For this assignment, you will write a formal art critique analyzing how a well-known artist or designer utilized the elements of art and principles of design in creating his or her artwork or design. This critique should follow the four-step model of art criticism.

• Artist or Designer
  Select an artist or designer from the following list:

  Artists

  • Leonardo da Vinci
  • Raphael
  • El Greco
  • Caravaggio
  • Diego Velázquez
  • Rembrandt
  • Johannes Vermeer
  • Edgar Degas
  • Paul Cézanne
  • Claude Monet
  • Wassily Kandinsky
  • Vincent van Gogh
  • Henri Matisse
  • Paul Klee
  • Pablo Picasso

    Designers

  • Alphonse Mucha
  • Henri de Toulouse-Latrec
  • Cassandre
  • Paul Rand
  • Saul Bass
  • Milton Glaser
  • Ivan Chermayeff
  • Drew Struzan
  • Paula Scher
  • David Carson

    If you would like to choose an artist or designer not listed above, you must first get approval.

• Artwork
  The artwork you will critique should be:
  • a painting created by a well-known artist, or
  • a poster created by a well-known designer
• Paper Content
  • Select a well-known artist or designer from the list provided above.
  • Select a painting or poster created by the artist or designer you have chosen. Consider selecting an artwork that expresses spiritual concepts and a Christian worldview.
  • Write a formal art critique analyzing how the artist or designer utilized the elements of art and principles of design in creating his/her painting or poster.
  • This critique should follow the four-step model of art criticism.
  • Historical or biographical information on the artist or designer should not be used.
  • Include a properly cited color image of the painting or poster. For proper citation and punctuation, see the example below.

    Example:
    Paul Cézanne, The Basket of Apples, c. 1893. Oil on canvas, 25 7/16 x 31 1/2 in.,
    Art Institute of Chicago.

    Terms and Definitions

• Paper Format
  • a minimum of 4-5 pages in length
    (paper length does not include cover page and image)
  • typed, double-spaced
  • Times New Roman, 12 pt.
  • 1-inch margins
  • must include a cover page and color image of artwork

    Art Criticism Example

• Grading Criteria
  • apparent time and effort invested in assignment
  • following and/or exceeding instructions
  • proper grammar, clear sentence structure, no spelling errors
  • thoroughness of answers; presence of supporting statements that further explain and/or define opinion-based answers

    Art Criticism Rubric