Museum Visit Paper

For your last assignment this semester you are expected to visit your local Art Museum. The idea for this project is for you to analyze a work of art of your choosing, one you actually experience or see in person. You will choose one artworkyou find interesting, and answer a series of questions in essay form. The essay is basically a formal analysis of the artwork and should have a thesis statement. In addition to the 2-page essay, you must also add a third page with a photograph of yourself with the artwork in the background. Take a photograph of your admission ticket and place under your self-portrait. You may use your phone to do this part of the assignment. This project should have a total of three pages.
Make sure to cite all of your sources used in your essay. You may use MLA format. Do not forget to cite resources like libraries, research material, etc. Remember plagiarism is the appropriating, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any means another’s work and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of it in one’s own written work. You will fail this assignment if any part of the essay is not written by you. In other words, you will receive a ‘0’ for plagiarizing.
When elaborating a formal analysis of an artwork you should consider the following questions. Please do not limit your assignment to the questions below, you may also consider your own. Spend time looking at your chosen artwork. I suggest you take extensive notes when you are at the museum.
1. Start your paper by carefully and accurately describing the following: artist’s name, title and date of the work, medium and dimensions.
2. What is the subject matter, or content of the work chosen?
3. Briefly describe the historical context of this work of art.
4. Does the title give any insight about the artwork?
5. Is the work abstract, representational or non-representational?
6. How is the composition arranged? Describe the focal point (emphasis and subordination) in the composition.
7. Describe the surface (texture) of the object.
8. Describe the qualities of lines: What kind of lines do you see, also its direction.
9. What other details do you see in the work?
10. Is it expressive, what kind of mood or feeling do you get from seeing the work?
11. If applicable, how is the human figure or figures represented? Is the figure the focal point of the work? Does it relate to the rest of the composition? Describe the scale of the figure or its proportion in relationship to other elements in the work.
12. What draw you to this artwork? What changed between you first impression of it and after spending time carefully observing the artwork?
Use as many Visual Elements and Design Principles as you discover in your work to help create the formal analysis. Remember to write it in essay form.
Visual elements:
Line – contour and outline, direction and movement, implied lines.
Shape and Mass
Light
Color – color harmonies. Monochromatic, complementary, Analagous.
Texture and Pattern – actual texture and visual texture, pattern.
Space – implied space, linear perspective, atmospheric perspective.
Time and Motion

Principles of Design:
Unity and Variety
Balance – symmetrical, asymmetrical
Emphasis and subordination
Scale and Proportion
Rhythm

Grading Rubric:
Photograph with artwork in the back (selfie) 10 pts
Photograph in front of Museum or admission ticket 10 pts
Essay (mention at least SIX Visual Elements or Design Principles) 80 pts
Total possible points 100 pts

An “A” essay must be two-page long, well-written, organized, and turned in on time, Has little or no grammatical or spelling mistakes, uses the appropriate terminology found in your textbook, has a third page with photos of yourself with the chosen artwork in the background, and the admission ticket or some other evidence of your attendance.
You may submit your first draft in advance to help you clarify your ideas. Please proofread and run a spell-check before submitting your work! I will not accept late submissions.