This assignment begins with a visit to the online collecting and education resource,www.artsy.net. If this is your first time using Artsy, you may need to quickly sign in with an email or your Facebook in order to view the content. Once in, you'll explore the lives and work of the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, Vincent Van Gogh, and the American Modernist painter, Georgia O'Keeffe.
Direct links to the Artsy.net online galleries:
● Van Gogh Works
● O'Keeffe Works
Next, view the following Khan Smarthistory analysis videos about two works by Van Gogh and O'Keeffe:
● Smarthistory - Van Gogh, The Bedroom (1889)
● Smarthistory - O'Keeffe, The Lawrence Tree (1929)
Step 2: Choose, Consider, Compare
● Choose one painting by Van Gogh and one painting by O'Keeffe from Artsy to observe in depth. (Do not choose The Bedroom or The Lawrence Tree, as the Smarthistory videos serve use here as examples of formal analysis.)
● Look closely at each artist's use of color, line, and shape--formal qualities of art. You may find it useful to make notes on each element, to organize your observations and thoughts.
○ Consider color temperature, properties, and schemes (see pages 47-53)
○ Consider types and qualities of line (see pages 20-24)
○ Consider the types of shapes employed and positive and negative space (see pages 28-35)
● Compare how each artist employs the elements in their work, color to color, line to line, and shape to shape. This is where having notes on each could be particularly helpful.
Step 3: Write
In two full pages of writing (essay format), compare how Van Gogh and O'Keeffe used color, line, shape (formal elements of art) to abstract and to express their authentic experiences of their respective worlds in the two paintings you chose. As you are focusing on only two paintings, your statements should be pointed and specific to your observations of the visual elements presented in those paintings.
● Pro-Tips:
○ The organization of your essay should be clear and easy to follow. For a visual comparison, it is good practice to organize by visual element rather than discussing one entire painting followed by the other. For example, you might write a one-paragraph comparison of the color schemes and properties in Van Gogh's painting to those in O'Keeffe's, followed by another paragraph comparing their uses of line and then a third comparing their uses of shape. Your essay should also have a one-paragraph introduction and a one-paragraph conclusion.
○ The language you use must be descriptive and precise. You will be translating what your eyes see into printed word, which takes careful consideration. Use the terms that your textbook provides and choose your descriptive adjectives with care.
○ While you have been assigned online resources for this assignment, your essay response is to be based solely on your own observations of formal characteristics of two paintings. This is not about the artists' biographies or art historical associations. Further research into the artists' lives is not needed for this assignment. As your essay is to consist of your own observations of formal art elements, neither citations nor a bibliography will be requested with your work.
○ Make sure to include the title of each painting and the year it was painted. Artwork titles should be italicized. This sets the artwork title apart from the text surrounding it, lending to greater clarity.
Sample Solution