spore
• Morgan Standifer
• Ionia Thomas
• Ramaya Thomas
• Jaylen Toran
• Amani Veals
• Taylor Williams
• Alana Wilson
• Taryn Wilson
• Aryaunna Armstrong
• Hannah Blackwell
• T'Aneka Bowers
• Naomi Bradley
• Arianna Cannon
• Taylor Cline
• Catherine Cummings
• Margaret Fitzgerald
• Chloe Franklin
• Camryn Gaines
• Thomas Greer
• Kayla Helleson
• Veronica Holmes
• Logan Kurtz
• Samuel Lambert
• Jaylon Muchison
• Teresa Odom
• Andrew Payne
• Carey Price
• Emily SantiAnna
• Curtis Smith
• Jered Smith
• Mariah Standifer
• Maura Taylor
• Anna Wilkes