Art criticism engages the world through a work of art. Even art reviews that seem to disparage the quality of an artwork are an attempt to extrapolate a work of art's implication and relation to the larger world.
Art can stand alone with an instantaneous judgment or can be viewed with a deeper more educated knowledge. Aesthetic, pragmatic, expressive, formalist, relativist, processional, imitation, ritual, cognition, mimetic and postmodern theories are some of many theories to criticize and appreciate art.
There are four basic steps: describing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating.
To write a perfect art critique paper, use the four elements mentioned before: description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment. Understanding these elements will allow you to evaluate any artwork thoroughly and objectively.
Description = pure description of the object without value judgments, analysis, or interpretation.
The purpose for writing a critique is to evaluate somebody's work (a book, an essay, a movie, a painting...) in order to increase the reader's understanding of it. A critical analysis is subjective writing because it expresses the writer's opinion or evaluation of a text.
Context (History and/or Artists)
Artists create art that conveys to us how they think and feel about things. Artists use different lines, shapes, and colors to express their feelings. Every artist chooses their own colors, lines and shapes that are meaningful for them.
Use words such as lustrous, shadowy, radiant, glossy, and saturated when describing colors. These words articulate the depth of the color. The average person will see your artwork in a different light if you describe it using words that connect your artwork to the smell and feeling of everyday objects.
To evaluate or analyze critically. To critique something is to give your opinion and observations. An example of to critique is to describe a restaurant's food on Yelp. An essay in which another piece of work is criticised, reviewed, etc.
Describe the main ideas and what the author wants to express. Analyse each important and interesting point and develop an explanation of the article. Interpret the author's intention. Summarise and evaluate the value of an article, stating whether you agree or disagree with the author, with supporting evidence.
The first step in art criticism is description. When we look at a work of art, our minds naturally take notice of the general information that's present. If we take The Mona Lisa for example, we notice, “Hey, this is a painting of a woman.” We start with just a simple statement of observation.
The easiest way to get to understand and therefore appreciate a work of art is to investigate its context, or background. This is because it helps us to understand what was (or might have been) in the mind of the artist at the time he created the work in question. Think of it as basic detective work.
Writing a critique involves more than pointing out mistakes. It involves conducting a systematic analysis of a scholarly article or book and then writing a fair and reasonable description of its strengths and weaknesses.
In general, criticism is judgmental and focused on finding fault, while critique is descriptive and balanced. Here are some more differences: Both criticism and critique are forms of feedback, but it should be obvious that critique provides a better learning environment.
Mood is the atmosphere in a painting, or the feeling expressed. Is the art tranquil, or is it dark and disturbing? Tone refers to the lightness or darkness of colors used, which can help to create a sense of depth or distance in art. Artists use light and dark colors to convey a mood or an emotion.
Art is an expression of our thoughts, emotions, intuitions, and desires, but it is even more personal than that: it's about sharing the way we experience the world, which for many is an extension of personality. It is the communication of intimate concepts that cannot be faithfully portrayed by words alone.