A Short Guide to Writing about Art

by Sylvan Barnet

• ISBN13: 9780673524874
• ISBN10: 0673524876
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-01-01
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley

Summary

Key Benefit: "A Short Guide to Writing About Art, Eighth Edition," the best-selling book of its kind, equips students to analyze pictures (drawings, paintings, photographs), sculptures and architecture, and prepares them with the tools they need to present their ideas in effective writing. Key Topics: This concise yet thorough guide to " seeing and saying" addresses a wealth of fundamental matters, such as distinguishing between description and analysis, writing a comparison, using peer review, documenting sources, and editing the final essay. Market: This book is a perfect complement to any art course where writing is involved

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
1 Writing about Art	1	(21)
What Is Art?	1	(3)
Why Write about Art?	4	(1)
The Writer's Audience	4	(1)
The Function of Critical Writing	5	(2)
A Sample Essay	7	(5)
Robert Herbert
"Millet's The Gleaners"	8	(3)
A Note on Outlining	11	(1)
What Is an Interpretation--and Are All Interpretations Equally Valid?	12	(5)
Interpretation and Interpretations	12	(1)
Who Creates "Meaning"--Artist or Viewer?	13	(1)
The Relevance of Context	14	(2)
Arguing an Interpretation	16	(1)
When We Look, Do We See a Masterpiece--or Ourselves?	17	(2)
Expressing Opinions	19	(3)
2 Analysis	22	(64)
Analytic Thinking: Seeing and Saying	22	(3)
Subject Matter and Content	25	(3)
Getting Ideas: Asking Questions to Get Answers	28	(45)
Basic Questions	28	(2)
Drawing and Painting	30	(8)
A Note on Nonobjective Painting	38	(4)
Sculpture	42	(5)
A Note on Nonobjective Sculpture	47	(5)
A Cautionary Word about Photographs of Sculpture	52	(1)
Architecture	53	(8)
Photography	61	(10)
Another Look at the Questions	71	(2)
Formal Analysis	73	(4)
What Formal Analysis Is	73	(1)
Opposition to Formal Analysis	74	(1)
Formal Analysis versus Description	75	(2)
Style as the Shaper of Form	77	(2)
Sample Essay: A Formal Analysis	79	(7)
Stephen Beer
"Formal Analysis: Prince Khunera as a Scribe"	79	(4)
Behind the Scene: Beer's Essay, from Early Responses to Final Version	83	(1)
Beer's Earliest Responses	83	(1)
Organizing Notes	83	(1)
Preparing a Preliminary Outline	83	(1)
Writing a Draft	84	(1)
Outlining a Draft	84	(2)
3 Writing a Comparison	86	(18)
Comparing as a Way of Discovering	86	(1)
Two Ways of Organizing a Comparison	87	(5)
Sample Essays: Two Comparisons	92	(12)
L. R. Rogers
"Two Low Relief Carvings from the Fifteenth Century"	93	(3)
Rebecca Bedell
"John Singleton Copley's Early Development: From Mrs. Joseph Mann to Mrs. Ezekial Goldthwait"	96	(8)
4 Some Critical Approaches	104	(17)
Social History: The New Art History and Marxism	104	(3)
Gender Studies: Feminist Criticism and Gay and Lesbian Studies	107	(6)
Biographical Studies	113	(1)
Psychoanalytic Studies	114	(1)
Iconography and Iconology	115	(6)
5 In Brief: How to Write an Effective Essay	121	(15)
Getting to a First Draft	121	(2)
Getting to a Readable Draft	123	(4)
Revising	124	(1)
Peer Review	125	(2)
Preparing the Final Version	127	(1)
Guidelines on Writing with a Computer	128	(8)
Preparing to Write	128	(1)
Initial Note-taking	128	(1)
Recording Sources	129	(1)
Outlining	130	(2)
Writing a First Draft	132	(1)
Revising a Draft	132	(1)
Saving and Backing Up	133	(1)
Proofreading	133	(1)
Graphics and the Computer	133	(1)
The Final Document	134	(2)
6 Style in Writing	136	(18)
Principles of Style	136	(1)
Get the Right Word	137	(3)
Denotation	137	(1)
Connotation	137	(1)
Concreteness	137	(1)
Tone	137	(2)
Repetition	139	(1)
The Sound of Sense, the Sense of Sound	140	(1)
Write Effective Sentences	140	(5)
Economy	140	(3)
Parallels	143	(1)
Subordination	143	(2)
Write Unified and Coherent Paragraphs	145	(9)
Unity	145	(4)
Coherence	149	(2)
Introductory Paragraphs	151	(1)
Concluding Paragraphs	152	(2)
7 Manuscript Form	154	(33)
Basic Manuscript Form	154	(3)
Corrections in the Final Copy	157	(1)
Quotations and Quotation Marks	158	(3)
Acknowledging Sources	161	(4)
Borrowing without Plagiarizing	161	(2)
Fair Use of Common Knowledge	163	(1)
"But How Else Can I Put It?"	164	(1)
Footnotes and Endnotes	165	(8)
Kinds of Notes	165	(1)
Footnote Numbers and Positions	166	(1)
Footnote Style	166	(7)
Bibliography	173	(3)
Bibliographic Style	173	(3)
Some Conventions of Language Usage	176	(11)
The Apostrophe	176	(1)
Capitalization	177	(1)
The Dash	177	(1)
Foreign Words and Quotations in Foreign Languages	178	(1)
The Hyphen	178	(1)
Names	179	(1)
Avoiding Sexist Language	179	(1)
Avoiding Eurocentric Language	180	(4)
Spelling	184	(1)
Titles	185	(1)
Italics and Underlining	185	(2)
8 The Research Paper	187	(26)
A Note on Art-Historical Research and Art Criticism	187	(8)
Connoisseurship	187	(1)
History and Criticism	188	(2)
Criticism and Values	190	(5)
What Research Is	195	(1)
Primary and Secondary Materials	196	(1)
From Subject to Thesis	196	(1)
Finding the Material	196	(9)
The Library Catalog: Card or Computerized Scanning Encyclopedias, Books, and Book Reviews	198	(2)
Indexes and Databases to Published Material	200	(3)
Other Guides	203	(2)
Reading and Taking Notes	205	(2)
Writing the Paper	207	(6)
9 Essay Examinations	213	(5)
What Examinations Are	213	(2)
Writing Essay Answers	215	(2)
Last Words	217	(1)
Credits	218	(1)
Index	219